Truemail
The Truemail gem helps you validate emails by regex pattern, presence of domain mx-records, and real existence of email account on a current email server. Also Truemail gem allows performing an audit of the host in which runs.
Features
- Configurable validator, validate only what you need
- Zero runtime dependencies
- 100% test coverage
Installation
Add this line to your application's Gemfile:
gem 'truemail'
And then execute:
$ bundle
Or install it yourself as:
$ gem install truemail
Email Validation Methods
Email validation is a tricky thing. There are a number of different ways to validate an email address and all mechanisms must conform with the best practices and provide proper validation.
Syntax Checking: Checks the email addresses via regex pattern.
Mail Server Existence Check: Checks the availability of the email address domain using DNS MX records.
Mail Existence Check: Checks if the email address really exists and can receive email via SMTP connections and email-sending emulation techniques.
Usage
Configuration features
Set configuration
To have an access for Truemail.configuration and gem features, you must configure it first as in the example below:
require 'truemail'
Truemail.configure do |config|
# Required parameter. Must be an existing email on behalf of which verification will be performed
config.verifier_email = '[email protected]'
# Optional parameter. Must be an existing domain on behalf of which verification will be performed.
# By default verifier domain based on verifier email
config.verifier_domain = 'somedomain.com'
# Optional parameter. You can override default regex pattern
config.email_pattern = /regex_pattern/
# Optional parameter. You can override default regex pattern
config.smtp_error_body_pattern = /regex_pattern/
# Optional parameter. Connection timeout is equal to 2 ms by default.
config.connection_timeout = 1
# Optional parameter. A SMTP server response timeout is equal to 2 ms by default.
config.response_timeout = 1
# Optional parameter. Total of connection attempts. It is equal to 2 by default.
# This parameter uses in mx lookup timeout error and smtp request (for cases when
# there is one mx server).
config.connection_attempts = 3
# Optional parameter. You can predefine which type of validation will be used for domains.
# Available validation types: :regex, :mx, :smtp
# This configuration will be used over current or default validation type parameter
# All of validations for 'somedomain.com' will be processed with mx validation only
config.validation_type_for = { 'somedomain.com' => :mx }
# Optional parameter. This option will be parse bodies of SMTP errors. It will be helpful
# if SMTP server does not return an exact answer that the email does not exist
# By default this option is disabled, available for SMTP validation only.
config.smtp_safe_check = true
end
Read configuration
After successful configuration, you can read current Truemail configuration instance anywhere in your application.
Truemail.configuration
=> #<Truemail::Configuration:0x000055590cb17b40
@connection_timeout=1,
@email_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@smtp_error_body_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@response_timeout=1,
@connection_attempts=3,
@validation_type_by_domain={},
@verifier_domain="somedomain.com",
@verifier_email="[email protected]"
@smtp_safe_check=true>
Update configuration
Truemail.configuration.connection_timeout = 3
=> 3
Truemail.configuration.response_timeout = 4
=> 4
Truemail.configuration.connection_attempts = 1
=> 1
Truemail.configuration
=> #<Truemail::Configuration:0x000055590cb17b40
@connection_timeout=3,
@email_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@smtp_error_body_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@response_timeout=4,
@connection_attempts=1,
@validation_type_by_domain={},
@verifier_domain="somedomain.com",
@verifier_email="[email protected]",
@smtp_safe_check=true>
Reset configuration
Also you can reset Truemail configuration.
Truemail.reset_configuration!
=> nil
Truemail.configuration
=> nil
Validation features
Regex validation
Validation with regex pattern is the first validation level. By default this validation not performs strictly following RFC 5322 standard, so you can override Truemail default regex pattern if you want.
Example of usage:
- With default regex pattern
require 'truemail'
Truemail.configure do |config|
config.verifier_email = '[email protected]'
end
Truemail.validate('[email protected]', with: :regex)
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x000055590cc9bdb8
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=true, email="[email protected]",
domain=nil,
mail_servers=[],
errors={},
smtp_debug=nil>,
@validation_type=:regex>
- With custom regex pattern. You should define your custom regex pattern in a gem configuration before.
require 'truemail'
Truemail.configure do |config|
config.verifier_email = '[email protected]'
config.email_pattern = /regex_pattern/
end
Truemail.validate('[email protected]', with: :regex)
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x000055590ca8b3e8
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=true,
email="[email protected]",
domain=nil,
mail_servers=[],
errors={},
smtp_debug=nil>,
@validation_type=:regex>
MX validation
Validation by MX records is the second validation level. It uses Regex validation before running itself. When regex validation has completed successfully then runs itself.
[Regex validation] -> [MX validation]
Please note, Truemail MX validator not performs strict compliance of the RFC 5321 standard for best validation outcome.
Example of usage:
require 'truemail'
Truemail.configure do |config|
config.verifier_email = '[email protected]'
end
Truemail.validate('[email protected]', with: :mx)
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x000055590c9c1c50
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=true,
email="[email protected]",
domain="example.com",
mail_servers=["127.0.1.1", "127.0.1.2"],
errors={},
smtp_debug=nil>,
@validation_type=:mx>
SMTP validation
SMTP validation is a final, third validation level. This type of validation tries to check real existence of email account on a current email server. This validation runs a chain of previous validations and if they're complete successfully then runs itself.
[Regex validation] -> [MX validation] -> [SMTP validation]
If total count of MX servers is equal to one, Truemail::Smtp validator will use value from Truemail.configuration.connection_attempts as connection attempts. By default it's equal 2.
