rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server "localhost"

[Thufir]

google groups had little to say on this, aside from making sure that the network
time protocol, ntp, is working.  It works everytime the pc boots, only failing
if I've forgotten to plug in an ethernet cord.  anyhow, the internet is working.

should I change from "localhost" to something else?  What's this message
indicative of, please?  Admittedly, my searching wasn't particularly thorough...

(no, I shouldn't be running as root.)

[root@localhost ~]# 
[root@localhost ~]# 
[root@localhost ~]# r2e
E: insufficient args

rss2email: get RSS feeds emailed to you
http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/rss2email

Usage:
  new [emailaddress] (create new feedfile)
  email newemailaddress (update default email)
  run [--no-send] [num]
  add feedurl [emailaddress]
  list
  delete n

[root@localhost ~]# r2e email [e-mail]
Feedfile "/root/.rss2email/feeds.dat" does not exist.  If you're using r2e for
the first time, you
have to run 'r2e new' first.
[root@localhost ~]# r2e new
[root@localhost ~]# r2e email [e-mail]
[root@localhost ~]# r2e list
default email: [e-mail]
[root@localhost ~]# r2e add http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss
[root@localhost ~]# r2e list
default email: [e-mail]
1: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss (default:
[e-mail])
[root@localhost ~]# r2e run

Fatal error: could not connect to mail server "localhost"
[root@localhost ~]# date
Sat Apr 14 08:19:30 BST 2007
[root@localhost ~]# 
[root@localhost ~]#

thanks,

Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

http://rss2email.infogami.com/webui says to go to
http://localhost:8080/,so...

should I have some sort of server running?
I'll have to try the GUI another time.

thanks,

Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Todd Zullinger]

Thufir wrote:
> should I have some sort of server running?

The default config for the Fedora rss2email package tries to connect
to localhost via SMTP to send email.  You can either:

a) run an SMTP server on your box
    b) set SMTP_SEND=0* so /usr/sbin/sendmail is used to deliver mail
    c) set SMTP_SERVER* to your ISP's SMTP server

Good luck,

* in ~/.rss2email/config.py

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

Todd Zullinger <tmz <at> pobox.com> writes:
> Thufir wrote:
> > should I have some sort of server running?
>
> The default config for the Fedora rss2email package tries to connect
> to localhost via SMTP to send email.  You can either:
> a) run an SMTP server on your box
> b) set SMTP_SEND=0* so /usr/sbin/sendmail is used to deliver mail
> c) set SMTP_SERVER* to your ISP's SMTP server
>
> Good luck,
> in ~/.rss2email/config.py

I installed sendmail with yum, but wonder if there might be an additional
configuration.

# Pine configuration file
#
# This file sets the configuration options used by Pine and PC-Pine. These
# options are usually set from within Pine or PC-Pine. There may be a
# system-wide configuration file which sets the defaults for some of the
# variables. On Unix, run pine -conf to see how system defaults have been set.
# For variables that accept multiple values, list elements are separated by
# commas. A line beginning with a space or tab is considered to be a
# continuation of the previous line. For a variable to be unset its value must
# be blank. To set a variable to the empty string its value should be "".
# You can override system defaults by setting a variable to the empty string.
# Lines beginning with "#" are comments, and ignored by Pine.

# Over-rides your full name from Unix password file. Required for PC-Pine.
personal-name=HAWAT.THUFIR

# Sets domain part of From: and local addresses in outgoing mail.
user-domain=GMAIL.COM

# List of SMTP servers for sending mail. If blank: Unix Pine uses sendmail.
smtp-server=smtp.gmail.com/user=[e-mail]/ssl/novalidate-cert

# NNTP server for posting news. Also sets news-collections for news reading.
nntp-server=localhost

# Path of (local or remote) INBOX, e.g. ={mail.somewhere.edu}inbox
# Normal Unix default is the local INBOX (usually /usr/spool/mail/$USER).

[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# pwd
/root/.rss2email
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# whoami
root
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# set SMTP_SEND=0
[root@localhost .rss2email]# r2e run

Fatal error: could not connect to mail server "localhost"
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1               localhost.localdomain localhost
#::1            localhost.localdomain localhost
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# date
Sat Apr 14 09:43:33 BST 2007
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]#

thanks,

Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

on top of configuring sendmail, I went ahead and registered
<benetleilax.homedns.org> with http://www.dyndns.com/, and will
also work on changing the hostname.

