
=head1 NAME

Mail::Transport - base class for message exchange


=head1 INHERITANCE

 Mail::Transport
   is a Mail::Reporter

 Mail::Transport is extended by
   Mail::Transport::Receive
   Mail::Transport::Send


=head1 SYNOPSIS

 my $message = Mail::Message->new(...);

 # Some extensions implement sending:
 $message->send;
 $message->send(via => 'sendmail');

 my $sender = Mail::Transport::SMTP->new(...);
 $sender->send($message);

 # Some extensions implement receiving:
 my $receiver = Mail::Transport::POP3->new(...);
 $message = $receiver->receive;


=head1 DESCRIPTION

Objects which extend C<Mail::Transport> implement sending and/or
receiving of messages, using various protocols.

L<Mail::Transport::Send|Mail::Transport::Send> extends this class, and offers general
functionality for send protocols, like SMTP.  L<Mail::Transport::Receive|Mail::Transport::Receive>
also extends this class, and offers receive method.  Some transport
protocols will implement both sending and receiving.



=head1 METHODS


=head2 Constructors


Mail::Transport-E<gt>B<new>(OPTIONS)

=over 4

 Option      Defined in       Default       
 executable                   C<undef>      
 hostname                     C<'localhost'>
 interval                     C<30>         
 log         L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'> 
 password                     undef         
 port                         undef         
 proxy                        undef         
 retry                        <false>       
 timeout                      C<120>        
 trace       L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'> 
 username                     undef         
 via                          C<'sendmail'> 

. executable FILENAME

=over 4

If you specify an executable, the module does not need to search the
system directories to figure-out where the client lives.  Using this
decreases the flexible usage of your program: moving your program
to other systems may involve changing the path to the executable,
which otherwise would work auto-detect and unmodified.

=back

. hostname HOSTNAME|ARRAY-OF-HOSTNAMES

=over 4

The host on which the server runs.  Some protocols accept an array
of alternatives for this option.

=back

. interval SECONDS

=over 4

The time between tries to contact the remote server for sending or
receiving a message in SECONDS.  This number must be larger than 0.

=back

. log LEVEL

. password STRING

=over 4

Some protocols require a password to be given, usually in combination
with a password.

=back

. port INTEGER

=over 4

The port number behind which the service is hiding on the remote server.

=back

. proxy PATH

=over 4

The name of the proxy software (the protocol handler).  This must be
the name (preferable the absolute path) of your mail delivery
software.

=back

. retry NUMBER|undef

=over 4

The number of retries before the sending will fail.  If C<undef>, the
number of retries is unlimited.

=back

. timeout SECONDS

=over 4

SECONDS till time-out while establishing the connection to a remote server.

=back

. trace LEVEL

. username STRING

=over 4

Some protocols require a user to login.

=back

. via CLASS|NAME

=over 4

Which CLASS (extending C<Mail::Transport>) will transport the data.
Some predefined NAMEs avoid long class names: C<mail> and C<mailx>
are handled by the L<Mail::Transport::Mailx|Mail::Transport::Mailx> module, C<sendmail>
and C<postfix> belong to L<Mail::Transport::Sendmail|Mail::Transport::Sendmail>, and C<smtp>
is implemented in L<Mail::Transport::SMTP|Mail::Transport::SMTP>.  The C<pop> or C<pop3>
protocol implementation can be found in L<Mail::Transport::POP3|Mail::Transport::POP3>.

=back

=back

=head2 Server connection


$obj-E<gt>B<findBinary>(NAME [, DIRECTORIES])

=over 4

Look for a binary with the specified NAME in the directories which
are defined to be safe.  The list of standard directories is followed
by the optional DIRECTORIES.  The full pathname is returned.

You may specify L<new(proxy)|Mail::Transport/"METHODS">, which specifies the absolute name
of the binary to be used.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<remoteHost>

=over 4

Returns the hostname, port number, username and password to be used to
establish the connection to the server for sending or receiving mail.

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<retry>

=over 4

Returns the retry interval, retry count, and timeout for the connection.

=back

=head2 Error handling


$obj-E<gt>B<AUTOLOAD>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<addReport>(OBJECT)

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<defaultTrace>([LEVEL, [LEVEL])

Mail::Transport-E<gt>B<defaultTrace>([LEVEL, [LEVEL])

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<errors>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<log>([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

Mail::Transport-E<gt>B<log>([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<logPriority>(LEVEL)

Mail::Transport-E<gt>B<logPriority>(LEVEL)

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<logSettings>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<notImplemented>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<report>([LEVEL])

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<reportAll>([LEVEL])

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<trace>([LEVEL])

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<warnings>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Error handling">

=back

=head2 Cleanup


$obj-E<gt>B<DESTROY>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Cleanup">

=back

$obj-E<gt>B<inGlobalDestruction>

=over 4

See L<Mail::Reporter/"Cleanup">

=back



=head1 DIAGNOSTICS

I<Warning:> Avoid program abuse: specify an absolute path for $exec.

Specifying explicit locations for executables of email transfer agents
should only be done with absolute file names, to avoid various pontential
security problems.

I<Warning:> Executable $exec does not exist.

The explicitly indicated mail transfer agent does not exists. The normal
settings are used to find the correct location.

I<Error:> Package $package does not implement $method.

Fatal error: the specific package (or one of its superclasses) does not
implement this method where it should. This message means that some other
related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does
not.  Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author
of the package.






=head1 REFERENCES

See the MailBox website at L<http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/> for more details.

=head1 COPYRIGHTS

Distribution version 2.055.
Written by Mark Overmeer (mark@overmeer.net).  See the ChangeLog for
other contributors.

Copyright (c) 2001-2003 by the author(s). All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.


