In /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini I have sendmail_path set to /usr/sbin/sendmail. This is the correct location for that binary. The script:

<?
mail ('my email address', 'test', 'test');
echo 'test';
?>

It takes about a minute for the script to execute and the mail never sends. I've restarted apache, changed the sendmail path from its' default of blank to /usr/sbin/sendmail. still nothing.

My computer's name is jonnyD, this used to be the first two lines of /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 jonnyD

I changed the 2nd line to:

127.0.1.1 jonnyD jonnyD.jonnyD.net

I don't know why, but all of a sudden my scripts are executing instantly and I'm getting a true response from the mail() command; however, the mails are still not actually getting through...

I'm just running this off of my local system. I just need a reliable test environment...

This is driving me crazy, I cannot seem to get any mail out. So... I changed /etc/hosts to:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 jonnyD jonnyD.jonnyD.net
127.0.1.1 jonnyD.jonnyD.net localhost

Then I ran /sbin/sendmailconfig again. I tried to send a mail and this was the output in mail.log:

Sep 23 16:00:48 jonnyD sm-mta[13332]: starting daemon (8.13.5.20060308): SMTP+queueing@00:10:00
Sep 23 16:01:24 jonnyD sendmail[13355]: k8NN1Odw013355: from=www-data, size=39, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200609232301.k8NN1Odw013355@jonnyD.jonnyD.net>, relay=www-data@localhost
Sep 23 16:01:24 jonnyD sm-mta[13356]: k8NN1OjM013356: from=<www-data@jonnyD.jonnyD.net>, size=323, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200609232301.k8NN1Odw013355@jonnyD.jonnyD.net>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MSP-v4, relay=localhost [127.0.0.1]
Sep 23 16:01:24 jonnyD sendmail[13355]: k8NN1Odw013355: to=jon@bsolid.com, ctladdr=www-data (33/33), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30039, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (k8NN1OjM013356 Message accepted for delivery)
Sep 23 16:01:27 jonnyD sm-mta[13358]: STARTTLS=client, relay=mail.bsolid.com., version=TLSv1/SSLv3, verify=FAIL, cipher=AES256-SHA, bits=256/256
Sep 23 16:01:27 jonnyD sm-mta[13358]: k8NN1OjM013356: to=<jon@bsolid.com>, ctladdr=<www-data@jonnyD.jonnyD.net> (33/33), delay=00:00:03, xdelay=00:00:03, mailer=esmtp, pri=120323, relay=mail.bsolid.com. [70.84.129.68], dsn=5.1.1, stat=User unknown
Sep 23 16:01:28 jonnyD sm-mta[13358]: k8NN1OjM013356: k8NN1SjM013358: DSN: User unknown
Sep 23 16:01:28 jonnyD sm-mta[13358]: k8NN1SjM013358: to=<www-data@jonnyD.jonnyD.net>, delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=30000, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent