[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #64368: `Could not instantiate mail function` errors sending mail in 6.9
WordPress Trac
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Fri Dec 5 14:14:59 UTC 2025
#64368: `Could not instantiate mail function` errors sending mail in 6.9
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Reporter: desrosj | Owner: (none)
Type: defect (bug) | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 6.9.1
Component: Mail | Version: 6.9
Severity: normal | Keywords: needs-testing
Focuses: |
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There have been some reports of `wp_mail()` failing to send emails after
upgrading to 6.9. This was
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1pdu68r/wordpress_doesnt_send_emails_after_69_update/
first spotted on the `r/Wordpress` subreddit], but there have been a few
other reports since (#64367 here on Trac).
The culprit seems to be [61010] which solves #49687. Reverting that
specific change (or downgrading to 6.8.3) has fixed the problem for every
tester so far.
Because #49687 is a closed ticket on a completed milestone, this is being
created to track this bug and eventually reference in any commits that are
deemed necessary (if any at all).
The discussion about the problem begins at in the previous ticket with
ticket:49687#comment:44. While it's worth reading through that
conversation, here are some notes from the discussion so far:
- The issue mentioned as a possible problem in ticket:49687#23 seems like
it could be causing these issues.
- Including `-f` when setting `sendmail_from` is bad practice, but is a
widespread misunderstanding due to upstream documentation in PHP. An
[https://github.com/php/php-src/issues/20648 upstream ticket in] `php-src`
has been opened to address this.
- While `-f` is not supposed to be passed to
`php_admin_value[sendmail_path]`, using `php_admin_value[sendmail_from]`
does not seem to work as expected for some in Linux environments using
Postfix with Sendmail compatibility interface.
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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64368>
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