Zhen Mailer version 2.0.1

[Chen Zhen]

SMF 2.1.X branch:
Adds utilities for your SMF outbound email.

Zhen Mailer

Notations:

ZhenMailer now adds the ability to customize email templates.

Navigate to:  Admin -> Maintenance -> Mail  to adjust any ZhenMailer settings.

PHP Mail Users:

Mail server software such as Postfix have a message size limit setting.
If you have a large database and are using the DB backup option you may need to increase this limit to a rather large number.
The setting is usually in Bytes and is based on the decompressed size of each file.
Even though files are compressed, your email program will decompress them to send the data.
This setting should be available in your Control Panel or you can manually adjust a config file if you have that option available.
Postfix reference example

Zhen Mailer is no longer restricted to SMTP email usage.
People using regular PHP mail may now take advantage of this utility.
If you operate a VPS or dedicated server and need help installing any of the requirements, please feel free to leave a post in the forum.


SMF 2.1.4 does not currently have the appropriate hooks and flexibility to allow overriding SMF email without file parsing.
Unfortunately this modification must make file edits for that task and the optional custom email templates.


Zhen Mailer Admin Setting ~ Admin/User ID To Send DB Dumps
Be careful when adding an additional user email address to the sent database and/or attachment emails.
Ensure that the extra email address is one that should be receiving those emails (ie. an admin)

This installation process will add the following:

-> Database dumps that are forwarded to the webmaster email and/or an additional admin email.
-> Attachment backups to the webmaster email and/or an additional admin email as they are posted
-> Options to encrypt any email attachments as compressed zip archives (requires PHP 7.2+ & ZipArchive)
-> Option to use Zhen Mailer for all outbound PHP email (raw HTML).
-> Custom email templates including precursory & signature (header/footer)

Compatibility notes:
- PHP version 7.4 with the openssl PHP extension enabled is the minimum requirement for STARTTLS-SMTP compatibility
- ZipArchive extension is required for compression of any attachment backups

PHP version 7.4+, ZipArchive & cURL extensions are recommended to make full use of this modification.

Updated CA certificates are required for your forum to communicate with email providers using the STARTTLS SMTP extension.
Example settings for your php.ini file may be:
openssl.cafile = /etc/ssl/cacert.pem
curl.cainfo = /etc/ssl/cacert.pem

You can download the latest cacert.pem file here:
https://curl.haxx.se/ca/cacert.pem

Other Notes:
Although it is not mandatory, a mail user named "members" should be created for BCC bulk emails.
SMTP port 587 is recommended.

Zhen Mailer for Simple Machines Forum
c/o Chen Zhen @ web-develop.ca
@license  http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html GNU Lesser General Public License
@copyright 2025 Chen Zhen

3rd Party Usage:
PHPMailer - PHP email creation and transport class.
@license  http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html GNU Lesser General Public License
@author    Marcus Bointon (Synchro/coolbru) <phpmailer@synchromedia.co.uk>
@copyright 2012 - 2017 Marcus Bointon

Shuttle-Export c/o 2createStudio
PHP based MySQL dump library
@license  http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html GNU Lesser General Public License
@copyright 2015 - 2017 2createStudio

Distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License -> https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html

[Chen Zhen]

Zhen Mailer has been updated to v2.0.1

! fixed missing load email language file in ZhenMailTemplates() function


Any pervious version should be uninstalled plus deleted prior to updating to the newest version.
This version includes an important bug fix to thwart undefined errors in the SMF error log.