UTL_MAIL: ORA-29279..... 501 badly formatted MAIL FROM user - no " "

Question

Hi guys,
I’m trying to redesign a current process that requires a large amount of manual intervention. As such I’d like to utilise UTL_MAIL to send notifications of system events but have been unable to get it to execute on my dev database (installed on my local PC).
O/S ver:
Windows XP SP3
Oracle ver:
BANNER
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Prod
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Production
CORE    10.2.0.3.0      Production
TNS for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.3.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.3.0 - Production
I’ve configured the smtp_out_server parameter:
SQL> sho parameter smtp_out_server;
NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
smtp_out_server                  string        XXX.XXX.XXX.80:25
And installed the required Oracle built in packages:
SQL> @C:\oracle_builtins\utlmail.sql
Package created.
Synonym created.
SQL> @C:\oracle_builtins\prvtmail.plb
Package body created.
No errors.
I’ve compiled a simple test version of the code:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE test_email IS
BEGIN
UTL_MAIL.send(sender     => '[email protected]',
recipients => '[email protected]',
subject    => 'UTL_MAIL test subject',
message    => 'UTL_MAIL test body');
END;
+/+
SQL> @C:\procs\email_proc.sql
Procedure created.
However when I execute it I get the attached error(s):
SQL> execute test_email ;
BEGIN test_email ; END;
*+
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-29279: SMTP permanent error: 501 badly formatted MAIL FROM user - no <
ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_SMTP", line 21
ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_SMTP", line 99
ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_SMTP", line 222
ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_MAIL", line 397
ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_MAIL", line 608
ORA-06512: at "SYS.TEST_EMAIL", line 3
ORA-06512: at line 1
I’ve also confirmed with our mail team that the sender is included in our firewall config and should not be being blocked……
Any ideas? Does the package produce any log files / alerts that I could check or is it possible to execute in a verbose mode so I can debug?
Thanks,
Chris

Answer 1

Welcome to the forum.
That error comes from your SMTP server, and it indicates there's something wrong with the email address.
You could try the following and see if that works:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE test_email
IS
BEGIN
  UTL_MAIL.send(sender => 'test <[email protected]>',
                recipients => '[email protected]',
                subject => 'UTL_MAIL test subject',
                message => 'UTL_MAIL test body'
END;
/Some more inputs can be read here: Reg.SMTP Error while using UTL_MAIL in Oracle 10g
Also, when you want post formatted examples, just use the {noformat}{noformat} tag before and after your examples.
So, when you type:
{noformat}select *
from dual;{noformat}
it will appear as:select *
from dual;when you post it.