function activateByEmail($username, &$error)
{
    $error = '';
    $status = STATUS_EMAIL_ACTIVATION;

    $ch = curl_init('http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html&zy=f');
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, TRUE);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_REFERER, 'http://www.google.com');
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, TRUE );
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, 'cookies.txt');

    $html = curl_exec ( $ch );

    // login needed?
    if (strpos(strip_tags($html), 'Sign in to') > 0) {
        //echo "<HR>Logging in: ".strip_tags($html);

        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,
                            'https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLoginAuth?service=mail');
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, TRUE );
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, TRUE );
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query(
                array('continue'        => 'http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html&zy=f',
                      'service'         => 'mail',
                      'rm'              => 'false',
                      'ltmpl'           => 'default',
                      'ltmplcache'      => '2',
                      'Email'           => 'forum.fantom',
                      'Passwd'          => 'forum.fantom!',
                      'PersistentCookie'=> 'yes',
                      'rmShown'         => '1',
                      'signIn'          => 'Sign in')));

        $html = curl_exec ( $ch );
        //echo "<HR>Checking Cookie: ".strip_tags($html);
        //echo "<TEXTAREA cols=80 rows=40> ".$html."</TEXTAREA>";

        // parse out the JavaScript location redir
        $redir = strstr($html, "url='");
        $redir = strstr($redir, "'");
        $redir = substr($redir, 1, strpos($redir, "'", 1)-1);

        //echo("<HR>$redir");
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $redir);
        $html = curl_exec ( $ch );
    }

    //echo "<HR>Checking GMail: ".strip_tags($html);
    //echo "<TEXTAREA cols=80 rows=40> ".$html."</TEXTAREA>";

    $user_messages = array();
    while ($html = strstr($html, '<input type=checkbox'))
    {
        $html = strstr($html, 'value="');
        $message_id = substr($html, 7, strpos($html, '"', 7)-7);

        $message_subject = strstr($html, '<a href');
        $message_subject = substr($message_subject, 0, strpos($message_subject, '</a>'));
        $message_subject = trim(strip_tags($message_subject));

        //echo "<HR>ID: $message_id => $message_subject\n";

        // Spam Gourmet always adds the (on the fly) username and remaining messages
        // to the subject, use it to identify messages belonging to the specified user
        // of this function
        if (strpos($message_subject, "($username: message") > 0) {
            $user_messages[] = $message_id;
        }
    }

    if (count($user_messages) > 1) {
        $error = "Can't handle multiple messages per user yet.";
    }
    else if (count($user_messages) == 1) {
        $view_url = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_URL);
        $view_url = substr($view_url, 0, strpos($view_url, '?')).'?v=c&th='.$user_messages[0];

        //echo "<HR>Opening Email: $view_url";

        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $view_url);
        $html = curl_exec ( $ch );

        // we're done with GMail at this point
        // use new session (below) for forum activation
        curl_close($ch);

        //echo "<HR>Activation email: $html";
        // get to the message body
        $activation_link = '';
        if ($html = strstr($html, '<div class=msg>')) {

            // cut it off at the end of the message, not interested in links outside the email
            $html = substr($html, 0, strpos($html, '</div'));

            // get all links inside the email
            // either as part of an href or spelled out as clear text
            while ($html = strstr(substr($html, 1), 'http://')) {
                // strip the link of any line feeds and quotes
                $activation_link = preg_replace('/[\s\"]/', ' ', $html);

                // cut it off at the first whitespace, URLs cannot contain (unencoded) spaces
                $activation_link = substr($activation_link, 0, strpos($activation_link, ' '));

                // an activation link should have parameters, otherwise it's probably
                // just a link to the forum's main page
                if (strpos($activation_link, '?')) {
                    break;
                }
            }

            // decode any special HTML characters that might have been used in an HTML email
            // (e.g. &amp; instead of &)
            $activation_link = htmlspecialchars_decode($activation_link);

        }

        if ($activation_link > '') {
            //echo("<HR>Activation link: '$activation_link'");

            $ch = curl_init($activation_link);
            curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
            curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, TRUE );
            curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_REFERER, $view_url);

            $html = stristr(curl_exec($ch), '<body');

            //echo "<HR>Activation link repsonse: $html";

            // check if the activation was successful
            if (strpos($html, "account has now been activated") > 0 or
                strpos($html, "account is now active") > 0 or
                strpos($html, "already been confirmed") > 0 or
                strpos($html, "already activated") > 0 or
                strpos($html, "already been activated") > 0) {
                $status = STATUS_OK;
            }
            else {
                $error = "Email Activation failed: ".strip_tags($html);
            }
        }
        else {
            $error = "Could not find activation link in email.";
        }
    }
    else {
        $error = "Registration email did not arrive yet. Please activate this account later.";
    }

    curl_close($ch);
    return $status;
}