Mail::Transport(3)

NAME
Mail::Transport - use Mail Transfer Agents (MTAs)

INHERITANCE
 Mail::Transport
   is a Mail::Reporter

 Mail::Transport is extended by
   Mail::Transport::Receive
   Mail::Transport::Send

SYNOPSIS
  my $message = Mail::Message->new(...);

  # Some extensions implement sending:
  $message->send;
  $message->send(via => 'sendmail');

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

  # Some extensions implement receiving:
  my $receiver = Mail::Transport::POP3->new(...);
  $message = $receiver->receive;

DESCRIPTION
Objects which extend "Mail::Transport" implement sending and/or receiving of messages, using various protocols.

This is a maintenance release for the old interface. Read https://github.com/markov2/perl5-Mail-Box/wiki/ how to move towards version 4.

Mail::Transport::Send extends this class, and offers general functionality for send protocols, like SMTP. Mail::Transport::Receive also extends this class, and offers receive method. Some transport protocols will implement both sending and receiving.

Extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Reporter.

METHODS
Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Reporter.

  Constructors
Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter.

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

     -Option    --Defined in     --Default
      executable                   undef
      hostname                     'localhost'
      interval                     30
      log         Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
      password                     undef
      port                         undef
      proxy                        undef
      retry                        <unlimited>
      timeout                      120
      trace       Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
      username                     undef
      via                          'sendmail'

    executable => $file
        If you specify an executable, the module does not need to search the system directories to figure-out where the client lives. Using this decreases the flexible usage of your program: moving your program to other systems may involve changing the path to the executable, which otherwise would work auto-detect and unmodified.

    hostname => $host|\@hosts
        The $host on which the server runs. Some protocols accept an ARRAY of alternatives for this option.

    interval => $span
        The time $span between tries to contact the remote server for sending or receiving a message in seconds. This number must be larger than 0.

    log => LEVEL
    password => $password
        Some protocols require a $password to be given, usually in combination with a password.

    port => $port
        The $port number behind which the service is hiding on the remote server.

    proxy => $path
        The name of the proxy software (the protocol handler). This must be the name (preferable the absolute $path) of your mail delivery software.

    retry => $count|undef
        The number of retries before the sending will fail. If "undef", the number of retries is unlimited.

    timeout => $span
        The maximim seconds to wait for establishing the connection to a remote server.

    trace => LEVEL
    username => $username
        Some protocols require a user to login.

    via => CLASS|$name
        Which CLASS (extending "Mail::Transport") will transport the data. Some predefined names avoid long class names: "mail" and "mailx" are handled by the Mail::Transport::Mailx module, "sendmail" and "postfix" belong to Mail::Transport::Sendmail, and "smtp" is implemented in Mail::Transport::SMTP.

        The "pop" or "pop3" protocol implementation can be found distribution Mail::Transport::POP3. For "imap" or "imap4", install Mail::Transport::IMAP4.

  Attributes
Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Reporter.

$obj->logSettings()
    Inherited, see "Attributes" in Mail::Reporter

  Server connection

$obj->findBinary( $name, [@directories] )
    Look for a binary with the specified $name in the directories which are defined to be safe. The list of standard directories is followed by the optional @directories. The full pathname is returned.

    You may specify new(proxy), which specifies the absolute name of the binary to be used.

$obj->remoteHost()
    Returns the hostname, port number, username and password to be used to establish the connection to the server for sending or receiving mail.

$obj->retry()
    Returns the retry interval, retry count, and timeout for the connection.

  Error handling
Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter.

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

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

$any->defaultTrace( [$level]|[$loglevel, $tracelevel]|[$level, $callback] )
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

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

$any->log( [$level, [$strings]] )
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$any->logPriority($level)
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

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

$obj->report( [$level] )
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->reportAll( [$level] )
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

$obj->trace( [$level] )
    Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

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

  Cleanup
Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter.

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

DIAGNOSTICS

Warning: Avoid program abuse: specify an absolute path for $exec.
    Specifying explicit locations for executables of email transfer agents should only be done with absolute file names, to avoid various pontential security problems. Cast by new()

Warning: Executable $exec does not exist.
    The explicitly indicated mail transfer agent does not exists. The normal settings are used to find the correct location. Cast by new()

Error: Package $package does not implement $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()

SEE ALSO
This module is part of Mail-Transport version 3.008, built on November 24, 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.