how to test django registration app process while in development server (no mail)

Question

I am developing a django application on my MAC. The development server that comes with django is great. However, I installed the django-authopenid (combines django-registration app with openID) which follows the 3 step process: user signs up, app sends a confirmation email with link, and user clicks on link to confirm sign-up.

Since the django development server does not have a mail server, how do I test this confirmation email portion of the process? I followed an idea to print out the contents of the email to the terminal, but I can't follow the link. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Python has a debugging mail server available for this purpose.

Just execute this command and you'll have a mailserver running at port 1025

python -m smtpd -n -c DebuggingServer localhost:1025

After that you'll need to change your MAIL_HOST setting in Django and you can test your emails locally :)

Answer 2

If you have a Gmail account, you can use it to send your dev mail. Put the following in your settings.py file:

# django-registration
ACCOUNT_ACTIVATION_DAYS = 7
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'
EMAIL_HOST_USER = '[email protected]'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'YourGmailPassword'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'DevBox <[email protected]>'
LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = '/'