[Case 93025] Squirrel does not support PHP 5.4 in reply messages

[tizoo]

Dear Support,

It seems that the cpanel version of Squirrel mail since de update to 11.42 doesn't support PHP 5.4. The problem is the following :

When answering a message that contain non-ascii characters, the original message is not copied quoted in the reply message, the reply message is just empty.

This discussion seems to talk about the problem :

squirrelmail-users - Blank message body on some replies

Did you have an idea when this will be fixed ?

Thanks a lot in advance for any information.

Philippe

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

An internal case is open to address this issue. For reference, the case number is 93025. There is currently no time frame available on when a resolution might be pushed out, but I would expect one in the near future due to the number of reports we have received on this issue.

Thank you.

 

[SupaDucta]

Any further information?

The latest 11.42.1.11 and SquirrelMail fom SVN update hasn't fixed this, just results in spitting

Category: PHP
Poruka: htmlspecialchars() [function.htmlspecialchars]: charset `iso-8859-2' not supported, assuming utf-8
FILE: /usr/local/cpanel/base/3rdparty/squirrelmail/functions/strings.php
LINE: 1707

in the messages list if the language is set to the one not supported by PHP 5.4 anymore.

 

[cPanelMichael]

This resolution was included with cPanel version 11.42.1.6:

Fixed case 93025: Update Squirrelmail to SVN r14346.

Per this case description:

The last "stable" release of Squirrelmail is has character encoding problems with PHP 5.4. This commit updates Squirrelmail to a newer revision that contains a comprehensive fix for those problems.

It's possible the specific issue you are experiencing is not resolved by those fixes that SquirrelMail released. When SquirrelMail issues a new release, we will update our bundled copy. It might also be helpful if you submit a bug report directly to SquirrelMail reporting the problem you are experiencing so they can issue a patch if necessary.

Thank you.

 

[carbonturtle]

I have a client who uses Squirrelmail, and he has been complaining for a couple of months now about the "blank reply" issue on certain emails. This morning, he emailed me, thanking me for fixing the problem! I hadn't done anything-- WHM/cPanel had automatically updated Squirrelmail to "version 14346". In light of what you said above, cPanelMichael,

"When SquirrelMail issues a new release, we will update our bundled copy"

It is surprising that this "unofficial release" got automatically installed on my server. Is this version being pushed out to everyone? Why?

(Also, thank you!)

P.S. it also appears that the new version wiped out the Spam-Buttons plugin (v2.3.1- the most recent version) that I had manually installed a few years ago. I'm wondering if it is incompatible with the new version of SquirrelMail?

 

[cPanelMichael]

It is surprising that this "unofficial release" got automatically installed on my server. Is this version being pushed out to everyone? Why?

The patch was implemented due to the widespread nature of the issue after the implementation of PHP 5.4 in cPanel version 11.42. The change was included in cPanel version 11.42.1.6, which has not yet made it's way down to the "Stable" build tier, but that's expected later today.

As for the custom plugin, you may want to consult with it's developers or support team to determine if it's still compatible with the version of SquirrelMail installed on your system.

Thank you.

 

[SupaDucta]

Apparently we have to contact SquirrelMail instead of cPanel fixing this? Wow...

 

[cPanelPeter]

Hello,

Yes, all cPanel/WHM does is grab the RPM from the OS (CentOS if you're running that). We don't customize SquirrelMail in any way.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Apparently we have to contact SquirrelMail instead of cPanel fixing this? Wow...

It really depends on the exact nature of the particular issue. For instance, with case 93025, we decided to ship a development snapshot of Squirrelmail that resolved some character encoding issues. However, if there is an isolated issue related to a potential Squirrelmail bug, it really needs to be addressed by the Squirrelmail developers so the changes make their way into the SquirrelMail source code. Do you have any input on how you would prefer we handle these types of issues?

Thank you.

 

[t0mmy_]

Hi,

SupaDucta, you can try temporary manually fix this issue by editing /usr/local/cpanel/base/3rdparty/squirrelmail/functions/strings.php and around line 1695 change:

$encoding=NULL

to

$encoding="UTF-8"

Regards

 

[SupaDucta]

It's not an isolated issue, it's a common issue with SquirrelMail and PHP 5.4. It's easy to force the switch to PHP 5.4 just like that and then point to upstream provider for any issues. And let me tell you - trying to serve the same to clients doesn't work. They insist on having this fixed. They don't care about PHP, many of them don't even know what it is. They want their long-working SquirrelMail to work again as it used to, and they are paying for this.

Don't you think that it would be easier for cPanel to either make a proper, working patch, or work with SquirrelMail instead of pointing the clients to do the same? We haven't put SquirrelMail and clients using it into this position by forcing PHP 5.4 for internal PHP, cPanel did, so cPanel should make it work.

- - - Updated - - -

t0mmy_ thanks much, going to try that.

 

[cPanelMichael]

If you are still experiencing the same problem reported in the original post, and are using a version of cPanel that includes a resolution for that case, then please feel free to submit a bug report via:

Submit A Bug Report

It's possible the issue you are experiencing is not related to internal case 93025, so a new case may be necessary. You can post the ticket number here and we will update this thread with the outcome.

Thank you.