Administrative and Maintenance Tools - Auto Bounce Messages Management

Brought to you by Syrian Medical Society & Milado

Introduction: quoted from wikipedia with adaptation.
Any long-lived forums is going to eventually contain addresses that can't be reached. Addresses that were once valid can become unusable because the person receiving the mail there has switched to a different provider (possibly as a result of changing jobs or schools). In another scenario, the address may still exist but be abandoned, with unread mail accumulating until there is not enough room left to accept any more.

The presence of invalid addresses in the forums results in bounce messages being sent to the owner of the forums. If the mailing list is small, the owner can read the bounce messages and manually remove the invalid addresses from the forums. With a larger forums, this is a tedious, unpleasant job, so it is desirable to automate the process.

In short: This hack automates handling of the bounce messages.


Requirements:

• vBulletin 3.7.1
• catch-all email address, with POP3 access. (I use Google app (Gmail))

Features:

• Auto Bounce Messages Management.
• Uses POP3 protocol to retrieve messages from your catch-all email box.
• On bounce detection the user will be moved to bounce usergroup (you can set which usergroup).
• Works according to VERP.

A note:
I believe there is no need to delete the user subscriptions. because once a user got moved to the "Awaiting email confirmation" usergroup, he / she won't be sent any additional emails.

How Does It Work?
You have your catch-all email box, that will be used to receive the bounce messages. Of course we must have a POP3 access to retrieve messages from it.
Let's suppose that your catch-all email address is bounces@yourdomain.ext
After we set it properly, it will work as described below:
1) By default: On every single message being sent, vBulletin generates a unique Message-ID for it, example:

Message-ID: <20080608103128.551e45224330@www.yourdomain.ext>

This ID is generated By using the following code in /includes/class_mail.php:

PHP Code:

$msgid = '<' . gmdate('YmdHis') . '.' . substr(md5($message . microtime()), 0, 6) . vbrand(100000, 999999) . '@' . $http_host . '>'; 


I take the red portion from the unique Message-ID, and the red portion from the domain name of the catch-all address:

Message-ID: <20080608103128.551e45224330@www.yourdomain.ext>

bounces@yourdomain.ext

The result will be:

bounce20080608103128.551e45224330@yourdomain.ext

Now every single message has its own unique envelope-from address. so if it gets returned as a bounce, I will recognize it easily.
So every message will be recorded in the database. each record consists of : toemail, bounceemail (the one we generated) and the timeline (for sake of pruning.)
2) A cron job runs every ten minutes to retrieve bounce messages from the catch-all email box.
If the message sent to something similar to the bounceemail we generate, it will update the appropriate record in the database to be marked as returned. and delete the message from the POP3 server.
3) Another cron job runs once an hour, reads the bounced emails from the database and moves their owners to an usergroup which is determined by the admin from the settings.
4) Yet another cron job, will run once daily, to prune the records that haven't returned bounces in a settable period of time (30 days by default).

Did I miss something here?
Yeh, right. this is the first beta, I believe the core is almost done. but there may be some functions to add, and few things to tweak.
I'm all opened to your suggestions. So feel free to dream!

Installation & Upgrade:
1) Have your own catch-all email with POP3 access. I don't have the time to write a how-to article for this please do it yourself, you'll be luckily if someone explains it to others.
2) Upload files from the /upload/ folder in the package to their appropriate locations.
3) Install the xml product file: product-bounce_management.xml, of course choose yes to override when upgrading.
4) Refresh your AdminCP. you will see at the navigation side, above the Users tab, a new tab called "Bounces Management"
5) At that tab, go to the settings: Set your POP server settings, your "Bounce Usergroup" and "Exclude Usergroups".
6) At the same tab you will find a link called "Test POP Connection" to test the connection with your POP server.
7) Enjoy! Click install to let me enjoy too!

Settings:
Attachment 81933

Know issues:
- In rare situations, a vacation reply may returned via the bounce path rather than the webmaster path.


Change log:

• 1.0.0.b.1 first public release, on June, 8 2008.

Support:
The product marked as not supported, but that doesn't mean you won't see me again here.
So please try to help each other.

License & Credits:
1) I use the pop3_class from Manuel Lemos, Copyright (c) 1999-2005 to retrieve messages from the POP server, so all the credits regarding this go to him.
Here is his license (included in the package too):

Copyright (c) 1999-2005, Manuel Lemos
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* Neither the name of the Manuel Lemos nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Click install to receive updates.
You like it? nominate it. I'm looking forward to enter the Mod Of The Month competition.
I depend on you.
Also donations will help me to improve the product. :up:

[Milad]

Originally Posted by dtv100

is there any way to know who was move because email bounce ?

