Joomla Update Notification not working [solved]

[JudyAnn]

For some reason, our websites are not sending emails to our SuperUsers when a new version of Joomla 3.8.x is available.

The last email I received on a new version was 9/18/2017 about Joomla 3.8.0 from [email protected]

My management is not happy that we are 4 versions (2 of them Security updates) behind on all of our websites.

I will note that the default Admin account has been disabled and set to group Public on all of these sites. There are several people who are in the SuperUser group and none of them are receiving emails.

Does anyone know why the sites may not be sending the needed emails?

[sozzled]

Sometimes emails work (i.e. they're sent and they're delivered) and sometimes they don't. Sometimes emails are filtered by the receiver and they're placed in the spam/junk folder.

First thing to do is to test that your site is sending emails. There's a feature in Global Configuration » Server » Mail Settings » Send Test Mail

If this test doesn't work then there may be a problem with the Mail Settings; if the test "works", but no email is received, then there may be a problem with the receiving mail (perhaps the mailbox is full or the email address has been blacklisted). If the test produces an email that you can read, then there's another problem (which we can discuss later).

[JudyAnn]

Using our most active site, the site did send the test email to the "from email" address in the Mail Settings, so that is not a problem. Usually that is set to [email protected] but I changed it to my email address for the test.

If I understand the documentation on the Plug-in System - Joomla! Update Notification, then when the field for Super User Emails is blank, then all Super Users should be receiving an email. I set that field to just my email address last night, but no emails have been received yet.

There are a total of 5-6 Superusers on each of the 5 sites that I administer. Because of hacking attempts several years ago, all of them either have had the first user/User1/Admin user account deleted or deactivated and set to User Group Public.

So I am wondering if the removal or disabling of that first account could be a contributing factor.

[sozzled]

Using our most active site, the site did send the test email to the "from email" address in the Mail Settings, so that is not a problem. Usually that is set to [email protected] but I changed it to my email address for the test.

what you you mean you changed the sending address "for the test". The whole point of the test is to see if there's a problem with the way the site is supposed to send email.

My earlier question to you has not been answered. Does the test email work using the normal email account—not your personal account—work? Yes or no, please.

[JudyAnn]

The test sent a successful email to me when my address was used.

Our security protocols have directed us to set the website email address [email protected] to prevent our site from being spammed. So the setting in Global Configuration » Server » Mail Settings is an address that is not received by anyone in our agency.

Am I wrong in my assumptions based on the scant documentation for Plug-in System - Joomla! Update Notification that it sends emails to the addresses of the SUPER USERS? Does it actually use the Global Configuration » Server » Mail Settings email address?

[sozzled]

You asked why the Joomla update notifications where not being emailed to you (or other super users). I asked you to see if the email account used at your website may have had a part to play in causing this to happen.

If your website was configured to send email via [email protected] then this may be the reason why you were not receiving email. I asked you to test if you can send emails (with the test email facility) using the email account that you were originally using; in other words, if your Global Configuration settings used the account [email protected] this may be the cause of why you have never received Joomla update notifications.

The only thing that I've seen that you have done is to change the Global Configuration settings to use your own email account and the Test Send Mail facility shows that your email account works. This does not answer your original question.

Can you please set the Global Configuration settings to use [email protected] and then use the Test Send Mail and see if it works or not? If this test doesn't work then it answers your question.

To answer your last question, yes, the Joomla update notification system uses the email account defined in the Global Configuration.

[JudyAnn]

I did try it, and it acted like it sent an email (it reacted the same as when I used my email address) so I have to guess that it tried to send an email to the [email protected] address.

I don't know who or where the [email protected] emails go. So testing with that is a zero-sum task: I won't know if it works or not.

So if no_reply is going to the bit-bucket in the sky, how would I know?

[sozzled]

I think you have answered your own question. Using [email protected] may send emails to the ethereal bit-bucket or it may not send emails at all. If no-one receives emails from this account—if you did not receive a test email to your superuser account from this address—then this probably explains why you never received Joomla update notification emails in the past. QED.

[JudyAnn]

So you are telling me that it uses the website email address, and not the addresses of all the SuperUser group user accounts?!

According to https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:Plugin_Joo ... ification-
<quote>
Super User Emails
The email notification is sent only to users who have the Super User privilege. This field allows you to select which Super users will receive the email notifications.

If left blank, all Super Users of the site will receive the update notification email.
To select which Super Users receive the update notification enter the email addresses for the Super Users here. If there are multiple Super Users email

<endquote>

So the documentation is wrong?

[sozzled]

The documentation is correct.

Super Users will receive emails from a "sender". The plugin doesn't say, specifically, through which sender account those notifications are sent; there's no setting for it in the plugin. It's implied that the "sender" is defined in the Global Configuration settings.

If the sender (in your case, [email protected]) cannot send emails then no-one will receive emails.

The documentation only tells you how to configure who should receive notifications. If you leave the field blank then everyone should receive them, if you specify individual email accounts then only those ones should receive such notices.

The whole mechanism hinges on the ability of a valid email address to generate mail from the website. From what you've told us, [email protected] doesn't seem to send anything to anyone.

Again, QED.

[JudyAnn]

Here's a kicker - on 1 of the 2 sites being tested, there are 5 users with Super User access, but the only one who got an email is the disabled one. So one of the sites (where the Global SMTP user is set to [email protected]) has sent out the email but not everyone is receiving it.

BTW - all of the users have the same mail domain - @its.ny.gov -

I'm at a loss as to why it is acting so inconsistently

[JudyAnn]

I may have found the resolution to this -- The only person who received an email from the plug in System-Joomla! Update Notification was the only one where the "Receive System Emails" was set to yes on their User account.

I am changing that value on the other Super Users and I will update this with the results.

[JAVesey]

I may have found the resolution to this -- The only person who received an email from the plug in System-Joomla! Update Notification was the only one where the "Receive System Emails" was set to yes on their User account.

Ooops! This will resolve it

[sozzled]

I may have found the resolution to this -- The only person who received an email from the plug in System-Joomla! Update Notification was the only one where the "Receive System Emails" was set to yes on their User account.

Well, there's the answer!

[sozzled]

Congratulations of resolving the email issue.

Anyway, email notifications are only intended as additional reminders to the super user(s) to visit the website backend when new Joomla updates become available. Irrespective of whether these reminders are sent to, or received by, those people, when super user(s) visit the backend there will be a message informing them if a new Joomla update is available. There will also, possibly, be messages indicating that updates are be available for extensions installed on the site.

Of course, if no-one visits the Joomla site backend, they're relying on other mechanisms (e.g. email) to keep them informed. Obviously, if these other mechanisms fail then they'll need to do something else. I'm surprised that, in the time since September last year, it would appear that no-one has visited the Joomla site backend to perform any kind of site administration activity (including, among other things, checking to see if updates are available or, at the very least, backing up the website).

I suggest you consider reviewing your maintenance régime to include routine visits to your Joomla administration site.