It appears to be a configuration with sendmail which is causing
the error message with rss2email?  Can I use the google smtp
server? It requires a password, so I'm thinking not.  I need
to also configure for my ISP's mail server?  Ok.

-Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Todd Zullinger]

Thufir wrote:
> It appears to be a configuration with sendmail which is causing
> the error message with rss2email?

It's the rss2email config that says to use localhost as your SMTP
server.
> Can I use the google smtp server? It requires a password, so I'm
> thinking not.  I need to also configure for my ISP's mail server?

One or the other should be possible.  Look at ~/.rss2email/config.py
and change the settings there.  Here is the default config file:

# Find some common used config options below; all can be found all and 
# descriptions in the section titled "### Vaguely Customizable Options ###"
# near the top of /usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py

DEFAULT_FROM="[e-mail]"
HTML_MAIL=1
SMTP_SEND=1
SMTP_SERVER="localhost"
AUTHREQUIRED=0
SMTP_USER="username"
SMTP_PASS="password"
DATE_HEADER=0
# PROXY=""

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

On 4/14/07, Todd Zullinger  wrote:
> Thufir wrote:
> > It appears to be a configuration with sendmail which is causing
> > the error message with rss2email?
>
> It's the rss2email config that says to use localhost as your SMTP
> server.

By editing the rss2email config file, I can make it use my isp's SMTP server?

I'm not at the pc now, but will try later.  I take it that you're a
user of rss2email?  Looks pretty neat :)

-Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Todd Zullinger]

Thufir wrote:
> By editing the rss2email config file, I can make it use my isp's
> SMTP server?

Yep.
> I'm not at the pc now, but will try later.  I take it that you're a
> user of rss2email?  Looks pretty neat :)

I've meant to check it out before but never got around to it until
last night. ;)

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

Todd Zullinger <tmz <at> pobox.com> writes:
> Thufir wrote:
> > By editing the rss2email config file, I can make it use my isp's
> > SMTP server?
>
> Yep.
> > I'm not at the pc now, but will try later.  I take it that you're a
> > user of rss2email?  Looks pretty neat :)
>
> I've meant to check it out before but never got around to it until
> last night. ;)

[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# date
Sun Apr 15 08:56:28 BST 2007
[root@localhost .rss2email]# r2e run

Fatal error: could not connect to mail server "mail.vc.shawcable.net"
[root@localhost .rss2email]# date
Sun Apr 15 09:36:28 BST 2007
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# ll
total 24
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 380 Apr 15 08:51 config.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 418 Apr 15 08:53 config.pyc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 185 Apr 15 08:59 feeds.dat
[root@localhost .rss2email]# cat config.py
# Find some common used config options below; all can be found all and 
# descriptions in the section titled "### Vaguely Customizable Options ###"
# near the top of /usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py

DEFAULT_FROM="[e-mail]"
HTML_MAIL=1
SMTP_SEND=1
SMTP_SERVER=""
AUTHREQUIRED=0
SMTP_USER="username"
SMTP_PASS="password"
DATE_HEADER=0
# PROXY=""
[root@localhost .rss2email]# [root@localhost .rss2email]# date
Sun Apr 15 09:37:02 BST 2007
[root@localhost .rss2email]# 
[root@localhost .rss2email]# ping mail.vc.shawcable.net
PING mail.vc.shawcable.net (24.71.223.37) 56(84) bytes of data.
> From rc1so-pos11-0.cg.shawcable.net (66.163.76.9) icmp_seq=3 Destination Host

Unreachable
> From rc1so-pos11-0.cg.shawcable.net (66.163.76.9) icmp_seq=4 Destination Host

Unreachable
> From rc1so-pos11-0.cg.shawcable.net (66.163.76.9) icmp_seq=6 Destination Host

Unreachable
> From rc1so-pos11-0.cg.shawcable.net (66.163.76.9) icmp_seq=8 Destination Host

Unreachable

--- mail.vc.shawcable.net ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 0 received, +4 errors, 100% packet loss, time 7000ms

[root@localhost .rss2email]#

so....not a suprising result.

-Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

Ok, progress :)

some sort of error relating to specific rss feed?  I tried a few, so that seems
unlikely.

[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# 
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# 
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# pwd
/root/.rss2email
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# whoami
root
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# ll
total 24
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 378 Apr 15 10:05 config.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 416 Apr 15 10:05 config.pyc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 376 Apr 15 10:12 feeds.dat
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# cat config.py
# Find some common used config options below; all can be found all and 
# descriptions in the section titled "### Vaguely Customizable Options ###"
# near the top of /usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py

DEFAULT_FROM="[e-mail]"
HTML_MAIL=1
SMTP_SEND=1
SMTP_SERVER="smtp.gmail.com"
AUTHREQUIRED=0
SMTP_USER="hawat.thufir"
SMTP_PASS="password"
#no, that's not my password :)
DATE_HEADER=0
# PROXY=""
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e
E: insufficient args

rss2email: get RSS feeds emailed to you
http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/rss2email

Usage:
  new [emailaddress] (create new feedfile)
  email newemailaddress (update default email)
  run [--no-send] [num]
  add feedurl [emailaddress]
  list
  delete n

[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e list
default email: [e-mail]
1: feedparser (default: [e-mail])
2: 4.1 (default: [e-mail])
3: http://vancouver.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss (default: [e-mail])
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# 
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e run
E: error in "feedparser" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty
)
E: error in "4.1" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty
)
=== SEND THE FOLLOWING TO [e-mail] ===
E: could not parse http://vancouver.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py", line 644, in run
    smtpserver = send(fromhdr, tohdr, subjecthdr, content, contenttype,
extraheaders, smtpserver)
  File "/usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py", line 178, in send
    smtpserver.sendmail(sender, recipient, msg_as_string)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/smtplib.py", line 684, in sendmail
    raise SMTPSenderRefused(code, resp, from_addr)
SMTPSenderRefused: (530, '5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first
40sm6172305nzf', u'"craigslist | motorcycles/scooters in vancouver, BC"
')
rss2email 2.60
feedparser 4.1
html2text 2.26
Python 2.4.4 (#1, Oct 23 2006, 13:58:00) 
[GCC 4.1.1 20061011 (Red Hat 4.1.1-30)]
=== END HERE ===
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# 
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# date
Sun Apr 15 10:13:56 BST 2007
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#

It comes across as a bug, but it seems more likely to be user error, I must
admit.  By the way, I configured a FQDN, for what it's worth,
"benetleilax.homedns.org", via http://www.dyndns.com/, but that's a side topic
I'm thinking

thanks,

Thufir

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Todd Zullinger]

Thufir wrote:
> Ok, progress :)
>
> some sort of error relating to specific rss feed?  I tried a few, so
> that seems unlikely.

I think it's some error caused by bad data in the feed list.  Maybe
that got there somehow while you were trying various things?
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]# whoami
> root

::shudders and tries not to look::
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]# cat config.py
> # Find some common used config options below; all can be found all and 
> # descriptions in the section titled "### Vaguely Customizable Options ###"
> # near the top of /usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py
>
> DEFAULT_FROM="[e-mail]"
> HTML_MAIL=1
> SMTP_SEND=1
> SMTP_SERVER="smtp.gmail.com"
> AUTHREQUIRED=0
> SMTP_USER="hawat.thufir"
> SMTP_PASS="password"
> #no, that's not my password :)
> DATE_HEADER=0
> # PROXY=""

Mostly that looks sane.  I don't know if you'll get errors from gmail
if you connect with the default from.  Perhaps that should be changed
to something legitimate.  Also, with AUTHREQUIRED=0, I don't think
that the SMTP_USER and SMTP_PASS will be used (just guessing, as I
haven't poked at the code much).

Of course, these are only potential issues once you get past the error
below. :)
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e list
> default email: [e-mail]
> 1: feedparser (default: [e-mail])
> 2: 4.1 (default: [e-mail])
> 3: http://vancouver.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss (default: [e-mail])

#1 and #2 look wrong.  Perhaps those got in there during other
experiments?  Maybe try moving the conf dir and starting fresh?

mv ~/.rss2email ~/.rss2email.bak
r2e new [e-mail]

Edit ~/.rss2email/config.py to contain

# Find some common used config options below; all can be found all and 
# descriptions in the section titled "### Vaguely Customizable Options ###"
# near the top of /usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py

DEFAULT_FROM="[e-mail]"
HTML_MAIL=1
SMTP_SEND=1
SMTP_SERVER="smtp.gmail.com"
AUTHREQUIRED=1
SMTP_USER="hawat.thufir"
SMTP_PASS="password"
#no, that's not my password :)
DATE_HEADER=0
# PROXY=""

Then add a test feed:

r2e add http://vancouver.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss
r2e run
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e run
> E: error in "feedparser" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty)
> E: error in "4.1" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty)
> === SEND THE FOLLOWING TO [e-mail] ===
> E: could not parse http://vancouver.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py", line 644, in run
>     smtpserver = send(fromhdr, tohdr, subjecthdr, content, contenttype,
> extraheaders, smtpserver)
>   File "/usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py", line 178, in send
>     smtpserver.sendmail(sender, recipient, msg_as_string)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/smtplib.py", line 684, in sendmail
>     raise SMTPSenderRefused(code, resp, from_addr)
> SMTPSenderRefused: (530, '5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first
> 40sm6172305nzf', u'"craigslist | motorcycles/scooters in vancouver, BC"
> ')

This looks like an error caused while trying to connect to gmail.
Possibly this is due to AUTHREQUIRED being set to 0 instead of 1 in
your config?  There are certainly many variables and places things
could be going awry.

