Re: [PATCH v6 1/1] send-email: retrieve Message-ID from outlook SMTP server

6 messages, 2 authors, 2025-04-29 · open the first message on its own page

Re: [PATCH v6 1/1] send-email: retrieve Message-ID from outlook SMTP server

From: Junio C Hamano <hidden>
Date: 2025-04-28 16:52:11

Aditya Garg [off-list ref] writes:

I tested this patch and it works well. I've added some docs as
well and it now looks like the one below.

--->8---
From e06ccabb5a0cef100e50e2b9d6d3c0a1769bda59 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Aditya Garg <redacted>
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2025 08:25:25 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] send-email: add --[no-]smtp-outlook-id-tweak option

From: Junio C Hamano <redacted>

Add an option to allow users to specifically enable or disable
retrieving the Message-ID from the Outlook SMTP server. This can be
for other hosts mimicking the behaviour of Outlook, or for users who set
a custom domain to be a CNAME for the Outlook SMTP server.

Co-authored-by: Aditya Garg [off-list ref]
Signed-off-by: Aditya Garg <redacted>
---

Take the authorship yourself.  My involvement is at most Helped-by:
level, I would think.

quoted hunk

@@ -290,6 +292,7 @@ sub do_edit {

quoted hunk

 my $mailmap = 0;
 my $target_xfer_encoding = 'auto';
 my $forbid_sendmail_variables = 1;
+my $outlook_id_tweak = -1;

These lines we see around here are all in a section of variable
enumeration titled:

    # Variables with corresponding config settings & hardcoded defaults

I think this "-1" deserves a bit of an explanation.  It is neither
true or false (and Perl's "is this true?" check on that particular
value would say "true", but that is not how we want it to be taken
and we special case -1 ourselves in the code).

Alternatively perhaps we could initialize it to 'auto' (without any
extra comment here) and then ...

quoted hunk

 sub is_outlook {
 	my ($host) = @_;
-	return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' || $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	if ($outlook_id_tweak < 0) {

... change this to "eq 'auto'"?  Then the value would be
self-evident.

quoted hunk

+		$outlook_id_tweak =
+			($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' ||
+			 $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com') ? 1 : 0;
+	}	return $outlook_id_tweak;
 }

Somebody in the near-by thread mentioned that we could enable it
always (and if we do not find a replaced message-id where Outlook
may place one, we keep the original message-id we assigned), but I
personally think it is a poor design taste.  We do not know what a
random SMTP server implementation would do in that response, and all
we examined with any care during this discussion is how an Outlook
server responds.  Once we find a server that gives a random string
there that is not the replacement message-id at all, we would need a
separate knob to opt out of the feature---so let's not go there.

Thanks.

[PATCH] send-email: add --smtp-outlook-id-tweak option

From: Aditya Garg <hidden>
Date: 2025-04-28 17:53:51

Add an option to allow users to specifically enable or disable
retrieving the Message-ID from the Outlook SMTP server. This can be used
for other hosts mimicking the behaviour of Outlook, or for users who set
a custom domain to be a CNAME for the Outlook SMTP server.

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano [off-list ref]
Signed-off-by: Aditya Garg <redacted>
---
 Documentation/git-send-email.adoc | 14 ++++++++++++++
 git-send-email.perl               | 14 +++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
index 7f223db42d..20f804e4c7 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc

@@ -153,6 +153,20 @@ Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the encoding.
 Default is the value of the `sendemail.transferEncoding` configuration
 value; if that is unspecified, default to `auto`.
 
