All email notifications are in hex/binary

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:31:45 +0100

adminsforum@hubzilla.org

Crow wrote the following post Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:31:44 +0100

All email notifications are in hex/binary

The title, really.

ARE their email format options? Not that I can find in /admin or in settings.

All users get emails that look like:

--1-837063921-110474909=:74698
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

Q3JvdwoKTWljaGEgY29tbWVudGVkIG9uIGFuIGl0ZW0vY29udmVyc2F0aW9uIHlvdSBoYXZlIGJl
ZW4gZm9sbG93aW5nCgkKCgpTbyB0cnVVVVJCQkJClBsZWFzZSB2aXNpdCBodHRwczovL2NvbW1v
bndvcmxkcy5vcmcgdG8gdmlldyBhbmQvb3IgcmVwbHkgdG8gdGhlIGNvbnZlcnNhdGlvbi4KCmh0
dHBzOi8vY29tbW9ud29ybGRzLm9yZy9ub3RpZnkvdmlldy8xMDUKClRoYW5rIFlvdSwKQ29tbW9u
IFdvcmyesBBZG1pbmlzdHJ23dG9yCgpUaGlzIGVtYWlsIHthisyBzZW50IGJ5IEh1YnppbGxhIGF0
IGNvbW1vbndvcmxkcy5vcmcuIFRvIHN0b3AisChanGDWl2aW5nIHRoZXNlIG1lc3NhZ2VzLCBwbGVh
c2UgYWRqdXN0IHlvdXIgTm90aWZpY2F0aW9uIFNldHRpbmdzIGF0IGh0dHBzOi8vY29tbW9ud29y
bGRzLm9yZy9zZXR0aW5ncw==

--1-837063921-110474909=:74698
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

PCFET0NUWVBFIEhUTUwgUFVCTElDICItLy9XM0MvL0RURCBIVE1MIDQuMDEgVHJhbnNpdGlvbmFs
IC8vRU4iPgo8aHRtbD4KPGhlYWQ+Cgk8dGl0bGU+SHViemlsbGEgTm90aWZpY2F0aW9uPC90aXRs

and so on.

How can I make Hubzilla send plain text?

Can't find email format options

show all 19 comments

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 06:39:37 +0100

Mike Macgirvin

mike@macgirvin.com

This is completely legal SMTP/ESMTP/MIME. If you''re only seeing the base64 it's your email client that needs to be fixed. And no we can't just turn it off. Then all kinds of stuff will break.

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 12:28:57 +0100

Scott M. Stolz

scott@hubzilla.monster

@Mike Macgirvin I double checked the source code for the emails I am receiving.

From some instances, the email is showing up correctly, and looking at the source code, the base64 code is being read correctly. But for other instances, the base64 code is not being rendered correctly.

It is the same behavior in both Thunderbird and Roundcube.

Emails from instance A work, and emails from Instance B don't, even though both are in base64.

Looking at the email source code, both appear to be properly formatted base64. I even went to #^https://www.base64decode.org/ and the code for both decodes properly.

Weird bug.

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 12:38:03 +0100

Scott M. Stolz

scott@hubzilla.monster

I did notice that this error only appears on some newly installed instances, and that those instances have other problems too. For example, the same instance that is sending emails that can't be viewed in Thunderbird and Roundccube also has problems communicating via ActivityPub.

Reinstalling, but keeping the database, store directories, and .htconfig.php usually fixed it.

I have no clue what the issue is, but, in my recent experience, reinstalling sometimes makes this type of issue go away.

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 14:50:06 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@mike All I can say is I have multiple users on multiple platforms seeing this delivered as base64 with multiple different email clients.

Mac, PC, iOS, Mac Mail, multiple other clients.

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 15:41:00 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

Could this be the issue?

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I can reproduce this "issue" pretty easily. It seems as soon as the header hits 100 characters or so, the decoding stops working.

Now for the bad news. I call this an "issue" rather than a bug because Apple is correct and Feedblitz is wrong. This MIME feature is documented in
RFC2047 where is clearly states:

  An 'encoded-word' may not be more than 75 characters long, including

'charset', 'encoding', 'encoded-text', and delimiters. If it is

desirable to encode more text than will fit in an 'encoded-word' of

75 characters, multiple 'encoded-word's (separated by CRLF SPACE) may

be used.

