SMTP integration settings as core plugin

[discobot]

Users should have an ability to use SMTP easily if they choose to. No reason to have multiple plugins for something basic.

PHPMailer already provides necessary API, which can be accessed using phpmailer_init hook.

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Read-only archive: GitHub · Where software is built

Author: Viktor Nagornyy

Vote count: 28

Status: open

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Comments

Has my vote, this is one of the most common things I set up on new sites.

However, it probably won’t be straightforward to decide which settings and providers get included here by default.

~ posted by James Nylen

I wouldn’t include anyone by default, unless it’s really needed. Just provide input fields to connect to SMTP provider. A link to documentation where we can list common providers and examples could suffice too.

~ posted by Viktor Nagornyy

I support this too - it is the first thing I do now on every new site.

~ posted by Wade Striebel

Agree.

~ posted by Coby

Agree 100%.

~ posted by Tim Kaye

This is a no brainer. Agree!

~ posted by Paul Scollon

Agree.

~ posted by Jon S. Olsen

Definitely need for SMTP as standard. At the same time though, there are battle-tested plugins that do this really well - including a lot of features that CP probably won’t have time to develop - as it’s not the main focus. Simply bundling a plugin like this could be good alternative to having to integrate this in core:
Post SMTP – WP SMTP Plugin with Email Logs and Mobile App for Failure Notifications – Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Brevo, Mailgun, Amazon SES and more – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org
(I pick this one because unlike similar plugins, this one has connectivity and diagnostic tests, supports common APIs also, and now has SMTP option fallback included.)

~ posted by majick

Copy/pasting from my comment on GitHub · Where software is built because the same logic applies here:

There are a number of “middle-ground” approaches we could take here. A few examples:

• Present the most popular plugins (of which this would almost certainly be one) on the initial plugin directory screen.
• Add a “featured” plugins page, much like WP does. Transparent and impartial criteria for including plugins is important.
• We may release a “custom build” tool with v2 or shortly after. Common plugins like [this one] could be included in this tool.

~ posted by James Nylen

This is a very bad idea in terms of security exploits, and a surefire way to make web hosts think twice before supporting ClassicPress. Many comments on this site are not taking into account the dynamics of the industry…

Sending mail should not be the responsibility of a Core CMS, its something that should be configured higher up the stack, and by conscious decision (e.g. decided by whoever installed or manages the server itself). Even PHP does not support sending mail by default; this is by design.

There’s also the point that SMTP is pretty old school at this point, and a great way to get your TLD domain blacklisted by databases like Spamhaus. This is why modern email APIs are taking over so rapidly, and they have (whitelist) delivery agreements with major email providers like Gmail, etc.

This feature would add code bloat AND major security concerns.

~ posted by Jesse

While there are simple ways to add SMTP functionality for sending emails in WP and CP by using the phpmailer_init hook (as already discussed), I’m curious about the response from Jesse.

While PHP have mail() and WP has wp_mail() and even though this would not be a core feature; how do you (Jesse) recommend this to be done on a server level and yet added to the CP core, so that those who want to utilize a SMTP / IMAP email feature can do so?

~ posted by WooFunctions

[viktor]

Not sure if I still want this added to the core. I did start using APIs to send emails. There’s also a plugin SMTP to handle that easily.

@discobot

There’s also the point that SMTP is pretty old school at this point, and a great way to get your TLD domain blacklisted by databases like Spamhaus. This is why modern email APIs are taking over so rapidly, and they have (whitelist) delivery agreements with major email providers like Gmail, etc.

It’s an interesting point. It made me think. What if we integrated mail providers’ APIs as a core plugin, so users could easily pick their provider and enter their API details for CP to send emails? WHMCS did something like this. It looks something like this:

It’s also extensible, so developers can add new providers if they want to.

[viktor]

This is my petition. At this time it’s best to leave it up to plugins to provide SMTP integration. Petition will be closed.

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