Mail::Transport::SMTP(3pm)

NAME
Mail::Transport::SMTP - transmit messages without external program

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Transport::SMTP
   is a Mail::Transport::Send
   is a Mail::Transport
   is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS
  my $sender = Mail::Transport::SMTP->new(...);
  $sender->send($message);

  $message->send(via => 'smtp');

DESCRIPTION
This module implements transport of "Mail::Message" objects by negotiating to the destination host directly by using the SMTP protocol, without help of "sendmail", "mail", or other programs on the local host.

warning: you may need to install Net::SMTPS, to get TLS support.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Transport::Send.

METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Transport::Send.

  Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Transport::Send.

$class->new(%options)
    Inherited, see "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter

     -Option       --Defined in     --Default
      esmtp_options                   {}
      executable     Mail::Transport  undef
      from                            undef
      helo                            <from Net::Config>
      hostname       Mail::Transport  <from Net::Config>
      interval       Mail::Transport  30
      password                        undef
      port           Mail::Transport  25
      proxy          Mail::Transport  <from Net::Config>
      retry          Mail::Transport  <unlimited>
      smtp_debug                      false
      timeout                         120
      username                        undef
      via            Mail::Transport  'smtp'

    esmtp_options => \%opts
        [2.116] ESMTP options to pass to Net::SMTP. See the Net::SMTP documentation for full details. Options can also be passed at send time. For example: "{ XVERP => 1 }"

    executable => $file
    from => $address
        Allows a default sender $address to be specified globally. See trySend() for full details.

    helo => $host
        The fully qualified name of the sender's $host (your system) which is used for the greeting message to the receiver. If not specified, Net::Config or else Net::Domain are questioned to find it. When even these do not supply a valid name, the name of the domain in the "From" line of the message is assumed.

    hostname => $host|\@hosts
    interval => $span
    password => $password
        The password to be used with the "username" to log in to the remote server.

    port => $port
    proxy => $path
    retry => $count|undef
    smtp_debug => BOOLEAN
        Simulate transmission: the SMTP protocol output will be sent to your screen.

    timeout => $wait
        The number of seconds to $wait for a valid response from the server before failing.

    username => $username
        Use SASL authentication to contact the remote SMTP server (RFC2554). This $username in combination with "password" is passed as arguments to Net::SMTP method auth. Other forms of authentication are not supported by Net::SMTP. The "username" can also be specified as an Authen::SASL object.

    via => CLASS|$name

  Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Transport::Send.

  Sending mail
Extends "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send.

$obj->destinations( $message, [$address|\@addresses] )
    Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send

$obj->putContent($message, $fh, %options)
    Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send

$obj->send($message, %options)
    Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send

$obj->trySend($message, %options)
    Try to send the $message once. This may fail, in which case this method will return "false". In list context, the reason for failure can be caught: in list context "trySend" will return a list of six values:

      (success, rc, rc-text, error location, quit success, accept)

    Success and quit success are booleans. The error code and -text are protocol specific codes and texts. The location tells where the problem occurred.

    [3.003] the 'accept' returns the message of the dataend() instruction. Some servers may provide useful information in there, like an internal message registration id. For example, postfix may return "2.0.0 Ok: queued as 303EA380EE". You can only use this parameter when running local delivery (which is a smart choice anyway) Improves base, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send

     -Option       --Default
      esmtp_options  +{}
      from           < >
      to             []

    esmtp_options => \%opts
        Additional or overridden EMSTP options. See new(esmtp_options)

    from => $address
        Your own identification. This may be fake. If not specified, it is taken from Mail::Message::sender(), which means the content of the "Sender" field of the message or the first address of the "From" field. This defaults to "< >", which represents "no address".

    to => $address|\@addresses
        Alternative destinations. If not specified, the "To", "Cc" and "Bcc" fields of the header are used. An $address is a string or a Mail::Address object.

  Server connection
Extends "Server connection" in Mail::Transport::Send.

$obj->contactAnyServer()
    Creates the connection to the SMTP server. When more than one hostname was specified, the first which accepts a connection is taken. An IO::Socket::INET object is returned.

$obj->findBinary( $name, [@directories] )
    Inherited, see "Server connection" in Mail::Transport

$obj->remoteHost()
    Inherited, see "Server connection" in Mail::Transport

$obj->retry()
    Inherited, see "Server connection" in Mail::Transport

$obj->tryConnectTo($host, %options)
    Try to establish a connection to deliver SMTP to the specified $host. The %options are passed to the "new" method of Net::SMTP.

  Error handling
Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Transport::Send.

$obj->AUTOLOAD()
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->notImplemented()
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

  Cleanup
Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Transport::Send.

$obj->DESTROY()
    Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: authentication for $host failed.
    Cast by contactAnyServer()

Error: class $package does not implement method $method.
    Fatal error: the specific $package (or one of its superclasses) does not implement this method where it should. This message means that some other related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author of the package. Cast by notImplemented()

Warning: message has no destination.
    It was not possible to figure-out where the message is intended to go to. Cast by destinations()

Notice: no addresses found to send the message to, no connection made.
    Cast by trySend()

Warning: resent group does not specify a destination.
    The message which is sent is the result of a bounce (for instance created with Mail::Message::bounce()), and therefore starts with a "Received" header field. With the "bounce", the new destination(s) of the message are given, which should be included as "Resent-To", "Resent-Cc", and "Resent-Bcc".

    The "To", "Cc", and "Bcc" header information is only used if no "Received" was found. That seems to be the best explanation of the RFC.

    As alternative, you may also specify the "to" option to some of the senders (for instance Mail::Transport::SMTP::send(to) to overrule any information found in the message itself about the destination. Cast by destinations()

Warning: use option `to' to overrule the destination: `To' refers to a field.
    Cast by trySend()

SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Transport version 4.01, built on December 13, 2025. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/

LICENSE
For contributors see file ChangeLog.

This software is copyright (c) 2001-2025 by Mark Overmeer.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.