+--smtp-outlook-id-tweak=(always|never|auto)::
+	Outlook servers discard the Message-ID sent via email and assign a
+	new random Message-ID, thus breaking threads.
++
+--
+- 'auto' will attempt to retrieve the ID from the server only if the SMTP
+  server is 'smtp.office365.com' or 'smtp-mail.outlook.com'.
+- 'always' will attempt to retrieve the ID from the server irrespective of
+  the SMTP server being used. Use only if Microsoft is your email provider.
+- 'never' will disable this tweak irrespective of theSMTP server being used.
+--
++
+If not specified, the default behaviour will be that of 'auto'.
+
 --xmailer::
 --no-xmailer::
 	Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header.  By default,

diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 618474916e..81ff965844 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl

@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ sub usage {
     --smtp-user             <str>  * Username for SMTP-AUTH.
     --smtp-pass             <str>  * Password for SMTP-AUTH; not necessary.
     --smtp-encryption       <str>  * tls or ssl; anything else disables.
+    --smtp-outlook-id-tweak <str>  * This server munges Message-ID. Retrieve it from
+                                     the server.
     --smtp-ssl                     * Deprecated. Use '--smtp-encryption ssl'.
     --smtp-ssl-cert-path    <str>  * Path to ca-certificates (either directory or file).
                                      Pass an empty string to disable certificate

@@ -290,6 +292,7 @@ sub do_edit {
 my $mailmap = 0;
 my $target_xfer_encoding = 'auto';
 my $forbid_sendmail_variables = 1;
+my $outlook_id_tweak = 'auto';
 
 my %config_bool_settings = (
     "thread" => \$thread,

@@ -333,6 +336,7 @@ sub do_edit {
     "composeencoding" => \$compose_encoding,
     "transferencoding" => \$target_xfer_encoding,
     "sendmailcmd" => \$sendmail_cmd,
+	"outlookidtweak" => \$outlook_id_tweak,
 );
 
 my %config_path_settings = (

@@ -518,6 +522,7 @@ sub config_regexp {
 		    "smtp-pass:s" => \$smtp_authpass,
 		    "smtp-ssl" => sub { $smtp_encryption = 'ssl' },
 		    "smtp-encryption=s" => \$smtp_encryption,
+		    "smtp-outlook-id-tweak=s" => \$outlook_id_tweak,
 		    "smtp-ssl-cert-path=s" => \$smtp_ssl_cert_path,
 		    "smtp-debug:i" => \$debug_net_smtp,
 		    "smtp-domain:s" => \$smtp_domain,

@@ -1576,7 +1581,14 @@ sub gen_header {
 
 sub is_outlook {
 	my ($host) = @_;
-	return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' || $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	if ($outlook_id_tweak eq 'always') {
+		return 1;
+	} elsif ($outlook_id_tweak eq 'never') {
+		return 0;
+	} else {
+		return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' ||
+			$host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	}
 }
 
 # Prepares the email, then asks the user what to do.

-- 
2.49.0

[PATCH v2] send-email: add --smtp-outlook-id-tweak option

From: Aditya Garg <hidden>
Date: 2025-04-28 17:58:38

Add an option to allow users to specifically enable or disable
retrieving the Message-ID from the Outlook SMTP server. This can be used
for other hosts mimicking the behaviour of Outlook, or for users who set
a custom domain to be a CNAME for the Outlook SMTP server.

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano [off-list ref]
Signed-off-by: Aditya Garg <redacted>
---
v2: Replace tab with spaces in "outlookidtweak" => \$outlook_id_tweak,

 Documentation/git-send-email.adoc | 14 ++++++++++++++
 git-send-email.perl               | 14 +++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
index 7f223db42d..20f804e4c7 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc

@@ -153,6 +153,20 @@ Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the encoding.
 Default is the value of the `sendemail.transferEncoding` configuration
 value; if that is unspecified, default to `auto`.
 
