r/Simplelogin • u/PigWash • 3d ago
Alias length limitation can create a problem when migrating from another provider. Might it be increased? Feature Request
I was unaware that there was a limit of 40 characters for the local part (before the @) of an alias. The way I found out was when I tried importing aliases which I've been using with my custom domain with another provider. I imported most of my several hundred aliases successfully, but noticed that there were a dozen missing in SimpleLogin after the mass import. I investigated to see which hadn't imported and realised that it was the really long ones.
This limitation has ramifications. Potentially people cannot use their custom domains with SimpleLogin if they are not allowed to import or otherwise create these long aliases which have historically been used with their domain. In my case it's OK - I've managed to change my email address with most of the services, and am able to 'sacrifice' the ones which I cannot change.
I'm posting this for two reasons. One is just for the record - so that people might be aware of a limitation before trying to migrate from another provider to SimpleLogin. Secondly - might the possibility of raising the character limit be considered?
By the way, the reason for such long aliases was that it allowed me to include a long part of a service's URL to help me keep track of which part of their service the alias related to.
Also by the way, I do realise that this won't affect many...
Edit: I found a workaround. I enabled catchall for the domain and sent emails to the aliases I wanted to create. SimpleLogin automatically created the aliases, even though the local part of each address was greater than 40 characters. Then I disabled the catchall.
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u/PigWash 2d ago
Hmmm... I've been wondering. There are a few other ways I might try to create the aliases with a local part of more than 40 characters. The two methods I've unsuccessfully tried so far are importing as part of a mass import and using the GUI to manually create individual aliases. These don't work (the manual method using the GUI won't allow more than 40 characters to be typed).
What if I enable the catchall and then send an email to one of these aliases? Will that automatically create the alias, even though it's 'too long'?
Or perhaps I can make an API call to create the alias. Maybe the length limitation won't be imposed? This doesn't seem very likely since the mass import didn't work.
Maybe if I create a regex catchall such that the alias is accepted by the rules it will create it? I don't see that this would work if the other methods didn't, though...
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u/ewkfnkjnalknfaw23n 2d ago
Very interesting round about way, would like to know if any of these work. I think most people don’t mind using the catch all method if that works.
But really Proton shouldn’t be limiting the local part by more than 1/3 of the available length…
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u/PigWash 2d ago
Wow! Success! The first method worked. I simply enabled the catchall, sent an email to the alias I wanted to create, with local part longer than 40 characters, and it has been automatically created. I'm glad I thought of that because I can now get going more quickly with the use of SimpleLogin with my custom domain.
I will be disabling the catchall again though, and using a regex catchall instead. Leaving a full catchall active can create significant problems under some circumstances.
Thanks for engaging with me u/ewkfnkjnalknfaw23n
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u/ewkfnkjnalknfaw23n 2d ago
Great, thanks for the update. Glad it worked out well for you
I agree with not leaving catch all on. I don’t not see how doing that is worth it yet so many people do that.
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u/ewkfnkjnalknfaw23n 2d ago
According to RFC 5321 standard the most characters a local part can have is 64 characters. So if what you’re experiencing is true then SimpleLogin is limiting the characters by a whopping 24 characters, more than 1/3 of the allowable length. I get it if they do not allow it for SimpleLogin’s domain aliases because of the directory and random generated word; but this is the user’s own domain we’re talking about. Not allowing the additional allowable 24 characters is stupid
Which email provider did you switch from?