Gregory Anders <greg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> The sendemail.smtpServer option currently supports using a sendmail-like
> program to send emails by specifying an absolute file path. However,
That is not wrong per-se, but it is not limited to the configuration
variable, but is a shared trait with --smtp-server command line
option. It is easier on the readers to mention both.
Our problem description talks about the status quo in the present
tense. No noiseword "currently " necessary. I.e. something along
this line:
The sendemail.smtpServer configuration variable (and the
"--smtp-server" command line option of "git send-email" command)
allows to name a command to run to send emails by specifying an
absolute path name. However,
> this is not ideal for the following reasons:
>
> 1. It overloads the meaning of smtpServer (now a program is being used
> for the server?)
> 2. It doesn't allow for non-absolute paths, arguments, or arbitrary
> scripting.
>
> Requiring an absolute path is bad for portability, as the same
> program may be in different locations on different systems. If I wish
> to pass arguments to my program, I have to use the smtpServerOption
> option, which is cumbersome (as it must be repeated for each option)
> and doesn't adhere to normal git conventions.
Up to here, nice explanation of the background and description of
the problem being solved.
> This patch attempts to solve these problems by introducing a new
> configuration option sendemail.sendmailCommand as well as a command line
> option --sendmail-cmd. The value of this option is invoked with the
> standard sendmail options passed as arguments.
When presenting a potential solution, in the history of this
project, we'd talk as if we are giving an order to the codebase to
"be like so".
Introduce a command line option '--sendmail-cmd' and a
configuration variable sendemail.sendmailCommand that can be
used to specify the command line (possibly including its command
line options) to send pieces of e-mail. This is invoked while
honoring $PATH, so it does not have to be named with an absolute
path to the command.
Give it a higher precedence over --smtp-server (and
sendemail.smtpServer), as the new interface is more flexible.
> sendmailCommand has precedence over smtpServer. If both options are
> unspecified, the default is to search for 'sendmail' in /usr/sbin,
> /usr/lib, and $PATH. If not found, smtpServer is set to localhost. This
> mimics the current behavior when smtpServer is unspecified.
I do not think "If both options are unspecified" and everything
after it is needed.
> The option is passed to Perl's `exec()` function, which automatically
> determines whether or not to invoke a shell. If shell metacharacters are
> detected, then a shell is used; otherwise, the command is invoked
> directly.
I do not think this, and the two examples below (omitted), are
relevant, either.
The "metacharacters make the command diverted to shell" is a mere
optimization and not of interest to the end users. Even if
sendemail.sendmailcommand is set to just a single word 'msmtp',
which does not have any metacharacter, we _could_ spawn it via the
shell and the observable end result would be the same as if the
single word was directly executed without the shell.
> This change deprecates the use of absolute paths in
> sendemail.smtpServer, although support is kept for backward
> compatibility.
I am on the fence about saying this. We may eventually want to
deprecate, but until we start issuing a warning when the
absolute-path form is used, I'd rather not to call it "deprecated"
in either the proposed log message or in the documenation.
> ---
Missing sign-off.
>
> Note that this patch is incompatible with (and supersedes) the patch
> discussed here:
>
> https://public-inbox.org/git/YJs2RceLliGHI5TX@xxxxxxxxxxxx/T/#t
Thanks---such a note is very valuable.
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
> index 93708aefea..d9fe8cb7c0 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
> @@ -159,13 +159,23 @@ Sending
> ~~~~~~~
>
> --envelope-sender=<address>::
> - Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails.
> - This is useful if your default address is not the address that is
> - subscribed to a list. In order to use the 'From' address, set the
> - value to "auto". If you use the sendmail binary, you must have
> - suitable privileges for the -f parameter. Default is the value of the
> - `sendemail.envelopeSender` configuration variable; if that is
> - unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
> + Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails. This is
> + useful if your default address is not the address that is
> + subscribed to a list. In order to use the 'From' address, set
> + the value to "auto". If you use the sendmail binary, you must
> + have suitable privileges for the -f parameter. Default is the
> + value of the `sendemail.envelopeSender` configuration variable;
> + if that is unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to
> + your MTA.
Is this a totally unwarranted rewrapping of an unrelated part of the
same document, or was there some words or phrases in this
description of the envelope-sender option that needed to be adjusted
for the introduction of sendmail-cmd option?
> +--sendmail-cmd=<command>::
> + Specify a command to run to send the email. The command should
> + be compatible with `sendmail` as the arguments are passed
> + directly. The command will be executed in the shell if
> + necessary. Default is the value of `sendemail.sendmailCommand`.
> + If unspecified, and if --smtp-server is also unspecified,
> + git-send-email will search for `sendmail` in `/usr/sbin`,
> + `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such a program is available.
OK, but doesn't this also need to support '-i'?
> @@ -211,13 +221,14 @@ a password is obtained using 'git-credential'.
>
> --smtp-server=<host>::
> If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
> - `smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address). Alternatively it can
> - specify a full pathname of a sendmail-like program instead;
> - the program must support the `-i` option. Default value can
> - be specified by the `sendemail.smtpServer` configuration
> - option; the built-in default is to search for `sendmail` in
> - `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such program is
> - available, falling back to `localhost` otherwise.
> + `smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address). If unspecified, and if
> + `--sendmail-cmd` is also unspecified, the default is to search
> + for `sendmail` in `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such a
> + program is available, falling back to `localhost` otherwise.
> +
> + For backward compatibility, this option can also specify a full
> + pathname of a sendmail-like program instead; the program must
> + support the `-i` option. Prefer using `--sendmail-cmd` instead.
Drop the last sentence, if we are not going to explain why. Or
perhaps:
... an absolute path to a program that behaves like
`sendmail` (among other things, it must support the `-i`
option). As you only can specify the path to the program
and cannot give any leading arguments to it, consider using
`--sendmail-cmd` instead.
> @@ -1490,14 +1497,15 @@ sub send_message {
>
> unshift (@sendmail_parameters, @smtp_server_options);
>
> + if (file_name_is_absolute($smtp_server)) {
> + # Preserved for backward compatibility
> + $sendmail_command ||= $smtp_server;
> + }
Hmph, I wonder if this makes the intent more clear.
if (!defined $sendmail_command && file_name_is_absolute($smtp_server)) {
$sendmail_command = $smtp_server;
}
That is, if the user gave us the command in newer form, we do not
even have to bother checking if the server is given as an absolute
pathname.
> @@ -1069,7 +1069,7 @@ test_expect_success $PREREQ 'utf8 Cc is rfc2047 encoded' '
> git send-email \
> --from="Example <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxx>" \
> --to=nobody@xxxxxxxxxxx \
> - --smtp-server="$(pwd)/fake.sendmail" \
> + --sendmail-cmd="\"$(pwd)/fake.sendmail\"" \
> outdir/*.patch &&
> grep "^ " msgtxt1 |
> grep "=?UTF-8?q?=C3=A0=C3=A9=C3=AC=C3=B6=C3=BA?= <utf8@xxxxxxxxxxx>"
You seem to have replaced every smtp-server="$(pwd)/ mechanically
with sendmai-cmd=\"$(pwd)/, but please make sure that we have at
least one test left that passes an absolute path to --smtp-server to
ensure that the old mechanism keeps working. A bonus point for
marking such a test that needs to be adjusted when the actual
deprecation happens (i.e. we'd likely to detect the use of absolute
path and throw a warning, so the test should notice the warning
message).
Also you would want to tweak some of the --sendmail-cmd variants to
use just the command name, with and without args, to ensure that (1)
discovery on $PATH works, and (2) passing initial args works.
Thanks.