Yes, will be added.
Regards

[renep]

Originally Posted by Milad

If you have a better pattern to suggest, go on.

I couldn't find an authoritative specification, but it seems '+' is universally used as the box+recipient separator, and '=' is used to encode special characters in the recipient address (that may not be unencoded in the bounce address).

By following this pattern, people can use the default VERP-support in their MTA to route bounces to a particular mailbox, which your add-on reads.

You prefer to use an id rather than the recipient address in the bounce address, to avoid abuse. That's fine of course, as long as you encode special characters in the id (in particular '@').

[Milad]

Originally Posted by renep

You prefer to use an id rather than the recipient address in the bounce address, to avoid abuse. That's fine of course, as long as you encode special characters in the id (in particular '@').

The id that I use, contains a-z0-9 and dot only.

[Alfa1]

Without a message to the inactivated member, this mod will lead to a mass of inquiries. On a large board this is a serious problem.

I know I asked for a lot of features before, but please consider to add an automatic PM.

Originally Posted by Alfa1

Many thanks Milad! I am looking forward to future versions.

Please consider to add:

• different responses to different error codes / Custom filters to match patterns in bounced emails. i.e. permanent error, mailbox full, etc should get a different response. Not many webmasters want their members account inactivated when a mailbox is full.
• Stats on members with bouncing emails, and error codes
• Turns on Popup Notification of new Private Messages for bouncing member
• Automatically send a notification PM to bouncing Member (customizable message)
• Return members to their original usergroup when the member updates & confirms their new email.

[Milad]

I really have a problem that all suggestion had been copied from previous hacks such as vBouncer.

I don't like to do things already done. anyway the automatic PM notification is on its way to be added. I'm trying to add something new because I want my mod to be unique.

This is the most difficult part:

different responses to different error codes / Custom filters to match patterns in bounced emails. i.e. permanent error, mailbox full, etc should get a different response.

Now I'm working on analyzing cron job which will classify the bounce messages. it's gonna take a lot of work and development.

[Devices]

Originally Posted by Milad

I really have a problem that all suggestion had been copied from previous hacks such as vBouncer.

I don't like to do things already done. anyway the automatic PM notification is on its way to be added. I'm trying to add something new because I want my mod to be unique.

This is the most difficult part:
Now I'm working on analyzing cron job which will classify the bounce messages. it's gonna take a lot of work and development.

I don't think you need to worry about having the same features as Vbouncer as that hack has been unsupported for a long time. Your hack is doing the same job so it is very likely it will have the same or similar features. Also new features will make your addon more unique.

I am glad to hear you are adding in a PM notification also as this is very important. As Alfa1 says it can cuase confusion for any members that have been dealt with.

[Alfa1]

Originally Posted by Milad

I really have a problem that all suggestion had been copied from previous hacks such as vBouncer.

I don't like to do things already done. anyway the automatic PM notification is on its way to be added. I'm trying to add something new because I want my mod to be unique.

I would not want you to copy anyone's work. Your mod is unique as there is no other working mod that automatically handles bounced mail.

The suggestions are to fill a need that is there. There will be various ways to do so.
Thank you for taking up the suggestion of a PM notification.

Originally Posted by Milad

This is the most difficult part:
Now I'm working on analyzing cron job which will classify the bounce messages. it's gonna take a lot of work and development.

I can imagine that it will, but you can be sure that we will be grateful for your work. These functions are essential for a healthy site and there is nothing that completely handles it.

In relation to the article in my signature, there is a need to process responses from the SMTP servers of email providers and take appropriate action per response.

I am very grateful for Anti-Virus his EZ bounced management, because until now it was the only thing that helped. Only after a completely automated mod like yours handles this issue I will dare to do a mass emailing.

[youradhere4222]

Originally Posted by Milad

OK, never mind. I'm sorry for that. I'm going to make the copyright optional.

Thus, I appreciate if you post a backlink to my site. when you announce the automation to your members.

Regards

Thank you.

[stwilson]

Milad,

Thank you for your work and thank you for reconsidering the back links. I will give this a try and if it works for me I will NOT put on a back link (I don't use any MODs that require back links) but rather I will send you money for your efforts. Thanks for contributing to the VB community!!!!! Keep up the great work!!

[stwilson]

Milad,

I have installed without issue. I modifed a user account with a bogus email address but the account was not moved to the prescribed user group. I have a catch-all email account in my setup, one that will take any email address for the domain. Any suggestions?