#^https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2080625

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 15:44:16 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

I guess the next question is: Where in Hubzilla do I turn off email notifications site-wide?

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 21:55:48 +0100

Mike Macgirvin

mike@macgirvin.com

I see. There is no site switch. You may have to turn off your mailer. Please forward one of these to mike@macgirvin.com (as attachment) so I can get to the bottom of this. It probably isn't the line length. That code has been working for years and we've tested long lines. It might be line termination but I won' t know without investigating using actual data.

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:19:38 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@mike

mike@macgirvin.com

not sure what “turn off your mailer” entails.

About to forward an example message.

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:44:38 +0100

Mike Macgirvin

mike@macgirvin.com

Unfortunately that was forwarded "inline" and is missing the original message header (which is where the problem is). If you can figure out how to send it as attachment ("remail" or "redirect" should also work), I would appreciate it immensely.

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:51:55 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

sent

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 21:41:28 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@mike

Now we just have to figure out how it is getting there. I'll start by reviving my old Hubzilla test site and see if this is happening all the time for all of Hubzilla, or just for you.

@Scott M. Stolz mentioned it happened to him too, sometimes.

Thanks very much for looking at this!

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 21:48:21 +0100

Mike Macgirvin

mike@macgirvin.com

The good news is that this isn't happening to everybody. The bad news is - this isn't happening to everybody, so something in your site's email configuration is causing it. Unfortunately I don't know what that is. I strongly suspect it is caused by an end-of-line transformation issue between PHP, Linux, and iCloud.

I don't know how adventurous you are, but it's possible this can be fixed by replacing PHP's internal mailer with something that is more capable of dealing with operating system linebreak differences. To do that, install Hubzilla's phpmailer addon. Nothing needs to be configured. Just install the addon and see if things improve.

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:20:39 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@mike Thanks for looking at this.

When I go into “Install more apps” on my site, there is no app for mail or PHP. Should I be looking elsewhere?

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:30:00 +0100

Grouchy

grouchy@hub.grouchysysadmin.com

@Crow

When I go into “Install more apps” on my site, there is no app for mail or PHP. Should I be looking elsewhere?

It's under Admin -> Addons -> phpmailer

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 16:07:14 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Grouchy Thank you. Obviously I’m still learning where Hubzilla keeps things.

On that same subject, I cannot find ANY setup for phpmailer. I’ve installed it, but if there are settings, they’re unfindable. Definitely not under “settings!”

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 16:40:57 +0100

Grouchy

grouchy@hub.grouchysysadmin.com

@Crow

Add this to the .htconfig.php file. Alter as needed for your SMTP service.

// PHPMailer addon
App::$config['phpmailer']['mailer'] = 'smtp';
App::$config['phpmailer']['host'] = 'smtp.yourservername.ext';
App::$config['phpmailer']['port'] = '587';
App::$config['phpmailer']['smtpauth'] = 1;
App::$config['phpmailer']['smtpsecure'] = 1;
App::$config['phpmailer']['username'] = 'you@yourdomain.ext';
App::$config['phpmailer']['password'] = 'email password';

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 17:00:10 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@Tek #aEvl_us (Ⓐ) (Ⓐ) I see no such options in admin/addons/

Should I be looking somewhere else?

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:35:06 +0100

Mike Macgirvin

mike@macgirvin.com

Please don't set anything at this time. Just enable the addon and see if your messages still arrive in base64 or not. The addon is intended for geeks. You may need to read code and understand some of the nuances of email configuration to set it up and configure it, which is why I did not ask for that to happen. There's a very good chance (greater than 50/50 anyway) that the mere act of installing this addon with no changes to settings may fix the reported issue.

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 02:57:34 +0100

Crow

crow@commonworlds.org

@mike THANK YOU! PHPmail with no tweaks did start delivering it properly. Also pinging @Scott M. Stolz who reported having the same problems on some sites.