Echomail Digest

The echomail digest sends each opted-in user a periodic email summarising new messages in their subscribed echo areas. Instead of receiving individual notifications, users get a single email at a chosen frequency that lists every echo area that had activity, with the subject and author of each new message. Full message bodies are not included — the digest is a prompt to log in and read, not a replacement for the BBS.

This is a registered feature and requires a valid BinktermPHP license.

Requirements

• Valid BinktermPHP license
• SMTP configured and enabled in .env (SMTP_ENABLED=true)
• User must have an email address set in their profile
• User must be subscribed to at least one active echo area
• User must opt in to digest emails (off by default)

How It Works

The digest is driven by scripts/send_echomail_digest.php, which is designed to run on a cron schedule. Each run:

1. Finds all active users with digest set to daily or weekly and a non-empty email address.
2. For each user, checks whether enough time has passed since the last digest was sent (24 hours for daily, 7 days for weekly). A user who has never received a digest is always due.
3. Queries new echomail received after last_sent across the user's active subscriptions.
4. If there are new messages, groups them by echo area (subject and author only) and sends the digest via PHPMailer. The digest is capped at the top 20 most active areas, with up to 20 messages shown per area. The lookback window is always the user's chosen frequency — 24 hours for daily, 7 days for weekly — even on the very first digest.
5. Updates echomail_digest_last_sent to the current time, even if there were no new messages, so the next check is deferred correctly.

User Configuration

Users configure their digest frequency in Settings → Notifications:

Option	Behaviour
Off (default)	No digest emails sent
Daily	One email per day when there is new activity
Weekly	One email per week when there is new activity

The setting is disabled with a "Registered Feature" badge on unlicensed installations.

Cron Setup

Run the script hourly. The per-user frequency is enforced inside the script, so running it more often than the shortest frequency (daily) is safe and ensures daily digests are delivered at a consistent time rather than drifting by run intervals.

# /etc/cron.d/binkterm-digest  (or add to the user's crontab)
0 * * * * www-data php /home/claudebbs/binkterm-php/scripts/send_echomail_digest.php

Adjust the path and user (www-data) to match your installation.

Testing

Dry run — see what would be sent without sending anything

php scripts/send_echomail_digest.php --dry-run --verbose

Dry run for a specific user

php scripts/send_echomail_digest.php --dry-run --verbose --user=3

Actually send for a specific user

php scripts/send_echomail_digest.php --verbose --user=3

Force a re-send (reset last-sent timestamp)

If a digest has already been sent and you want to test again without waiting for the frequency window to expire, reset the timestamp in the database:

UPDATE user_settings SET echomail_digest_last_sent = NULL WHERE user_id = 3;

Then run the script again.

Verify user configuration

SELECT u.id, u.email, us.echomail_digest, us.echomail_digest_last_sent
FROM users u
JOIN user_settings us ON us.user_id = u.id
WHERE u.id = 3;

Script Options

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Show what would be sent without sending or updating timestamps
--verbose	Print per-user status to stdout
--user=ID	Process only the specified user ID
--help	Show usage information

Exit code is 0 on success (including zero eligible users), 1 if any individual sends failed.

Database Columns

Both columns live on the user_settings table:

Column	Type	Default	Description
echomail_digest	VARCHAR(10)	'none'	Frequency: none, daily, or weekly
echomail_digest_last_sent	TIMESTAMP	NULL	When the last digest was sent; NULL means never

These are added by migration v1.11.0.31.

Troubleshooting

Script exits with "Echomail digest requires a valid BinktermPHP license." The install is not registered. See Admin → Help → Register BinktermPHP.

User is skipped with "not due yet" The last digest was sent within the frequency window. Reset echomail_digest_last_sent to NULL to force a send (see above).

User is skipped with "no new messages" No echomail was received in the user's subscribed areas since the last digest. Check that the user has active subscriptions (Settings → Subscriptions) and that the echo areas are receiving traffic.

Send fails silently Check data/logs/error.log (or your PHP error log) for PHPMailer errors. Confirm SMTP_ENABLED=true and that the SMTP credentials in .env are correct. You can test SMTP independently by using the netmail forwarding feature, which uses the same mail stack.