+--smtp-outlook-id-tweak=(always|never|auto)::
+	Outlook servers discard the Message-ID sent via email and assign a
+	new random Message-ID, thus breaking threads.
++
+--
+- 'auto' will attempt to retrieve the ID from the server only if the SMTP
+  server is 'smtp.office365.com' or 'smtp-mail.outlook.com'.
+- 'always' will attempt to retrieve the ID from the server irrespective of
+  the SMTP server being used. Use only if Microsoft is your email provider.
+- 'never' will disable this tweak irrespective of theSMTP server being used.
+--
++
+If not specified, the default behaviour will be that of 'auto'.
+
 --xmailer::
 --no-xmailer::
 	Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header.  By default,

diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 618474916e..20cc460ed6 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl

@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ sub usage {
     --smtp-user             <str>  * Username for SMTP-AUTH.
     --smtp-pass             <str>  * Password for SMTP-AUTH; not necessary.
     --smtp-encryption       <str>  * tls or ssl; anything else disables.
+    --smtp-outlook-id-tweak <str>  * This server munges Message-ID. Retrieve it from
+                                     the server.
     --smtp-ssl                     * Deprecated. Use '--smtp-encryption ssl'.
     --smtp-ssl-cert-path    <str>  * Path to ca-certificates (either directory or file).
                                      Pass an empty string to disable certificate

@@ -290,6 +292,7 @@ sub do_edit {
 my $mailmap = 0;
 my $target_xfer_encoding = 'auto';
 my $forbid_sendmail_variables = 1;
+my $outlook_id_tweak = 'auto';
 
 my %config_bool_settings = (
     "thread" => \$thread,

@@ -333,6 +336,7 @@ sub do_edit {
     "composeencoding" => \$compose_encoding,
     "transferencoding" => \$target_xfer_encoding,
     "sendmailcmd" => \$sendmail_cmd,
+    "outlookidtweak" => \$outlook_id_tweak,
 );
 
 my %config_path_settings = (

@@ -518,6 +522,7 @@ sub config_regexp {
 		    "smtp-pass:s" => \$smtp_authpass,
 		    "smtp-ssl" => sub { $smtp_encryption = 'ssl' },
 		    "smtp-encryption=s" => \$smtp_encryption,
+		    "smtp-outlook-id-tweak=s" => \$outlook_id_tweak,
 		    "smtp-ssl-cert-path=s" => \$smtp_ssl_cert_path,
 		    "smtp-debug:i" => \$debug_net_smtp,
 		    "smtp-domain:s" => \$smtp_domain,

@@ -1576,7 +1581,14 @@ sub gen_header {
 
 sub is_outlook {
 	my ($host) = @_;
-	return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' || $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	if ($outlook_id_tweak eq 'always') {
+		return 1;
+	} elsif ($outlook_id_tweak eq 'never') {
+		return 0;
+	} else {
+		return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' ||
+			$host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	}
 }
 
 # Prepares the email, then asks the user what to do.

-- 
2.49.0

[PATCH v3] send-email: add --[no-]outlook-id-fix option

From: Aditya Garg <hidden>
Date: 2025-04-29 10:54:51

Add an option to allow users to specifically enable or disable
retrieving the Message-ID from the Outlook SMTP server. This can be used
for other hosts mimicking the behaviour of Outlook, or for users who set
a custom domain to be a CNAME for the Outlook SMTP server.

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano [off-list ref]
Signed-off-by: Aditya Garg <redacted>
---
v2: Replace tab with spaces in "outlookidtweak" => \$outlook_id_tweak,
v3: Rename to --[no-]outlook-id-fix and make it bool. Also add missing
    * in description of --no-smtp-auth.

 Documentation/git-send-email.adoc | 15 +++++++++++++++
 git-send-email.perl               | 13 +++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
index 7f223db42d..5760248893 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc

@@ -115,6 +115,21 @@ illustration below where `[PATCH v2 0/3]` is in reply to `[PATCH 0/2]`:
 Only necessary if --compose is also set.  If --compose
 is not set, this will be prompted for.
 
+--[no-]outlook-id-fix::
+	Outlook servers discard the Message-ID sent via email and assign a
+	new random Message-ID, thus breaking threads.
++
+--
+- '--outlook-id-fix' will attempt to retrieve the ID from the server
+  irrespective of the SMTP server being used. Use only if Microsoft is your
+  email provider.
+- '--no-outlook-id-fix' will disable this tweak irrespective of the SMTP
+  server being used.
+--
++
+If not specified, the default behaviour will be to enable the tweak only if the
+SMTP server is 'smtp.office365.com' or 'smtp-mail.outlook.com'.
+
 --subject=<string>::
 	Specify the initial subject of the email thread.
 	Only necessary if --compose is also set.  If --compose

diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 618474916e..ed707bfa46 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl

@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ sub usage {
     --subject               <str>  * Email "Subject:"
     --reply-to              <str>  * Email "Reply-To:"
     --in-reply-to           <str>  * Email "In-Reply-To:"
+    --[no-]outlook-id-fix          * This server munges Message-ID. Retrieve it from
+                                     the server.
     --[no-]xmailer                 * Add "X-Mailer:" header (default).
     --[no-]annotate                * Review each patch that will be sent in an editor.
     --compose                      * Open an editor for introduction.

@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ sub usage {
     --smtp-auth             <str>  * Space-separated list of allowed AUTH mechanisms, or
                                      "none" to disable authentication.
                                      This setting forces to use one of the listed mechanisms.
-    --no-smtp-auth                   Disable SMTP authentication. Shorthand for
+    --no-smtp-auth                 * Disable SMTP authentication. Shorthand for
                                      `--smtp-auth=none`
     --smtp-debug            <0|1>  * Disable, enable Net::SMTP debug.

@@ -290,6 +292,7 @@ sub do_edit {
 my $mailmap = 0;
 my $target_xfer_encoding = 'auto';
 my $forbid_sendmail_variables = 1;
+my $outlook_id_fix = 'auto';
 
 my %config_bool_settings = (
     "thread" => \$thread,

@@ -305,6 +308,7 @@ sub do_edit {
     "xmailer" => \$use_xmailer,
     "forbidsendmailvariables" => \$forbid_sendmail_variables,
     "mailmap" => \$mailmap,
+    "outlookidfix" => \$outlook_id_fix,
 );
 
 my %config_settings = (

@@ -551,6 +555,7 @@ sub config_regexp {
 		    "relogin-delay=i" => \$relogin_delay,
 		    "git-completion-helper" => \$git_completion_helper,
 		    "v=s" => \$reroll_count,
+		    "outlook-id-fix!" => \$outlook_id_fix,
 );
 $rc = GetOptions(%options);

@@ -1576,7 +1581,11 @@ sub gen_header {
 
 sub is_outlook {
 	my ($host) = @_;
-	return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' || $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	if ($outlook_id_fix eq 'auto') {
+		$outlook_id_fix =
+			($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' ||
+			 $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com') ? 1 : 0;
+	}	return $outlook_id_fix;
 }
 
 # Prepares the email, then asks the user what to do.

-- 
2.49.0

Re: [PATCH v3] send-email: add --[no-]outlook-id-fix option

From: Aditya Garg <hidden>
Date: 2025-04-29 11:00:42


On 29-04-2025 04:22 pm, Aditya Garg wrote:

Add an option to allow users to specifically enable or disable
retrieving the Message-ID from the Outlook SMTP server. This can be used
for other hosts mimicking the behaviour of Outlook, or for users who set
a custom domain to be a CNAME for the Outlook SMTP server.

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano [off-list ref]
Signed-off-by: Aditya Garg <redacted>
---

BTW, I am not sure whether I need to send this patch in this thread too. It
is a bug fix, which I encountered with my adventures with git send-email.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/git/PN0PR01MB9588EBBF200EA002E558D4E0B8872@PN0PR01MB9588.INDPRD01.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM/

[PATCH v4] send-email: add --[no-]outlook-id-fix option

From: Aditya Garg <hidden>
Date: 2025-04-29 16:40:06

Add an option to allow users to specifically enable or disable
retrieving the Message-ID from the Outlook SMTP server. This can be used
for other hosts mimicking the behaviour of Outlook, or for users who set
a custom domain to be a CNAME for the Outlook SMTP server.

While at it, lets also add missing * in description of --no-smtp-auth.

