After adding an entry into ticket_assignments manually, and modifying the ns_sendmail line in the while loop from this ....
#ns_sendmail $notify_email $email "New issue $one_line in project $project_title (TR#$new_id)" "Priority: $priority
to this ...
ns_sendmail $notify_email $email "New issue $one_line in project $project_title (TR#$new_id)" "Priority: $severity
to account for the $priority not existing as a vaild variable I was finally able to get an email sent for a new issue created.
So now I am trying to figure out how the system sends emails for changes to existing issues. i.e. adding a comment, or updating other info. Because it doesn't seem to work for me right now. Again, probably a config issue. I checked /notifications and everyone is set up for "instant" notification. I know that email notification is automated ( and "asynchronous" in Ben's words) somehow. But how ...
