[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #40810: wp_mail fails to send email on WP auto update when wp-cron is called directly by php

[WordPress Trac]

#40810: wp_mail fails to send email on WP auto update when wp-cron is called
directly by php
----------------------------+-----------------------------
 Reporter:  pessoft         |      Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)    |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Mail            |    Version:  4.7.5
 Severity:  normal          |   Keywords:
  Focuses:  administration  |
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 Hi!

 On some of our WordPress instances wp-cron.php is called by system cron
 directly as a parameter to php command ( not via HTTP request ). This is
 partially to make sure that WP cron is executed regularly and partially to
 make sure that all tasks in cron will not hit a timeout for HTTP
 communication on servers and reverse proxies.

 In a case when WP triggers auto update during such php execution and wants
 to send email about success, there is no $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] available
 and no From: header passed to wp_mail, therefore sender's email is not
 fully generated and delivery fails:
 PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught exception 'phpmailerException' with message
 'Invalid address:  (setFrom) wordpress@'

 There are at least three possible solutions which could generate valid
 email address and maybe help in more scenarios too:

 1) WP auto update fix
 As WP update knows what is the site URL of WP during update, it could
 construct sender's email directly from configuration, pass it as From:
 header to wp_mail and not need to rely on whether SERVER_NAME is set or
 not.

 2) Local hostname fix
 When wp_mail is called and From: header is not present, wp_mail tries to
 construct the sender's email from SERVER_NAME. In case neither SERVER_NAME
 is available, wp_mail could try to call function like php_uname or
 gethostname yet as a last resort for construction of sender's email. This
 could ( at least to some extent ) help with such wp_mail calls where
 SERVER_NAME is not available.

 3) Sender's email configuration option
 By providing possibility to have a default sender's email for WP
 configured, it would be possible to use such address as sender in wp_mail
 function and rely on SERVER_NAME only if configuration option would be not
 set ( or set empty ). Based on history of tickets related to sender's
 email address, this fix would help many users for which current
 construction of sender's address is not suitable and work also in backward
 compatible way.

 Do you see any of these options acceptable?

 Thanks.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40810>
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