SMTP email error on signup

[BackedUpBooty]

Description

Trying to set this up for the first time, using docker, image: ghcr.io/ente-io/server (not build).

Containers start properly, Android app can connect to my local endpoint and via reverse proxy. Attempting to create a new account returns an error (see screenshot), phone logs show an HTTP status error 500 and the container logs show the following:

INFO[0071]request_logger.go:83 func1 incoming                                      client_ip=192.168.1.20 client_pkg=io.ente.photos client_version=0.8.80 query= req_body={"email":"[redacted email]","purpose":""} req_id=b48b2a97-1582-4da7-9723-a0234a4f4cfe req_method=POST req_uri=/users/ott ua=Dalvik/2.1.0 (Linux; U; Android 14; SM-S918B Build/UP1A.231005.007)
INFO[0071]userauth.go:125 SendEmailOTT Added ott for Kv9gU8MBdNOehZ+jq+9D8020/Y/93DVjYLpShjhikG8=: 769048 
ERRO[0075]handler.go:46 Error Request failed                                error= --- at /etc/ente/pkg/api/user.go:40 (UserHandler.SendOTT) ---
 --- at /etc/ente/pkg/controller/user/userauth.go:128 (UserController.SendEmailOTT) ---
 --- at /etc/ente/pkg/controller/user/userauth.go:309 (emailOTT) ---
 --- at /etc/ente/pkg/utils/email/email.go:88 (sendViaSMTP) ---
Caused by: 550 Can't send from [email protected] with user [redacted email] req_id=b48b2a97-1582-4da7-9723-a0234a4f4cfe user_id=0
ERRO[0600]handler.go:46 Error Request failed                                error= --- at /etc/ente/pkg/api/user.go:40 (UserHandler.SendOTT) ---
INFO[0597]userauth.go:125 SendEmailOTT Added ott for Kv9gU8MBdNOehZ+jq+9D8020/Y/93DVjYLpShjhikG8=: 310507 
INFO[0597]request_logger.go:83 func1 incoming                                      client_ip=192.168.1.20 client_pkg=io.ente.photos client_version=0.8.80 query= req_body={"email":"[email protected]","purpose":""} req_id=63a6bc62-e34c-4740-b4b3-6679c6374f1c req_method=POST req_uri=/users/ott ua=Dalvik/2.1.0 (Linux; U; Android 14; SM-S918B Build/UP1A.231005.007)
Caused by: 550 Can't send from [email protected] with user [email protected] req_id=63a6bc62-e34c-4740-b4b3-6679c6374f1c user_id=0

credentials.yaml is being used, key.encryption, key.hash and jwt.secret all created with base64 but the error persists even if they aren't in use. SMTP credentials are correct.

When trying with gmail smtp it shows that it was unauthorized, but again the credentials are correct. Escaping the password makes no difference.

I've tried setting the variable directly in the compose environment block (ENTE_SMTP_HOST=, ENTE_SMTP_PORT= etc.) though to be honest I didn't expect that to work either.

What am I missing?

Version

latest

What product are you using?

Ente Photos

What platform are you using?

Mobile - Android, Server

[mnvr]

Please don't open issues related to self hosting. I've moved this to a discussion.

Now in terms of your actual issue, three things come to mind:

1. ghcr.io/ente-io/server lags a bit behind the main server code, so you could build from source to rule that out as an issue. However, AFAIR, there have not been any fixes to the SMTP code since the ghcr.io build (commit 7be2c66fb69517eb1a2f67b0d94cc72817687df9 so I don't think this is the problem here)

2. There's something wrong with the credentials. You should verify using them with some other SMTP client. I'm not sure about Gmail, but many providers will insist that you use an app-specific password instead of your actual email password if trying to connect over a automated connection. Or you might've 2FA turned on. etc.

3. Gmail might not like that you're trying to send from [email protected] instead of your actual email address. If this is indeed the issue, then you'll need to build from source, there isn't currently a configuration flag to change the source email address.

If you ask me, I think 2 is the issue. If not, then 3. For reference, we ourselves are using the SMTP flow on production, and it's working fine.

---

BTW, if all you need is the OTP to log in, see https://help.ente.io/self-hosting/faq/otp

[Shackelford-Arden]

@BackedUpBooty I too was a little confused about issues not being preferred. I guess it is to be inferred from this section:

https://help.ente.io/self-hosting/#next-steps

that discussions are intended to be the place for self-hosted items, though maybe it can be more explicitly listed in the docs there that opening actual issues is not the correct path, @mnvr 👀?

[mnvr]

It's in the README

Some people new to Docker/Go/Postgres might have general questions though. Unfortunately, because of limited engineering bandwidth we will currently not be able to prioritize support queries related to self hosting, and we request you to please not open issues around self hosting for the time being (feel free to create discussions though). The best way to summarize the status of self hosting is – everything you need is here, but it is perhaps not readily documented, or flexible enough.

[Shackelford-Arden]

Fair point!

[pavelzw]

I also have a similar issue

ERRO[0063]handler.go:47 Error Request failed                                error= --- at /etc/ente/pkg/api/user.go:40 (UserHandler.SendOTT) ---
 --- at /etc/ente/pkg/controller/user/userauth.go:128 (UserController.SendEmailOTT) ---
 --- at /etc/ente/pkg/controller/user/userauth.go:310 (emailOTT) ---
 --- at /etc/ente/pkg/utils/email/email.go:88 (sendViaSMTP) ---
Caused by: 553 5.7.1 <[email protected]>: Sender address rejected: not owned by user [email protected] req_id=... user_id=0

Most probably because of 3.
It would be nice if at some point it was possible to specify the hardcoded emails like [email protected], [email protected], etc.

ente/server/pkg/controller/user/userauth.go

Line 305 in 944a075

err := emailUtil.SendTemplatedEmail([]string{to}, "ente", "[email protected]",

[mnvr]

That does seem like because of 3. We've now added an option to provide your own email address to use as the sender address -

ente/server/configurations/local.yaml

Line 185 in e96c9dd

email:

- when this option is present, it'll always be used instead of those hardcoded emails.