Re: [PATCH v2] send-email: add --get-smtp-server option to fetch SMTP settings
On 4 August 2025 5:21:52 pm IST, Julian Swagemakers <julian@swagemakers.org> wrote:
Show 54 quoted lines
>On Sun Aug 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM CEST, Aditya Garg wrote:
>> On 03/08/25 7:06 pm, Julian Swagemakers wrote:
>>> On Wed Jul 30, 2025 at 5:12 PM CEST, Aditya Garg wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 2. If that fails, it attempts to fetch the autoconfig file from the email
>>>> provider's autoconfig URL, which is typically in the format
>>>> `https://autoconfig.[domain]/mail/config-v1.1.xml?emailaddress=[email]`.
>>>
>>> The documentation mentions using `DOMAIN/.well-known/autoconfig/mail/`
>>> as an alternative to the autoconfig subdomain, what do you think about
>>> supporting that?
>>
>> Can be supported, but I unfortunately didn't find any email provider having
>> that sort of server to test. Do you have any in mind? Nevertheless, and untested
>> implementation can be done.
>>
>
>I also don't know any hosts supporting this.
>
>>>> +sub parse_config {
>>>> + require XML::LibXML;
>>>> + my ($xml, $email) = @_;
>>>> + my $parser = XML::LibXML->new;
>>>> + my $doc = eval { $parser->load_xml(string => $xml) };
>>>> + die "Failed to parse XML\n" unless $doc;
>>>> + my $config_num = 0;
>>>> + my $smtp_encryption_config;
>>>> + my $smtp_user_config;
>>>> +
>>>> + foreach my $outgoing ($doc->findnodes('//outgoingServer')) {
>>>> + $config_num++;
>>>> + if ($outgoing->findvalue('./socketType') eq 'SSL') {
>>>> + $smtp_encryption_config = 'ssl';
>>>> + } elsif ($outgoing->findvalue('./socketType') eq 'STARTTLS') {
>>>> + $smtp_encryption_config = 'tls';
>>>> + } else {
>>>> + $smtp_encryption_config = 'plain';
>>>
>>> 'plain' is unencrypted, I think this should be accompanied by a big
>>> warning.
>>
>> Any ideas on how you want that to be displayed?
>
>How about something like this:
>
> Found SMTP server settings for example@tiscali.cz:
>
> Configuration 1:
> Server: smtp.mail.tiscali.cz
> Port: 25
> Encryption: plain
> Username: example@tiscali.cz
>
> Warning: Encryption plain is unencrypted!Show 53 quoted lines
>
>>>> + }
>>>> +
>>>> + if ($outgoing->findvalue('./username') eq '%EMAILADDRESS%') {
>>>> + $smtp_user_config = $email;
>>>> + } elsif ($outgoing->findvalue('./username') eq '%EMAILLOCALPART%') {
>>>> + $smtp_user_config = (split /@/, $email)[0];
>>>> + } elsif ($outgoing->findvalue('./username') eq '%EMAILDOMAIN%') {
>>>> + $smtp_user_config = (split /@/, $email)[1];
>>>> + } else {
>>>> + $smtp_user_config = $outgoing->findvalue('./username');
>>>> + }
>>>> +
>>>> + print "\nConfiguration $config_num:\n";
>>>> + print " Server: ", $outgoing->findvalue('./hostname'), "\n";
>>>> + print " Port: ", $outgoing->findvalue('./port'), "\n";
>>>> + print " Encryption: ", $smtp_encryption_config, "\n";
>>>> + print " Username: ", $smtp_user_config, "\n";
>>>
>>> The new option only gives you the needed SMTP configuration, as a
>>> user you still need to apply them and to do that you will need to
>>> look up how. We could help the user here and give them copy and
>>> paste commands similar to when trying to commit without having an
>>> identity set.
>>
>> Git allows you to set it as global config or repo specific config.
>> I'm not sure how to give a copy/paste command for different needs.
>
>How about something like this:
>
> Found SMTP server settings for example@pobox.com:
>
> Configuration 1:
> Server: smtp.pobox.com
> Port: 465
> Encryption: ssl
> Username: example@pobox.com
>
> Configuration 2:
> Server: smtp.pobox.com
> Port: 587
> Encryption: tls
> Username: example@pobox.com
>
> To apply the settings use:
>
> git config --global sendmail.smtpServer VALUE
> git config --global sendmail.smtpServerPort VALUE
> git config --global sendmail.smtpEncryption VALUE
> git config --global sendmail.smtpUser VALUE
>
> Omit --global to set the configuration only in this repository.
>Show 25 quoted lines
>>> The XML file also contains authentication details, what do you think
>>> about processing those? That would also allow adding references to the
>>> documentation in case it is OAuth2.
>>
>> Honestly, app passwords remain as a preferred way to use git send-email.
>> Outlook I guess is just an exception due to obvious reasons. Plus, OAuth2
>> does not tell if the Auth is XOAUTH2 or OAUTHBEARER. Not sure if its worth
>> adding here. I am open to ideas on use cases though, and may try to
>> implement.
>>
>
>I was thinking of something as simple as rendering a message if oauth2
>is one of the options. Something like:
>
> Found SMTP server settings for example@gmail.com:
>
> Configuration 1:
> Server: smtp.gmail.com
> Port: 465
> Encryption: ssl
> Username: example@gmail.com
>
> The SMTP server supports OAuth2 authentication. If you want to use OAuth2,
> please review the git-send-email man pages for more details.
>
I think this will become crowdy if there are more than 1 configurations.
Show 30 quoted lines
>>>> + }
>>>> +}
>>>> +
>>>> +if ($get_smtp_server) {
>>>> + require URI::Escape;
>>>> + print "Enter your email address: ";
>>>> + chomp(my $email = <STDIN>);
>>>
>>> Someone sending out emails will most likely already have set up
>>> `user.email` in their gitconfig. We could just use that instead of
>>> prompting for user input, or at least suggest it as a default.
>>
>> Suggesting as a default is better then not prompting. Although I think
>> it won't be easy to read the config since all this exits before the config
>> is parsed (I guess?).>
>>> If you don't have an SMTP server configured then `git send-email`
>>> will default to `localhost` and fail if you are not running a
>>> local SMTP server with: `Unable to initialize SMTP properly.
>>> Check config and use --smtp-debug.`. I would suggest altering the
>>> message pointing the user to the new option.
>>
>> "Unable to initialize SMTP properly. Check config and use
>> --smtp-debug. Use --get-smtp-server to get the correct settings for
>> you SMTP server if needed."
>>
>> What do you think about that?
>
>Looks good.
>
>Regards JulianAditya Garg <gargaditya08@live.com>