1774143 - Catchall hints are ignored when header contains the exact email address of an identity

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Description

[Vincent Bernat]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/102.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Configure [e-mail] and [e-mail]
2. [e-mail] has a catchall hint set to *@domain3.example.com
3. Reply to an email delivered to [e-mail] and with To field set to [e-mail]

Actual results:

[e-mail] is used as the best identity

Expected results:

[e-mail] should be used instead

In MailUtils.jsm, getBestIdentity() is checking first for an exact match in the provided hints:

      for (let hint of hints) {
        for (let identity of identities.filter(i => i.email)) {
          if (hint.email.toLowerCase() == identity.email.toLowerCase()) {
            return [identity, hint];
          }
        }
      }

Then, it looks at the catchall hints:

      // Lets search again, this time for a match from catchAll.
      for (let hint of hints) {
        for (let identity of identities.filter(
          i => i.email && i.catchAll && i.catchAllHint
        )) {
          for (let caHint of identity.catchAllHint.toLowerCase().split(",")) {
            // If the hint started with *@, it applies to the whole domain. In
            // this case return the hint so it can be used for replying.
            // If the hint was for a more specific hint, don't return a hint
            // so that the normal from address for the identity is used.
            let wholeDomain = caHint.trim().startsWith("*@");
            caHint = caHint.trim().replace(/^\*/, ""); // Remove initial star.
            if (hint.email.toLowerCase().includes(caHint)) {
              return wholeDomain ? [identity, hint] : [identity, null];
            }
          }
        }
      }

This makes it difficult to override an identity, notably when using mailing lists. The two checks could be reverted and it would work for me. I expect that when providing catchall hints, they have precedence over other stuff.

Comment 1

[Vincent Bernat]

I have tried this patch:

--- a/omni/modules/MailUtils.jsm	2022-08-23 03:45:28.000000000 +0200
+++ b/omni/modules/MailUtils.jsm	2022-08-23 15:34:39.723281445 +0200
@@ -474,15 +474,7 @@
         optionalHint
       );
 
-      for (let hint of hints) {
-        for (let identity of identities.filter(i => i.email)) {
-          if (hint.email.toLowerCase() == identity.email.toLowerCase()) {
-            return [identity, hint];
-          }
-        }
-      }
-
-      // Lets search again, this time for a match from catchAll.
+      // Lets for a match from catchAll.
       for (let hint of hints) {
         for (let identity of identities.filter(
           i => i.email && i.catchAll && i.catchAllHint
@@ -500,6 +492,15 @@
           }
         }
       }
+
+      // If not found, fallback to email addresses from identities
+      for (let hint of hints) {
+        for (let identity of identities.filter(i => i.email)) {
+          if (hint.email.toLowerCase() == identity.email.toLowerCase()) {
+            return [identity, hint];
+          }
+        }
+      }
     }
 
     // Still no matches? Give up and pick the default or the first one.

However, when there is a catchall match, it uses one of the addresses in the headers instead of mine. I don't understand how this hint system should be used.

Notably the following comment:

            // If the hint started with *@, it applies to the whole domain. In
            // this case return the hint so it can be used for replying.
            // If the hint was for a more specific hint, don't return a hint
            // so that the normal from address for the identity is used.

If I use this patch, it works as expected for me:

--- ./omni/modules/MailUtils.jsm	2022-08-23 03:45:28.000000000 +0200
+++ ./omni/modules/MailUtils.jsm	2022-08-23 16:28:26.192547963 +0200
@@ -474,32 +474,28 @@
         optionalHint
       );
 
-      for (let hint of hints) {
-        for (let identity of identities.filter(i => i.email)) {
-          if (hint.email.toLowerCase() == identity.email.toLowerCase()) {
-            return [identity, hint];
-          }
-        }
-      }
-
-      // Lets search again, this time for a match from catchAll.
+      // Let's search for a match from catchAll.
       for (let hint of hints) {
         for (let identity of identities.filter(
           i => i.email && i.catchAll && i.catchAllHint
         )) {
           for (let caHint of identity.catchAllHint.toLowerCase().split(",")) {
-            // If the hint started with *@, it applies to the whole domain. In
-            // this case return the hint so it can be used for replying.
-            // If the hint was for a more specific hint, don't return a hint
-            // so that the normal from address for the identity is used.
-            let wholeDomain = caHint.trim().startsWith("*@");
             caHint = caHint.trim().replace(/^\*/, ""); // Remove initial star.
             if (hint.email.toLowerCase().includes(caHint)) {
-              return wholeDomain ? [identity, hint] : [identity, null];
+              return [identity, null];
             }
           }
         }
       }
+
+      // Check against the email addresses of each identity.
+      for (let hint of hints) {
+        for (let identity of identities.filter(i => i.email)) {
+          if (hint.email.toLowerCase() == identity.email.toLowerCase()) {
+            return [identity, hint];
+          }
+        }
+      }
     }
 
     // Still no matches? Give up and pick the default or the first one.

If I reply when something is matching the catch all from one of the identity, the email address of the identity is used. If I reply when there is no such match, but there is a match for one of the email addresses, it uses this one and if there is no match at all, it uses the default identity.