Mail::T...rt::Exim(3)

📦
version 4.01 · 9 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ NAME ✨

Mail::Transport::Exim — bestie, this is the module that transmits messages using the external Exim program 💌

And hey, before we go any further: this page is Mail::T...rt::Exim(3), filed under User Contributed Perl Documentation. Yes, the title is truncated like that. No, it's not a typo, that's literally just how the man page files get named around here 💅

🦋 INHERITANCE 🦋

It's giving family tree, and honestly the whole lineage is iconic:

Mail::Transport::Exim
  is a Mail::Transport::Send
  is a Mail::Transport
  is a Mail::Reporter

So it inherits from Mail::Transport::Send, which inherits from Mail::Transport, which inherits from Mail::Reporter. Four generations of slay 🫶

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

The whole vibe, in two lines:

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

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so this module implements mail transport using the external Exim program. When it gets instantiated, the mailer goes looking for the binary in specific system directories, and the first version it finds is the one it takes. First come, first served, no cap 👑

It also extends "DESCRIPTION" in Mail::Transport::Send, so anything you read over there applies here too.

💅 METHODS 💅

Extends "METHODS" in Mail::Transport::Send.

🌸 Constructors

Extends "Constructors" in Mail::Transport::Send.

$class->new(%options)

If you have Exim installed in a non-standard location, you will need to specify the path, using new(proxy). Also improves on the base class — see "Constructors" in Mail::Reporter for that part.

Here's the option lineup, with where each one came from and what it defaults to:

 -Option    --Defined in     --Default
  executable  Mail::Transport  undef
  hostname    Mail::Transport  'localhost'
  interval    Mail::Transport  30
  password    Mail::Transport  undef
  port        Mail::Transport  undef
  proxy       Mail::Transport  undef
  retry       Mail::Transport  <unlimited>
  timeout     Mail::Transport  120
  username    Mail::Transport  undef
  via         Mail::Transport  'exim'

And here they are one by one, in their full signature glory:

  • executable => $file
  • hostname => $host|\@hosts
  • interval => $span
  • password => $password
  • port => $port
  • proxy => $path
  • retry => $count|undef
  • timeout => $span
  • username => $username
  • via => CLASS|$name

🦋 Attributes

Extends "Attributes" in Mail::Transport::Send.

✉️ Sending mail

Extends "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send.

  • $obj->destinations( $message, [$address|\@addresses] ) — Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send
  • $obj->putContent($message, $fh, %options) — Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send
  • $obj->send($message, %options) — Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send
  • $obj->trySend($message, %options) — Inherited, see "Sending mail" in Mail::Transport::Send

🔌 Server connection

Extends "Server connection" in Mail::Transport::Send.

  • $obj->findBinary( $name, [@directories] ) — Inherited, see "Server connection" in Mail::Transport
  • $obj->remoteHost() — Inherited, see "Server connection" in Mail::Transport
  • $obj->retry() — Inherited, see "Server connection" in Mail::Transport

😭 Error handling

Extends "Error handling" in Mail::Transport::Send.

  • $obj->AUTOLOAD() — Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
  • $obj->notImplemented() — Inherited, see "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter

🧹 Cleanup

Extends "Cleanup" in Mail::Transport::Send.

  • $obj->DESTROY() — Inherited, see "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter

🩺 DIAGNOSTICS 🩺

Every message this thing can throw at you, no surprises:

Error: Errors when closing Exim mailer $program: $!

The Exim mail transfer agent did start, but was not able to handle the message correctly. Cast by trySend().

Error: cannot find binary for exim.

Cast by new().

Fault: cannot open pipe to $program: $!

Cast by trySend().

Error: class $package does not implement method $method.

Fatal error, bestie: 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. Cast by notImplemented().

Fault: errors when closing Exim mailer $program: $!

Cast by trySend().

Warning: message has no destination.

It was not possible to figure-out where the message is intended to go to. Cast by destinations().

Warning: resent group does not specify a destination.

The message which is sent is the result of a bounce (for instance created with Mail::Message::bounce()), and therefore starts with a "Received" header field. With the "bounce", the new destination(s) of the message are given, which should be included as "Resent-To", "Resent-Cc", and "Resent-Bcc".

The "To", "Cc", and "Bcc" header information is only used if no "Received" was found. That seems to be the best explanation of the RFC.

As alternative, you may also specify the "to" option to some of the senders (for instance Mail::Transport::SMTP::send(to)) to overrule any information found in the message itself about the destination. Cast by destinations().

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

This module is part of Mail-Transport version 4.01, built on December 13, 2025. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/CPAN/

📜 LICENSE 📜

For contributors see file ChangeLog.

This software is copyright (c) 2001-2025 by Mark Overmeer.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this was Mail::T...rt::Exim(3), from perl v5.42.0, dated 2026-01-17 — go forth and send some mail, mwah 🎀✨

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