[OJS-3.5.0] how to force default email address for all emails sent by the system?

[rvdb]

Describe the issue or problem
Since switching to OJS-3.5.0.1, all emails sent from a specific OJS user (as opposed to those being sent by OJS system tasks) are being flagged as spam, since they don’t pass the DMARC test. Yet, I noticed how messages sent from the “general” email address (“outstanding editorial tasks”, “editorial activity”) are delivered fine.

I’ve followed all recommended settings from https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/admin-guide/en/deploy-email#dmarc, and configured my email as follows:

allow_envelope_sender = On
default_envelope_sender = <email>
force_default_envelope_sender = On
force_dmarc_compliant_from = On

I’ve tried many combinations of these settings, but don’t see much (any?) difference in how they affect the email headers. Actually, I’m suspecting that `force_default_envelope_sender` or `force_dmarc_compliant_from` don’t have any effect at all in OJS-3.5.0. With identical settings in OJS-3.4.0, the headers did look different:

• OJS-3.4.0:
  • from: <OJS user name> via <default_envelope_sender>
  • reply-to: <OJS user email>
• OJS-3.5.0:
  • from: <OJS user email>
  • no reply-to header

Yet, since “system-generated” emails from the default email addres (which is in the domain of our journal) are being delivered without problems, I would for now like to force all emails to be sent from that address. Is this possible at all?

What application are you using?
OJS 3.5.0-1

[rvdb]

Ah, found further pointers that confirm my suspicion about force_dmarc_compliant_from and force_default_envelope_sender not working properly (see “Email Sending” section):

Feedbacks from 3.5 version using in production

Hi all, Thanks for the feedback, @geniusdesign – a couple additional notes on top of what @jonasraoni said… USER MANAGEMENT (MOST CRITICAL): We’ve been talking about the GDPR changes to user management both internally and with users for quite a while, and I’m aware it’s going to be frustrating for some journal managers/editors who are used to taking on user management for users who have trouble. So I’ll take a few paragraphs to talk about this (and probably link to it from future threads …

Given the email-centered workflow of OJS, I’m confident that the issues at:

• DMARC compliance logic ordering causes SES/SMTP failures · Issue #11766 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub
• [Emails] | Cannot force the from address seemingly · Issue #11685 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub

…will be resolved soon.

Yet, since these issues have been open for quite a while, is there any known temporary workaround?

Kind regards,

Ron

[asmecher]

Hi @rvdb,

This fix was merged into the stable-3_5_0 branch to resolve it for the forthcoming 3.5.0-2 release. You can apply that in the lib/pkp subdirectory to fix a 3.5.0-1 installation.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[rvdb]

Hi @asmecher ,

Thanks for following up. I have copied the fixed Mailer.php file into my OJS-3.5.0.1 installation, and can confirm this resolves the issue.

Best,

Ron