sessions can't be established with the docker installation

[Hoover, David (NIH/CIT) [E]]

Hey all,

We have been using the docker version of the genome browser as a local mirror. Unfortunately, this type of installation does not support session creation. I believe the problem is that sendmail does not exist within the container. I'm not completely sure. Do you know if users should be able to create sessions and change their passwords with a docker install?

David
--
David Hoover, Ph.D.
Computational Biologist
CIT SCS HPCS
National Institutes of Health
12 South Dr., Rm 2N207
TEL: (+1) 301-435-2986
Email: david....@nih.gov

[Maximilian Haeussler]

Hi david,

what exactly does not work? Just the email?

Yes, it's possible that I forgot the hg.conf setting that switches off
emails altogether and just accepts all user accounts without the email
check. There is no sendmail, because how would that work?
To which sendmail would it send the emails to...

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 10:58 AM 'Hoover, David (NIH/CIT) [E]' via
UCSC Genome Browser Mirror-Specific Support

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[Hoover, David (NIH/CIT) [E]]

Hi Max,

When a user requests a new account, or if they request a password reset, hgLogin runs happily and tells the user that an email is on the way.

However, there is no sendmail in the docker container, and nothing happens.

I have a rather brutal workaround. I've created a bash script inside the docker container in place of sendmail (/usr/bin/sendmail) that simply writes the contents of the mail piped to it into a file in a unique location of the trash directory.

Because the trash directory is accessible both inside and outside the container, I can hook up a cronjob that will identify the newly created file, send it using our real sendmail outside the container, and remove the file.

Talking with a sysadmin on my side, it seems like a major hassle to retrofit a docker container with the correct sendmail/postfix configuration and get it working without security breathing down our necks. And so, I think I will go with my little cheat.

Thanks anyway,
David

[Maximilian Haeussler]

Hi David, sorry that you had to go through this hack!

I just looked into ex.hg.conf where we document all our options, this
one is also set in the GBIB file:

# from/return email address used for system emails
# or NOEMAIL to skip the email confirmation
login.mailReturnAddr=browserAdm...@mylab.university.edu

So if you set that to NOEMAIL, no email will be set and the user
account is just valid right away.
The Docker container is pretty new, and I forgot to set it there. I'll
do that now in the Docker container.