Easily.co.uk Host and Formail Help Needed

[p.cottam]

Hi

I have been given a site to fully redesign by the original owner that registered it with easily.co.uk using their basic service , he has upgarded the service to allow FTP , CGI etc on a linux plan

My question is i am trying to configure the feedback , booking forms that he wants but cannot find the correct code for the form to use formail or sendmail etc

I have been in touch with their support via the owner and i have to say there support seems to be very poor based on other hosts that i normaly use they keep sending back the simple answer as below

You should just use /usr/sbin/sendmail -i -t

therefore i have used the following and as many variaties such as formail.pl, sendmail.cgi etc but cannot get the form to work in any way

<form method="POST" action="/usr/sbin/sendmail -i -t/sendmail.pl">

Am i missing something simple or does anyone have any experience like this with easily.co.uk

[Easywebdev]

/usr/sbin/sendmail is the path to the sendmail executable, -i and -t are parameters passed to the executable. Appending /sendmail.pl to that path will do nothing except cause an error due to invalid parameters.

At some stage your perl script has to call the sendmail executable to send email. Open the sendmail.pl file and somewhere in there there ought to be a variable containing the sendmail executable path and necessary parameters to pass ie "/usr/sbin/sendmail -i -t" that is what you need to edit, it is also possible that the mailer portion of the script does not contain the path in a variable and uses the path directly then this is what you need to edit.

The formail perl script "sendmail.pl" must also be in a directory that is properly configured to allow the use of perl scripting, most likely the cgi-bin folder. This is where you must place the script and call it from.

I just reread your post and noticed this.

Originally Posted by p.cottam

therefore i have used the following and as many variaties such as formail.pl, sendmail.cgi etc but cannot get the form to work in any way

Have you even uploaded a formmail script? most hosts dissallow formmail on their servers as the original script is full of security holes and leaves the server vunlnerable as an open relay.

You need to do some reading on how to upload and configure perl scripts or do not use perl and change the form over to a simpler php script.

[bigaussie]

It is never a pleasant experience working for someone on their own server. Especially if the support expects you to know everything about the way they have their servers setup.

We have all been new to the scripting side of things at some stage.

I ran a search in the support section of their website and finally came up with some more information for you. Sorry if the line below gets chopped off in your browser. Try copying and pasting it into your browser if the link isn't completely picked up.

http://support.easily.co.uk/al/12/2/...=0.8261332&s=1

This page gives plenty of information - - especially on what NOT to do.

I have used a great OpenSource PERL script which is very secure from:

nms - web programs written by experts

Inside the script; after you unzip it, you will find it VERY WELL commented. The first line may need to be changed to reflect the placement of PERL on the Easily.co.uk servers. Also within the script you will then see the line which you already referred to /usr/sbin/sendmail..... This line within the script may also need to be edited.

Once you upload the script to your /cgi-bin directory - using ASCII mode within your FTP program. You can then add a line to your form to find the script eg.,

method="post" action="/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl

I STRONGLY suggest you change the name of the script from FormMail.pl ---> mailgateway.pl or something similar. This will lower the chances of any hackers finding the script.

There are some great examples of forms and how to setup and install the program inside the .zip when you download the script.

I hope you do not run into any more trouble with the form/s.

[p.cottam]

My host supplies Matt Wrights formail as standard on there servers but i have taken yours and bigaussie advise and changed the script to a more secure one which i set up without any problem at all

The particular problem with the Easily host was in fact mostly down to poor communication and slow response via there support which had to be relayed via the domain owner a non Techie

The hosting package did not have php and although running perl you have to create your own CGI bin etc despite the actual owner telling me it was all set up etc

Anyway its all set up and working now with the secure script

One valuable lesson learned is to perhaps charge more cost for work on a site hosted independantly by the site owner because of delays in support issues and communications