119 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
119 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
# Send-as "From" address — design
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**Date:** 2026-06-23
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**Status:** Approved (pending spec review)
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## Problem
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An account's configuration has no field for the email address used as the
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`From:` when sending mail. Today the From is silently aliased to the login
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username (`internal/cli/send.go:26`, `From: acc.Username`), and neither
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`store.Account` nor the `accounts` table has any `from`/`address`/`email`
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column.
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This works only when the login username is exactly the desired send-as
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address. It breaks for:
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- providers where the login is an account ID rather than an email,
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- sending from an **alias** of the mailbox,
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- wanting a **display name** (`Steve Cliff <me@…>`) rather than a bare address,
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- Gmail App Passwords where envelope-from and header-from may differ.
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## Decisions
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- **Field shape:** a single freeform RFC 5322 From identity — bare
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(`me@stevecliff.com`) or with a display name
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(`Steve Cliff <me@stevecliff.com>`). One field, not a split
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address/display-name pair.
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- **Fallback:** when the from-address is blank, fall back to
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`Account.Username` (current behaviour). No migration/backfill of existing
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accounts required; they keep working unchanged.
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## Design
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### 1. Data model
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Add `FromAddress string` to `store.Account` and a `from_address TEXT` column to
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the `accounts` table. **Not encrypted** — it is not a secret (it appears in
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every outgoing header), so it is stored as plaintext like `username`.
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### 2. Fallback in one place
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Add a method so the fallback rule lives in exactly one spot:
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```go
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// SendFrom returns the From identity for outgoing mail, falling back to the
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// login username when no explicit from-address is configured.
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func (a Account) SendFrom() string {
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if a.FromAddress != "" {
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return a.FromAddress
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}
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return a.Username
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}
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```
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`internal/cli/send.go` changes `From: acc.Username` → `From: acc.SendFrom()`.
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### 3. Envelope sender vs header From
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A display-name From breaks the SMTP envelope: `c.SendMail("Steve <me@…>", …)`
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is invalid — the envelope sender must be the **bare** address.
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- `mail.BuildMIME` keeps using the full `m.From` for the `From:` header
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(go-message renders `Name <addr>` correctly via `SetAddressList`).
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- `mail.SendSMTP` derives the envelope sender as the bare address:
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`gomail.ParseAddress(m.From).Address`. If parsing fails, fall back to the raw
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`m.From` (preserves today's behaviour for plain addresses).
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Header carries the display name; envelope carries the bare address.
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### 4. Migration
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The schema is v1, applied via `CREATE TABLE … IF NOT EXISTS`, which will not add
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a column to an existing DB, and there is no migration runner yet.
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- Add the `from_address` column to the `CREATE TABLE accounts` statement (new
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DBs get it directly).
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- In `store.Open`, after applying the schema, run a version-gated migration: if
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the stored `schema_version` is `< 2`, execute
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`ALTER TABLE accounts ADD COLUMN from_address TEXT` and set `schema_version`
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to `2`.
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- Bump the `schemaVersion` constant to `2`.
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SQLite `ALTER TABLE … ADD COLUMN` is cheap and safe. The migration is
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idempotent under the version gate.
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### 5. Inputs & validation
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- **CLI:** add a `--from` flag to `account add` and `account edit`. On `edit`,
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follow the existing `fs.Visit` overlay pattern (only set when the flag was
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passed).
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- **TUI:** add a `FromAddress` field to `tui.Fields`, a `fieldDef`
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(`{key: "from_address", label: "From address (optional)"}`), and wire it
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through `ToAccount`, `FieldsFromAccount`, `fieldValue`, and `collect`.
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- **Validation:** when the from-address is non-empty, reject it unless
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`gomail.ParseAddress` accepts it (covers bare and display-name forms). A
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blank from-address is always valid (→ fallback). Applied in
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`Fields.Validate` and on the `account add`/`edit` flag path.
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- **Persistence:** thread `from_address` through `AddAccount`, `UpdateAccount`,
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`scanAccount`, and the three `SELECT` column lists in
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`internal/store/account.go`. Stored via `nullStr` (blank → NULL).
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### 6. Tests
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- `SendFrom()`: returns the from-address when set; returns username when blank.
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- `SendSMTP` envelope: when From is `Name <addr>`, the envelope sender passed to
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the server is the bare `addr` (table test on the extraction helper).
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- Migration: open a v1 DB with no `from_address` column → column is added,
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`schema_version` becomes 2, and an existing account still sends from its
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username.
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- `Fields.Validate`: rejects a malformed from-address; accepts bare and
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display-name forms; accepts blank.
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- Round-trip: `FieldsFromAccount` then `ToAccount` preserves `FromAddress`.
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## Out of scope (YAGNI)
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- Separate envelope-from override field (derive it from From instead).
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- Per-message From override at send time.
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- Multiple aliases per account.
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