Incoming Email: make header list-post optional #11563

New Issue

GiteaMirror · 2025-11-02T09:41:11-06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 09:41:11 -06:00

Originally created by @D-ominik on GitHub (Aug 30, 2023).

Feature Description

It would be great if in the notification mails (after enabling the "Incoming Email" function) the "List-Post" header could be removed by a configuration option, otherwise replies from Thunderbird users often will be lost.

In detail:

As soon as the "Incoming Email" function has been enabled, Gitea adds the "List-Post" header, among others, to the notification mail. For example:

List-Post: <mailto:incoming+***@example.com>

This header defines the URL of a mailing list post, as specified in RFC 4021:
https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4021.html#section-2.1.35

I think one can consider the issue notifications of Gitea as a kind of mailing list, once the incoming mail function has been activated. So adding the header is legitimate. But it has an annoying side effect in Thunderbird Mail.

The Thunderbird development team decided a couple of years ago to ignore the Reply-To header when replying to mailing lists and to use the address in the From header instead. One has to specifically choose "Reply to list" now. Yes, this is complete bullshit in many ways. It contradicts the RFC, it contradicts the behavior of all other mail programs, it's rude to put oneself above the sender's wishes, and it's also nonesense in terms of usability (how often will one want to reply directly to a person as opposed to reply to the group?).

However, the developers insist on this change. There is a hidden option to force the old behavior, but this is not really useful with a varying group of contributors (who are not aware of the problem). Thunderbird makes the decision to ignore the Reply-To header dependent on whether a List-Post header exists. If it exists, the reply is sent to the address in the From header. In the case of Gitea, this means that the answers often will be lost.

WONTFIX Bug report: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1309486
Related change in the code: https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/b91eb48f1dae#l2.49

If the List-Post header could be suppressed by a parameter in the configuration file, the problem would be solved.

Screenshots

No response

Originally created by @D-ominik on GitHub (Aug 30, 2023). ### Feature Description It would be great if in the notification mails (after enabling the "Incoming Email" function) the "List-Post" header could be removed by a configuration option, otherwise replies from Thunderbird users often will be lost. ### In detail: As soon as the "Incoming Email" function has been enabled, Gitea adds the "List-Post" header, among others, to the notification mail. For example: ``` List-Post: <mailto:incoming+***@example.com> ``` This header defines the URL of a mailing list post, as specified in RFC 4021: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4021.html#section-2.1.35 I think one can consider the issue notifications of Gitea as a kind of mailing list, once the incoming mail function has been activated. So adding the header is legitimate. But it has an annoying side effect in Thunderbird Mail. The Thunderbird development team decided a couple of years ago to ignore the Reply-To header when replying to mailing lists and to use the address in the From header instead. One has to specifically choose "Reply to list" now. Yes, this is complete bullshit in many ways. It contradicts the RFC, it contradicts the behavior of all other mail programs, it's rude to put oneself above the sender's wishes, and it's also nonesense in terms of usability (how often will one want to reply directly to a person as opposed to reply to the group?). However, the developers insist on this change. There is a hidden option to force the old behavior, but this is not really useful with a varying group of contributors (who are not aware of the problem). Thunderbird makes the decision to ignore the Reply-To header dependent on whether a List-Post header exists. If it exists, the reply is sent to the address in the From header. In the case of Gitea, this means that the answers often will be lost. WONTFIX Bug report: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1309486 Related change in the code: https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/b91eb48f1dae#l2.49 If the List-Post header could be suppressed by a parameter in the configuration file, the problem would be solved. ### Screenshots _No response_

GiteaMirror added the type/proposal label 2025-11-02 09:41:11 -06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 09:41:11 -06:00

@KazzmanK commented on GitHub (Aug 30, 2023):

Could you clarify, how it will be solved?

@KazzmanK commented on GitHub (Aug 30, 2023): Could you clarify, how it will be solved?

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 09:41:11 -06:00

@KN4CK3R commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023):

When I implemented that feature I used Thunderbird too. I can't remember having these problems back then but will have a look when I get time.

@KN4CK3R commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023): When I implemented that feature I used Thunderbird too. I can't remember having these problems back then but will have a look when I get time.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 09:41:12 -06:00

@D-ominik commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023):

If the "List-Post" header is present, Thunderbird replies to the address in the From header. Currently, Gitea sets this header (as does Github, with the same problem):

This is the code from Thunderbird that causes the problem:

Yes, you can set a flag to turn off this annoying behavior (until it gets reset with an update...) or you could use "Reply to list" or you could use "Reply all" (which then replies to From and Reply-To). These might be options for a typical mailing list user or an experienced user who is aware of this specific problem, but not for the novice who simply reports an error and later receives an email with the text "... reply directly to this email".

If the "List-Post" header is not present, Thunderbird behaves like it always should, it replies to the Adress specified in the Reply-To header.

@KN4CK3R Maybe you're used to reply to all? In this case Thunderbird generates a mail with recipients from the From and the Reply-To header.

@D-ominik commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023): If the "List-Post" header is present, Thunderbird replies to the address in the From header. Currently, Gitea sets this header (as does Github, with the same problem): ![image](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/assets/3935749/0c0e2c0a-60af-4e4a-ae73-b8db41cc7229) This is the code from Thunderbird that causes the problem: ![image](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/assets/3935749/e34261cb-2be4-4ede-abe6-492c3d611140) Yes, you can set a flag to turn off this annoying behavior (until it gets reset with an update...) or you could use "Reply to list" or you could use "Reply all" (which then replies to From and Reply-To). These might be options for a typical mailing list user or an experienced user who is aware of this specific problem, but not for the novice who simply reports an error and later receives an email with the text "... reply directly to this email". If the "List-Post" header is not present, Thunderbird behaves like it always should, it replies to the Adress specified in the Reply-To header. @KN4CK3R Maybe you're used to reply to all? In this case Thunderbird generates a mail with recipients from the From *and* the Reply-To header.

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 09:41:12 -06:00

@KN4CK3R commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023):

That could be the case. I reply by mail only from my phone and there is no Thunderbird (yet).

For this issue: Don't know if this proposal gets into the code because we usually don't change for "buggy" clients.

@KN4CK3R commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023): That could be the case. I reply by mail only from my phone and there is no Thunderbird (yet). For this issue: Don't know if this proposal gets into the code because we usually don't change for "buggy" clients.

Sign in to join this conversation.

Branches Tags

1 Participants

Notifications

Due Date

No due date set.

Dependencies

No dependencies set.

Reference: github-starred/gitea#11563