email - problem with php mail 'From' header

Question

I'm building a website that sends and email to a user when he registers.

My code (the gist of it):

<?php
$to = "helloworld@gmail.com";
$subject = "Test mail";
$message = "Hello! 
This is a simple email message.";

$headers = "From: munged@gmail.com";
$headers .= "
Reply-To: munged@gmail.com";
$headers .= "
X-Mailer: PHP/".phpversion();

mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);

echo "Mail Sent.";
?> 

the problem is that when the mail is delivered, the from header remains munged@box123.bluehost.com, while reply-to gets changed to the specified value.

box123.bluehost.com is the hostname of the server on which the website is hosted.

So what am I doing wrong? What can I do to get the "From" address the same as the reply-to address?

Is it something I'm doing wrong, or is the web host playing foul?

Answer 1

Edit: I just noted that you are trying to use a gmail address as the from value. This is not going to work, and the ISP is right in overwriting it. If you want to redirect the replies to your outgoing messages, use reply-to.

A workaround for valid addresses that works with many ISPs:

try adding a fifth parameter to your mail() command:

mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers,"-f your@email.here");