Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Aidan Gauland]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hello,

When I try to send mail via my ISP's SMTP server, Emacs hangs (until I type
C-g).  I have tried following several different sets of instructions (blogs,
the Emacs wiki, the source file smtpmail.el) on how to configure Emacs to send
mail via SMTP.

Here is the relevant part of my .emacs file:
(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it) ; if you use message/Gnus
(setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.rurallink.co.nz")
(setq smtpmail-local-domain "no8wireless.co.nz")
(setq smtpmail-debug-info t) ; only to debug problems
(setq smtpmail-auth-credentials  ; or use ~/.authinfo
      '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 "aidalgol@no8wireless.co.nz" "<secret>")))
(setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials
      '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 nil nil)))

Does anyone have any suggestions?  I would really like to switch to Emacs as
my mail reader, and this is quite frustrating.

Thanks,
Aidan
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iEYEARECAAYFAktOD9sACgkQjyzTRvYJmaUCZQCcCuNYKgyBDBKPaF/lQfUkFgLf
G3oAnRiey6gKvN8FJUrMzN9eh6m74vj4
=ol+C
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Torsten Mueller]

Aidan Gauland <aidalgol@no8wireless.co.nz> schrieb:

> (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)

ok

> (setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.rurallink.co.nz")

My line is (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "...")

> (setq smtpmail-local-domain "no8wireless.co.nz")

I don't have this line.

> (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
>       '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 "aidalgol@no8wireless.co.nz" "<secret>")))

I use an .authinfo file.

> (setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials
>       '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 nil nil)))

This is always suspicious. Are you sure your SMTP server does support
TLS? Turn this off at least for the moment to reduce complexity.

What happens in the message buffer until you press C-g?

T.M.

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Aidan Gauland]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1568 bytes --]

Torsten Mueller wrote:
>> (setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.rurallink.co.nz")
> 
> My line is (setq smtpmail-smtp-server "...")

OK, I changed mine to that.  No help.

>> (setq smtpmail-local-domain "no8wireless.co.nz")
> 
> I don't have this line.

I removed that line.  No difference.

>> (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
>>       '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 "aidalgol@no8wireless.co.nz" "<secret>")))
> 
> I use an .authinfo file.

I put this in a .authinfo file.  Same behaviour.

>> (setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials
>>       '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 nil nil)))
> 
> This is always suspicious. Are you sure your SMTP server does support
> TLS? Turn this off at least for the moment to reduce complexity.

I know it supports SSL, as I am using it with Thunderbird over SSL.

I just tried to, in the .authinfo file, and in .emacs (separately, not both at
once), tell it to use port 25 (so no encryption), but Emacs still uses
starttls and on port 465.

TLS has been succeeded by SSL, has it not?  And isn't GNUTLS considered
inferior to OpenSSL?  (I really don't know, I've just heard this around the
Internet, but haven't confirmed any of this.)

> What happens in the message buffer until you press C-g?

If I just let it run for a while this is shown in the *Messages* buffer:
Opening STARTTLS connection to `smtp.rurallink.co.nz:465'...done
[several minutes pass]
smtpmail-send-command: Process SMTP not running

I'm also using Emacs22.2.1, and I tried Emacs23, but had the exact problem.

--Aidan


[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 260 bytes --]

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Torsten Mueller]

Aidan Gauland <aidalgol@no8wireless.co.nz> schrieb:

>>> (setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials
>>>       '(("smtp.rurallink.co.nz" 465 nil nil)))
>> 
>> This is always suspicious. Are you sure your SMTP server does support
>> TLS? Turn this off at least for the moment to reduce complexity.
>
> I know it supports SSL, as I am using it with Thunderbird over SSL.
>
> I just tried to, in the .authinfo file, and in .emacs (separately,
> not both at once), tell it to use port 25 (so no encryption), but
> Emacs still uses starttls and on port 465.
>
> TLS has been succeeded by SSL, has it not? And isn't GNUTLS
> considered inferior to OpenSSL? (I really don't know, I've just
> heard this around the Internet, but haven't confirmed any of this.)

No, the other way: TLS is the successor of SSL. But many servers do
not support TLS but SSL. In general I would avoid to use any
encryption for the moment. You need a working STMP first. Encryption
is the second step. Try port 25. Modern servers also react on port 587
for normal (but authenticated) SMTP.

