Dummy SMTP Server for testing apps that send email

Question

I have a lot of apps that send email. Sometimes it's one or two messages at a time. Sometimes it's thousands of messages.

In development, I usually test by substituting my own address for any recipient addresses. I'm sure that's what everybody else does, until they get fed up with it and find a better solution.

I was thinking about creating a dummy SMTP server that just catches the messages and dumps them in a SQLLite database, or an mbox file, or whatever.

But surely such a tool already exists? How do you test sending email?

Answer 1

Dumbster might be what you want then. It's a fake SMTP server written in Java

Answer 2

The problem with sending SMTP messages is that there're many documents covering SMTP and being compliant to any one of them is not enough. You need to collect enough data about what SMTP server typical implementations exist so you can handle all possible interactions.

That's why having one SMTP server is not of great use.

Answer 3

I faced the same problem a few weeks ago and wrote this: http://smtp4dev.codeplex.com

Answer 4

This is similar to the smtp4dev except implemented in java so it works for non-windows developers.

http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DevNullSmtp.jsp

Answer 5

There is also Papercut and Neptune, too bad none of these can be run in a portable way.

Answer 6

there is now a web based version of Papercut: http://dummysmtp.com also the app based version works fine for me.

Answer 7

A few ago I came across the following solution for the .NET platform.

<system.net>
<mailSettings>
  <smtp deliveryMethod="SpecifiedPickupDirectory">
    <specifiedPickupDirectory pickupDirectoryLocation="C:\TestMailMessages\" />
  </smtp>
</mailSettings>

Simply place the above code in your App.config or Web.config. When you send a message now it will be stored as a file in the directory you provided as "pickupDirectoryLocation". Works like a charm.

Answer 8

if you are using java I would use Wiser: Wiser is a simple SMTP server that you can use for unit testing applications that send mail.

Answer 9

You can also use netDumbster.

http://netdumbster.codeplex.com/