Killing MailCatcher: Something's using port 1025

Question

I'm trying to run "foreman start" for a rails app however this error message is preventing me from running the foreman properly:

~~> ERROR: Something's using port 1025. Are you already running MailCatcher?

I've tried killing the PID, going to the web interface to quit the program and also...restarting the comp. Does anybody know how to remedy this?

Thanks

Solution 1

In OSX, run the following in a shell:

sudo lsof -nP -iTCP:1025 -sTCP:LISTEN

The expected output of this command is a process, which is listening on port 1025:

ruby    43841 youruserid    9u  IPv4 0x6a1610da80bb9b4f      0t0  TCP 127.0.0.1:1025 (LISTEN)

In the output above, the 2nd value is the process ID. Then, to kill the offending process (substitute in the correct PID):

sudo kill 43841

Solution 2

MailCatcher launches both SMTP and HTTP servers.

When you start MailCatcher in a terminal you'll see the following output:

$ mailcatcher
Starting MailCatcher
==> smtp://127.0.0.1:1025
==> http://127.0.0.1:1080
*** MailCatcher runs as a daemon by default. Go to the web interface to quit.

See the last line in the output when starting MailCatcher?

If you attempt to start MailCatcher if it's already running you'll see:

$ mailcatcher
Starting MailCatcher
~~> ERROR: Something's using port 1025. Are you already running MailCatcher?

How to quit Mailcatcher:

1. Open the http url (http://127.0.0.1:1080) in your browser.

   Note: the port may be different than 1080. If so, you'll have to use that port. If you don't know it, you'll have to use one of the other answers here to kill the running process.

2. In the top right corner of the page that opens, you'll see a "Quit" link.

Solution 3

If you are using linux, you should be able to see what program is using a certain port using the netstat command. To see if port 1025 is in use, run this from the command line:

$ netstat -tulpn | grep :1025

Here is a useful reference: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/what-process-has-open-linux-port/

Solution 4

I solved this by starting mailcatcher on a different port: mailcatcher --smtp-port 1026

And changing the following in config/development.rb

config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
  ...
  port: 1026,
  ...
}

Solution 5

get the process id's of the ports mailcatcher is using

lsof -i tcp:1080 
lsof -i tcp:1025

kill em:

kill 37747 
kill 35647

View more solutions

Comments

[Admin]

I've executed the command with lsof|grep :1025. Killed th e PID with kill -9 PID. However I'm still getting the error. Thanks though!

[Mattias]

What about if the process keeps rebooting with a new PID everytime you try to kill it? Any ideas?

[Joseph Combs]

Then there is likely some other process running that is ensuring that mailcatcher is on if it is not already on.

[Mattias]

Yeah it seems like that was the case. Also the problem for me wasn't the mail catcher process but the code sending an email, but thanks anyway!

[Muhammad Aamir Talib]

Use quit option on top right in mail catcher browser window

[fatuhoku]

Only this answer worked for me on Mac. Clicking 'Quit' from 127.0.0.1:1080 web interface simply didn't work for me on Mac.

[Sasi varna kumar]

how to quit if i cannot access the http url. (running in a remote server)

[Sasi varna kumar]

i found the answer sudo lsof -nP -iTCP:1025 -sTCP:LISTEN sudo kill <PID>

[Nick Res]

I use the quit button and refresh the page, VIOLA it's still there running.

[244an]

I'm on Windows, it doesn't help with port 1026 or 1027 etc. But it lead me in the right direction. Didn't think of just simply changing the port. It works with --smtp-port 30000 for me, Windows 7. Found it here block81.com/articles/test-emails-locally-with-mailcatcher