SSL mails stopped working

[stefangs]

Hi all,

on one machine where I have FMP v10 running, my mail scripts have suddenly (I think) stopped working. I created a test file, but I get the same results. The script used to work just fine. Now I always get a box saying "There was an error with SSL". My provider changed addresses a while back but the old server names are still working, presumably to not break everyone's email client. I have tried with both the old and the new SSL credentials and it makes no difference. Sending emails vial my normal email client app works fine, so the credentials are obviously correct.

In the script, I tried leaving out the name (found that as a possible cause while searching) to no avail.

Tried with several other SMTP servers, with and without authentication.

Using the E-mail client option works, btw, but it's not an option.

Any ideas? Thanks,

Stefan

[Wim Decorte]

FMP10 is very old and does not support the proper TLS standards that most email providers require these days.  Most of the big SSL/TLS updates came around FM14

[stefangs]

That's an interesting point! This machine handles my mailing lists etc.

The Email client on it (Apple Mail on 10.6.8) is even older but has no problems handling mails. Obviously it is talking to the same servers. I don't know much about the under-the-hood work of SSL, but how would that be different then?

(I'll make a copy of the file now and test it on a *slightly* newer machine with FMP 13.)

Edited January 22, 2020 by stefangs

[stefangs]

So I tried my test file using FMA 13 on Mavericks. Same difference.

[Wim Decorte]

You can't compare Apple Mail and FM in this respect.  One thing you can do is to reach out to your email provider and see if they can spot anything in the mail server logs that would provide a clue as to why they are rejecting the incoming SMTP.

Note that in general, many of the bigger email providers (Google, Office365,...) are actively moving away from basic authentication (username / pw) for access to SMTP, POP, IMAP and similar older protocols.  So you may want to investigate switching over to using their APIs.  Which will give you the benefit of more functionality (for instance you can easily send multiple attachments and HTML emails without having to use a plugin).

[stefangs]

I'm with 1&1 which is big over here. Asking them about logs is probably a long shot, but it's definitely worth a try.

Thanks!

[stefangs]

Well these guys were not very helpful, to say the least. Bummer :-(

 

[Wim Decorte]

One other thing you can try, is to do this from different locations, take your laptop to a coffee shop or any other network and try from there.  Just to rule out anything with your specific network.

[stefangs]

That's a good idea! I'll try this tomorrow when I'm at the office.

And regarding the move to more current FM versions, I just looked at this ;-)

https://community.filemaker.com/en/s/question/0D50H00006o3mDHSAY/omg-why-did-they-break-the-smtp-send-mail-script-step-in-fmpa-18-

Of course, this may be another trick altogether.