> > What happens in the message buffer until you press C-g?
>
> If I just let it run for a while this is shown in the *Messages*
> buffer:
> Opening STARTTLS connection to
> `smtp.rurallink.co.nz:465'...done [several minutes pass]
> smtpmail-send-command: Process SMTP not running

I still think this is TLS related.

T.M.

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Robert Goldman]

Torsten Mueller <dev-null <at> shared-files.de> writes:
> Aidan Gauland <aidalgol <at> no8wireless.co.nz> schrieb:
> >> ... Are you sure your SMTP server does support
> >> TLS? Turn this off at least for the moment to reduce complexity.

> > I know it supports SSL, as I am using it with Thunderbird over SSL.

> > > What happens in the message buffer until you press C-g?
...
> > Opening STARTTLS connection to
> > `smtp.rurallink.co.nz:465'...done [several minutes pass]
> > smtpmail-send-command: Process SMTP not running

FWIW, I'm having the exact same problem.

I also have an SMTP server that I am successfully connecting to using STARTTLS
from Thunderbird.  I also find that when I try to connect to it using
smtpmail-send-it, the connection just hangs.  It gets to printing the line about
opening the starttls connection, then nothing further gets echoed into the trace
buffer for the SMTP session.  It then goes away until I hit ^G.

This thread seems to have just petered out with no solution.  Does anyone have a
suggestion for solving this problem?  Since the server is not mine to
manipulate, I cannot turn off the authentication --- port 25 connections are not
available.

thanks,
r

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Gary .]

On 4/13/10, Robert Goldman wrote:
> Torsten Mueller writes:
>> Aidan Gauland schrieb:
>> > I know it supports SSL, as I am using it with Thunderbird over SSL.
>> > > What happens in the message buffer until you press C-g?
>> > Opening STARTTLS connection to
>> > `smtp.rurallink.co.nz:465'...done [several minutes pass]
>> > smtpmail-send-command: Process SMTP not running
>
> FWIW, I'm having the exact same problem.
>
> I also have an SMTP server that I am successfully connecting to using
> STARTTLS
> from Thunderbird.  I also find that when I try to connect to it using
> smtpmail-send-it, the connection just hangs.  It gets to printing the line
> about
> opening the starttls connection, then nothing further gets echoed into the
> trace
> buffer for the SMTP session.  It then goes away until I hit ^G.

I guess you are using the Emacs SMTP Library? Which of the two
external TLS tools are you using? Have you tried the other? What do
you see if you set smtpmail-debug-verb to t?

Alternatively, do you have the opportunity to install and use
something like msmtp locally, and using that to actually send the mail
to the outside world?

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Robert Goldman]

Gary . <help-gnu-emacs <at> garydjones.name> writes:

> 
> On 4/13/10, Robert Goldman wrote:
> > Torsten Mueller writes:
> >> Aidan Gauland schrieb:
...
> 
> I guess you are using the Emacs SMTP Library? Which of the two
> external TLS tools are you using? Have you tried the other? What do
> you see if you set smtpmail-debug-verb to t?
> 

I am using gnutls.

All I see in the trace window, after I lose my patience at press ^G to unlock my
emacs is:

Process SMTP finished
QUIT
- Peer has closed the GNUTLS connection

The configuration I'm using is:

(setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
(setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "xxx.yyy.zzz")
(setq smtpmail-smtp-server  "xxx.yyy.zzz")
(setq smtpmail-smtp-service 465)
(setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials
      '(("xxx.yyy.zzz" 465 nil nil)))

Maybe I should be debugging GNUTLS instead of emacs here.

thanks
Robert

Re: Sending mail via SMTP hangs.

[Robert Goldman]

I tested with gnutls and see the following:

Resolving 'xxx.yyy.zzz...
Connecting to '11.111.111.111:465'...
Checking for TLS 1.1 support... no
Checking fallback from TLS 1.1 to... TLS 1.0
Checking for TLS 1.0 support... yes
Checking for SSL 3.0 support... yes
Checking for HTTPS server name... not checked
Checking for version rollback bug in RSA PMS... no
Checking for version rollback bug in Client Hello... no
Checking whether we need to disable TLS 1.0... N/A

Nothing there looks particularly problematic to my (very untrained) eye.  So
maybe it /is/ smtpmail that's the problem?

thanks,
r