# Mailer Setup Problems

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [May 27, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194 "2007-05-27T01:18:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/1 "2007-05-27T01:18:02Z")

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I’m having trouble configuring a mailer. Prudence would dictate that  
I should upload at least portions of the relevant files, etc. If it  
comes to that, I’ll certainly do it. However, before I go that route I  
would really like to see if I can’t use this problem to develop some  
trouble shooting skills because I know that I’m going to need them in  
the future.

Basically the situation is that I have followed the general setup  
detailed in ‘Agile Web D. with Rails’. Amongst other things I  
have specifically included the line:

config.action\_ mailer.delivery\_ method=:sendmail

in my config/environments/test.rb file and /usr/sbin/sendmail is a sym  
link to my sendmail-compatible smtp server. The single symptom is that  
the email doesn’t actually get sent. Otherwise, the whole process  
completes exactly as one would expect. There are no indications of  
problems logged to either the rails log file or the log file of my  
smtp server. The fact that nothing is logged to the log file of my  
smtp server makes me believe that it is not actually receiving a  
request.

So, my question is this: Given this fact pattern how should I proceed  
in order to isolate and correct the problem?

Thanks for any input.

```
     ... doug
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/2 "2007-05-27T01:23:11Z")

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doug wrote:

> So, my question is this: Given this fact pattern how should I proceed  
> in order to isolate and correct the problem?

Are you running the application in development mode?

If so, take a look at the last line in  
config/environments/development.rb.

–Al Evans

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**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/3 "2007-05-27T04:46:18Z")

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> Are you running the application in development mode?

No. I’m running in test mode. I’ve gotten this thing to  
work before in test mode; but, not this time. The issue  
I’m trying to address is: What does one do when  
something like this happens. I’m thinking that there  
must be some sort of troubleshooting procedure to  
follow.

Thanks for the input.

```
   ... doug
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/4 "2007-05-27T14:34:33Z")

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doug wrote:

> > Are you running the application in development mode?
> 
> No. I’m running in test mode. I’ve gotten this thing to  
> work before in test mode; but, not this time. The issue  
> I’m trying to address is: What does one do when  
> something like this happens. I’m thinking that there  
> must be some sort of troubleshooting procedure to  
> follow.
> 
> Thanks for the input.
> 
> ```
> ... doug
> 
> ```

OK, different config, same result –

From config/environments/test.rb:

# Tell ActionMailer not to deliver emails to the real world.

# The :test delivery method accumulates sent emails in the

# ActionMailer::Base.deliveries array.

config.action\_mailer.delivery\_method = :test

So it’s doing what it’s configured to do.

–Al Evans

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/5 "2007-05-27T14:50:12Z")

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On May 26, 10:45 pm, doug [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> What does one do when  
> something like this happens. I’m thinking that there  
> must be some sort of troubleshooting procedure to  
> follow.

What I generally do is to first try the obvious. Step through the code  
mentally looking for any obvious mistakes. I catch most of my errors  
this way. If that doesn’t work, sometimes you can use debug logging to  
validate your assumptions. Spit out the value of variables, write a  
log entry when you enter a function to make sure you’re actually  
entering it, etc.

When the above fails (actually I usually go to this next, before I  
bother with the logging thing), the best thing you can do for yourself  
is to use a decent debugger. The value of having a good debugger at  
your disposal - and using it - cannot be overstated. They can save you  
many many minutes of head-scratching time. Sometimes hours. I can’t  
tell you the number of times I’ve figured out an issue with a debugger  
in a few minutes that I’m sure would have taken me hours to figure out  
without one.

For my money (which is sort of a misnomer, because this one’s free),  
the best Ruby/Rails debugger available right now is the one in  
NetBeans 6. If you’ve used a debugger with Java or C++ or other  
languages before, this one works pretty much the same. If you haven’t,  
now is the time to learn how. 🙂 Don’t worry, it really isn’t hard.  
It’s pretty easy to get started, and just takes some practice to  
become proficient.

I strongly recommend downloading NetBeans 6 M9 and running your  
project inside of its debugger. Set a breakpoint on the line where you  
send the mail, and when you hit it, start stepping through the code  
line by line, inspecting variables and watching where the execution  
path goes along the way. You’ll find your problem. Make sure you  
switch NetBeans from using JRuby to using your native Ruby  
interpreter, and see this page for setting up the fast debugger:

[http://wiki.netbeans.org/wiki/view/RubyDebugging](http://wiki.netbeans.org/wiki/view/RubyDebugging)

You wanted to know what developers usually do when things don’t work  
as expected - this is it. We turn to our debuggers to help us find out  
why.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ping back with questions. And good  
luck. 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/6 "2007-05-27T19:03:37Z")

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Thanks, Bill, for the thorough response. Your point is well  
taken about the debugger. A debugger is an invaluable tool  
to be used as a debugging AID after one has completed  
the first step that you described which is:

> Step through the code  
> mentally looking for any obvious mistakes.

The problem I’m having with Rails is that I don’t know what  
code to step through. I read these instructions on how to make  
the mailer work. I follow them and when it doesn’t work, I have  
no idea what to do. This has got to be an easy thing. I can  
send a test e-mail very simply using the following shell script:

#!/bin/bash  
/usr/sbin/sendmail -t \<\<\_ALTO  
To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
Subject: Test

Now is the time  
for all good men  
to come to the aid  
of their party.  
\_ALTO

That tells me that I have my smtp server correctly configured  
for this task. So, it seems to me that the next step would be  
to somehow test to see whether the outgoing e-mail is actually  
being generated and transferred to the smpt server. It appears  
that that isn’t happening. I would really expect there to be some  
log entry telling me that something has failed. You have  
mentioned ‘debug logging’. I wasn’t aware that there was such  
a thing. Presumably that advances the logging level. I’ll look  
into that as that may be the key to solving my problem.

Thanks for the input.

```
   ... doug

```

~

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/7 "2007-05-27T17:25:29Z")

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> So it’s doing what it’s configured to do.

Good point, and maybe this is something I need to look into because  
that’s exactly how it’s behaving. That is to say that it’s behaving  
as though it were in testing mode and not actually sending the e-  
mail. However, what I _MEANT_ was that I’m running in the testing  
_ENVIRONMENT_. I do have:

config.action\_ mailer.delivery\_ method=:sendmail

Thanks for the input.

```
    ... doug
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mailer-setup-problems/105194/8 "2007-05-27T19:22:38Z")

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On May 27, 1:02 pm, doug [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> > Step through the code  
> > mentally looking for any obvious mistakes.
> 
> The problem I’m having with Rails is that I don’t know what  
> code to step through.

I meant stepping through the code you wrote. Not necessarily Rails  
code (although the debugger will take you in there if you use it; you  
won’t have to know what Rails code to look at, the debugger will).

> You have  
> mentioned ‘debug logging’. I wasn’t aware that there was such  
> a thing. Presumably that advances the logging level. I’ll look  
> into that as that may be the key to solving my problem.

Actually I was talking about adding logging statements to your code,  
such as “some\_variable is currently #{some\_variable}” in order to see  
what’s going on without necessarily using a debugger (which can tell  
you all the same things and then some). However, now that you mention  
it, there is such a thing as debug logging. It’s already turned on by  
default if you’re running in development mode, but you can enable it  
for other modes by putting this in your environment.rb file:

config.log\_level = :debug