Native php mail function don't seem to work with Gmail

Question

I am trying to use the native PHP function to send a simple test email through gmail SMTP, but it's not working. Going through various forums including Stack Overflow and the only solutions I see are the ones that recommend third-party email libraries/frameworks/api's. Does this mean that PHP's mail() does not work with Gmail, and if so, why?

The following is the code:

<?php
$to ="mail2@yahoo.com";
$sbj ="test mail";
$msg ="testing! testing!! testing!!!";

ini_set("SMTP", "ssl://smtp.gmail.com");
ini_set("smtp_port", 465);
ini_set("sendmail_from", "mail1@gmail.com");

$header ="From: " .ini_get("sendmail_from");

mail($to, $sbj, $msg, $header);

?>

And the error message I got:

Warning: mail(): Failed to connect to mailserver at "ssl://smtp.gmail.com" port 465, verify your "SMTP" and "smtp_port" setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in C:\\wamp\\www\\test\\web1\\test1.php on line 12

Answer 1

The best class for you is phpmailer . There are good examples for Gmail (simple and advanced).

Answer 2

Does this mean that PHP's mail() does not work with Gmail, and if so, why?

Gmail servers require user to authenticate before sending any message, mail() does not provide any authentication method

Answer 3

I use Pear along with Gmail. Works great.

http://pear.php.net/package/Mail/redirected