By default, you don't need pass with-parameter to use it. Example of usage is specified below:
With smtp_safe_check = false
require 'truemail'
Truemail.configure do |config|
config.verifier_email = '[email protected]'
end
Truemail.validate('[email protected]')
# Successful SMTP validation
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x000055590c4dc118
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=true,
email="[email protected]",
domain="example.com",
mail_servers=["127.0.1.1", "127.0.1.2"],
errors={},
smtp_debug=nil>,
@validation_type=:smtp>
# SMTP validation failed
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x0000000002d5cee0
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=false,
email="[email protected]",
domain="example.com",
mail_servers=["127.0.1.1", "127.0.1.2"],
errors={:smtp=>"smtp error"},
smtp_debug=
[#<Truemail::Validate::Smtp::Request:0x0000000002d49b10
@configuration=
#<Truemail::Configuration:0x0000000002d49930
@connection_timeout=2,
@email_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@smtp_error_body_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@response_timeout=2,
@connection_attempts=2,
@smtp_safe_check=false,
@validation_type_by_domain={},
@verifier_domain="example.com",
@verifier_email="[email protected]">,
@email="[email protected]",
@host="127.0.1.1",
@attempts=nil,
@response=
#<struct Truemail::Validate::Smtp::Response
port_opened=true,
connection=true,
helo=
#<Net::SMTP::Response:0x0000000002d5aca8
@status="250",
@string="250 127.0.1.1 Hello example.com\n">,
mailfrom=
#<Net::SMTP::Response:0x0000000002d5a618
@status="250",
@string="250 OK\n">,
rcptto=false,
errors={:rcptto=>"550 User not found\n"}>>]>,
@validation_type=:smtp>
With smtp_safe_check = true
require 'truemail'
Truemail.configure do |config|
config.verifier_email = '[email protected]'
config.smtp_safe_check = true
end
Truemail.validate('[email protected]')
# Successful SMTP validation
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x0000000002ca2c70
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=true,
email="[email protected]",
domain="example.com",
mail_servers=["127.0.1.1", "127.0.1.2"],
errors={},
smtp_debug=
[#<Truemail::Validate::Smtp::Request:0x0000000002c95d40
@configuration=
#<Truemail::Configuration:0x0000000002c95b38
@connection_timeout=2,
@email_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@smtp_error_body_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@response_timeout=2,
@connection_attempts=2,
@smtp_safe_check=true,
@validation_type_by_domain={},
@verifier_domain="example.com",
@verifier_email="[email protected]">,
@email="[email protected]",
@host="127.0.1.1",
@attempts=nil,
@response=
#<struct Truemail::Validate::Smtp::Response
port_opened=true,
connection=false,
helo=
#<Net::SMTP::Response:0x0000000002c934c8
@status="250",
@string="250 127.0.1.1\n">,
mailfrom=false,
rcptto=nil,
errors={:mailfrom=>"554 5.7.1 Client host blocked\n", :connection=>"server dropped connection after response"}>>,]>,
@validation_type=:smtp>
# SMTP validation failed
=> #<Truemail::Validator:0x0000000002d5cee0
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Validator::Result
success=false,
email="[email protected]",
domain="example.com",
mail_servers=["127.0.1.1", "127.0.1.2"],
errors={:smtp=>"smtp error"},
smtp_debug=
[#<Truemail::Validate::Smtp::Request:0x0000000002d49b10
@configuration=
#<Truemail::Configuration:0x0000000002d49930
@connection_timeout=2,
@email_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@smtp_error_body_pattern=/regex_pattern/,
@response_timeout=2,
@connection_attempts=2,
@smtp_safe_check=true,
@validation_type_by_domain={},
@verifier_domain="example.com",
@verifier_email="[email protected]">,
@email="[email protected]",
@host="127.0.1.1",
@attempts=nil,
@response=
#<struct Truemail::Validate::Smtp::Response
port_opened=true,
connection=true,
helo=
#<Net::SMTP::Response:0x0000000002d5aca8
@status="250",
@string="250 127.0.1.1 Hello example.com\n">,
mailfrom=#<Net::SMTP::Response:0x0000000002d5a618 @status="250", @string="250 OK\n">,
rcptto=false,
errors={:rcptto=>"550 User not found\n"}>>]>,
@validation_type=:smtp>
Host audit features
Truemail gem allows performing an audit of the host in which runs. Only PTR record audit performs for today.
PTR audit
So what is a PTR record? A PTR record, or pointer record, enables someone to perform a reverse DNS lookup. This allows them to determine your domain name based on your IP address. Because generic domain names without a PTR are often associated with spammers, incoming mail servers identify email from hosts without PTR records as spam and you can't verify yours emails qualitatively.
Truemail.host_audit
# Everything is good
=> #<Truemail::Auditor:0x00005580df358828
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Auditor::Result
warnings={}>>
# Has PTR warning
=> #<Truemail::Auditor:0x00005580df358828
@result=
#<struct Truemail::Auditor::Result
warnings=
{:ptr=>"ptr record does not reference to current verifier domain"}>>
Truemail helpers
.valid?
You can use the .valid? helper for quick validation of email address. It returns a boolean:
# It is shortcut for Truemail.validate('[email protected]').result.valid?
Truemail.valid?('[email protected]')
=> true
Test environment
You can stub out that validation for your test environment. Just add RSpec before action:
# spec_helper.rb
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.before { allow(Truemail).to receive(:valid?).and_return(true) }
# or
config.before { allow(Truemail).to receive(:validate).and_return(true) }
# or
config.before { allow(Truemail).to (:validate, :result, :valid?).and_return(true) }
end
ToDo
- Gem compatibility with Ruby 2.3
- Fail validations logger
Contributing
Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/rubygarage/truemail. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct. Please check the open tikets. Be shure to follow Contributor Code of Conduct below and our Contributing Guidelines.
License
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.
Code of Conduct
Everyone interacting in the Truemail project’s codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.
Versioning
Truemail uses Semantic Versioning 2.0.0
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