FWIW, I added that feed and did r2e run without errors.  So it does
seem to work.
> It comes across as a bug, but it seems more likely to be user error,
> I must admit.

:)  I think you're not far from having things working, but there might
be some junk left in your config from getting to this point.
Hopefully a fresh config file might get you better results.

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

Todd Zullinger <tmz <at> pobox.com> writes:

[...]
> Mostly that looks sane.  I don't know if you'll get errors from gmail
> if you connect with the default from.  Perhaps that should be changed
> to something legitimate.  Also, with AUTHREQUIRED=0, I don't think
> that the SMTP_USER and SMTP_PASS will be used (just guessing, as I
> haven't poked at the code much).
>
> Of course, these are only potential issues once you get past the error
> below. :)

[...]

When root, I still get that same error.  As user "thufir", r2e just hangs.

[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e run
E: error in "feedparser" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty
)
E: error in "4.1" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty
)

Fatal error: could not authenticate with mail server "smtp.gmail.com"
as user "hawat.thufir"
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# ll
total 24
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 379 Apr 18 01:38 config.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 417 Apr 18 01:38 config.pyc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 379 Apr 18 07:59 feeds.dat
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# cat config.py -n
     1  # Find some common used config options below; all can be found
all and
     2  # descriptions in the section titled "### Vaguely Customizable
Options ###"
     3  # near the top of /usr/share/rss2email/rss2email.py
     4
     5  DEFAULT_FROM="[e-mail]"
     6  HTML_MAIL=1
     7  SMTP_SEND=1
     8  SMTP_SERVER="smtp.gmail.com"
     9  AUTHREQUIRED=1
    10  SMTP_USER="hawat.thufir"
    11  SMTP_PASS="password"
    12  DATE_HEADER=0
    13  # PROXY=""
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e list
default email: [e-mail]
1: feedparser (default: [e-mail])
2: 4.1 (default: [e-mail])
3: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss (default:
[e-mail])
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]# date
Wed Apr 18 08:00:07 BST 2007
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
[root@benetleilax .rss2email]#

however, when I do the above as user thufir, which users corresponding
config file is identical, it just hangs.  what's up?  what's sendmail
doing?  anything?  it doesn't appear in top.  Is sendmail working?

I posted the above to sendmail usenet, by the way.

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Todd Zullinger]

Thufir wrote:
> When root, I still get that same error.  As user "thufir", r2e just
> hangs.
>
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]#
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e run
> E: error in "feedparser" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty
> )
> E: error in "4.1" feed (<unknown>:2:-1: Document is empty
> )

You still have errors in your config file.  Did you delete and
recreate it?  If so, what commands did you use?
> [root@benetleilax .rss2email]# r2e list
> default email: [e-mail]
> 1: feedparser (default: [e-mail])
> 2: 4.1 (default: [e-mail])
> 3: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mcy/index.rss (default:
> [e-mail])

Your config still has those wrong values for 1 and 2.  You need to get
rid of them.  I'd suggest moving the entire ~/.rss2email directory
somewhere and starting fresh.
> however, when I do the above as user thufir, which users
> corresponding config file is identical, it just hangs.  what's up?
> what's sendmail doing?  anything?  it doesn't appear in top.  Is
> sendmail working?

Sendmail shouldn't have anything to do with things at this point.  The
config you quoted had this:
>  7  SMTP_SEND=1

That tells r2e to send via SMTP, using the value in SMTP_SERVER.

rss2email gives: Fatal error: could not connect to mail server

[Thufir]

Todd Zullinger <tmz <at> pobox.com> writes:
[...]
> Sendmail shouldn't have anything to do with things at this point.  The
> config you quoted had this:
> >  7  SMTP_SEND=1
>
> That tells r2e to send via SMTP, using the value in SMTP_SERVER.

I went with feeds on feeds, which works :)

-Thufir