Hi! On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 02:51:58PM +0000, Chris Brown wrote: > I manage a koha system that supports 7 volunteer-run libraries in > Sheffield, UK. Since 2018 we have used gmail as a relay for sending overdue > notifications etc. Recently, Google informed me that they have disabled the > service due to violation of their terms of service. We are not sure exactly > what they are unhappy about but we suspect it might be due to a high > proportion of bounced messages, (We have rather too many incorrect email > addresses in koha.) > > I would be interested to hear from anyone who has had a similar problem, > and has found a solution. In particular, I would like some guidance on > setting up Postfix to send out email directly (without using gmail as a > relay), and setting up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. In case it is relevant, we are > using koha 22.11.
Running your own mail infrastructure is possbile, but quite a lot of work that also needs constant maintaince. I know because (in a non-Koha project) we have been runnig our own mail servers (for outgoing mail). The initial setup is managable and sort of well documented, but the real problem is that your servers will get (IMO randomly) blocked by the various big mail providers (google, outlook, ..). So we will constantly have to monitor your mail logs, and if/when you're blocked you will have to manually jump through some hoops to get your IPs un-blocked. Or you have to rotate the mail sending IPs/servers... Unless you send a lot of mail (>10k/day) this will not make sense. Here's a random blog post that seems to offer a bit more details: https://elementor.com/blog/how-to-host-your-own-email-server/ It is better to find a provider of "transactional mail services" and pay them for doing the above. There are a bunch of big services (that might be hosted outside the EU and thus maybe in conflict with GDPR etc): SendGrid, Amazon SES, Mailchimp, ... Or maybe you can use one of those: https://european-alternatives.eu/category/transactional-email-service Shameless pitches: * We (HKS3) recently helped / sponsored getting some mail services used by koha devs running again, using a German provider of transactional mail. Maybe we could also help you, if your interested: [email protected] * And/or I could ask my partner in the non-koha project if they would provide transactional mails for external customers (I think they plan to do it). One other note regarding google specifically: They switched some time ago to only allowing mails to be sent using an "Application Password". Did you set that up? I've described the process here: https://domm.plix.at/perl/2022_05_use_multiple_gmail_accounts_via_mutt_and_offlineimap.html (or google it...) Greetings, domm -- Thomas Klausner domm https://domm.plix.at Just another ( Perl | Postgres | Koha | Bicycle | Food | Photo | Vinyl ) Hacker Frohe Feste! [ 2025-12-24 10:00 > https://domm.plix.at/potd/2025-12-24.html ] Today, instead of the last day of #AdventOfCode, I will finish our MAB2-to-MARC21 converter (handling depended works), which in fact feels quite similar to working on Advent of Code puzzles. [ 2025-12-12 07:36 > https://domm.plix.at/microblog.html ] _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