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano [off-list ref]
Signed-off-by: Aditya Garg <redacted>
---
v2: Replace tab with spaces in "outlookidtweak" => \$outlook_id_tweak,
v3: Rename to --[no-]outlook-id-fix and make it bool. Also add missing
    * in description of --no-smtp-auth.
v4: Improve documentation and the log message. Also, have the final
    "return $outlook_id_fix;" on its own line.

 Documentation/git-send-email.adoc | 13 +++++++++++++
 git-send-email.perl               | 14 ++++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
index 7f223db42d..7ccca16296 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.adoc

@@ -115,6 +115,19 @@ illustration below where `[PATCH v2 0/3]` is in reply to `[PATCH 0/2]`:
 Only necessary if --compose is also set.  If --compose
 is not set, this will be prompted for.
 
+--[no-]outlook-id-fix::
+	Microsoft Outlook SMTP servers discard the Message-ID sent via email and
+	assign a new random Message-ID, thus breaking threads.
+
+	With `--outlook-id-fix`, 'git send-email' uses a mechanism specific to
+	Outlook servers to learn the Message-ID the server assigned to fix the
+	threading. Use it only when you know that the server reports the
+	rewritten Message-ID the same way as Outlook servers do.
+
+	Without this option specified, the fix is done by default when talking
+	to 'smtp.office365.com' or 'smtp-mail.outlook.com'. Use
+	`--no-outlook-id-fix` to disable even when talking to these two servers.
+
 --subject=<string>::
 	Specify the initial subject of the email thread.
 	Only necessary if --compose is also set.  If --compose

diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 618474916e..4215f8f7e9 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl

@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ sub usage {
     --subject               <str>  * Email "Subject:"
     --reply-to              <str>  * Email "Reply-To:"
     --in-reply-to           <str>  * Email "In-Reply-To:"
+    --[no-]outlook-id-fix          * The SMTP host is an Outlook server that munges the
+                                     Message-ID. Retrieve it from the server.
     --[no-]xmailer                 * Add "X-Mailer:" header (default).
     --[no-]annotate                * Review each patch that will be sent in an editor.
     --compose                      * Open an editor for introduction.

@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ sub usage {
     --smtp-auth             <str>  * Space-separated list of allowed AUTH mechanisms, or
                                      "none" to disable authentication.
                                      This setting forces to use one of the listed mechanisms.
-    --no-smtp-auth                   Disable SMTP authentication. Shorthand for
+    --no-smtp-auth                 * Disable SMTP authentication. Shorthand for
                                      `--smtp-auth=none`
     --smtp-debug            <0|1>  * Disable, enable Net::SMTP debug.

@@ -290,6 +292,7 @@ sub do_edit {
 my $mailmap = 0;
 my $target_xfer_encoding = 'auto';
 my $forbid_sendmail_variables = 1;
+my $outlook_id_fix = 'auto';
 
 my %config_bool_settings = (
     "thread" => \$thread,

@@ -305,6 +308,7 @@ sub do_edit {
     "xmailer" => \$use_xmailer,
     "forbidsendmailvariables" => \$forbid_sendmail_variables,
     "mailmap" => \$mailmap,
+    "outlookidfix" => \$outlook_id_fix,
 );
 
 my %config_settings = (

@@ -551,6 +555,7 @@ sub config_regexp {
 		    "relogin-delay=i" => \$relogin_delay,
 		    "git-completion-helper" => \$git_completion_helper,
 		    "v=s" => \$reroll_count,
+		    "outlook-id-fix!" => \$outlook_id_fix,
 );
 $rc = GetOptions(%options);

@@ -1576,7 +1581,12 @@ sub gen_header {
 
 sub is_outlook {
 	my ($host) = @_;
-	return ($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' || $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com');
+	if ($outlook_id_fix eq 'auto') {
+		$outlook_id_fix =
+			($host eq 'smtp.office365.com' ||
+			 $host eq 'smtp-mail.outlook.com') ? 1 : 0;
+	}
+	return $outlook_id_fix;
 }
 
 # Prepares the email, then asks the user what to do.

-- 
2.49.0

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