Using your username@kernel.org alias

We do not provide mailbox hosting to kernel.org members, but we do provide a redirect alias to the address you specified when requesting an account. The only other service we offer in addition to the redirect is outgoing mail SMTP.

Sending outgoing mail

If you want to use your kernel.org address for sending outgoing mail, you must use our SMTP server, otherwise your messages will be rejected by many providers due to DMARC policy violations.

First, you will need to obtain your SMTP password using the following command:

ssh git@gitolite.kernel.org getsmtppass

This will produce the following output:

SMTP password for user [username] was set to: [randomstring]

Example mutt settings:

    set smtp_url     = "smtps://[username]@mail.kernel.org:465/"
    set smtp_pass    = "[randomstring]"
    set from         = "[username]@kernel.org"

Example git config settings:

    [sendemail]
            smtpserver     = mail.kernel.org
            smtpserverport = 465
            smtpencryption = ssl
            from           = [username]@kernel.org
            smtpuser       = [username]
            smtppass       = [randomstring]

This passphrase will be shown only once. You can get a new one by
running:

    ssh git@gitolite.kernel.org getsmtppass reset

This will reset any existing smtp password, so use with care.

You should be able to use this output to configure any other client for authenticated SMTP sending. The automatically generated random password is not used for anything else, so there is little concern in leaving it cleartext in your configuration files.

Configuring msmtp

If you routinely work offline, it can be useful to configure msmtp with queueing. First, add this to your ~/.msmtprc:

account korg
port 465
tls on
tls_starttls off
host mail.kernel.org
from [username]@kernel.org
auth on
user [username]
password [randomstring]
account default : korg

You can then use the msmtp-enqueue.sh and msmtp-runqueue.sh scripts that ship with msmtp. See the documentation that accompanies msmtp for details.

Adding a kernel.org UID to your PGP key

If you are sending PGP-signed mail using your username@kernel.org email address, you should add that UID to the public key (should be the same key you used to apply for your kernel.org account):

gpg --quick-add-uid [keyid] 'Firstname Lastname <username@kernel.org>'

To find out your keyid, you can run:

gpg --list-secret-keys

Your keyid (either the full fingerprint, or the last 16 characters) should be listed right under the sec line.

The kernel.org Web Key Directory

We publish the Web Key Directory (WKD) for all accounts, so once you add the kernel.org uid to your public key, people will be able to obtain your key automatically if they use an email client that supports automatic WKD key retrieval. If they use the default TOFU trust mechanism, the key retrieved from kernel.org will be automatically marked as trusted.

To check which key we have in the WKD, you can run the following command:

GNUPGHOME=$(mktemp -d) gpg --auto-key-locate wkd --locate-keys [username]@kernel.org

The output should display which key ID was retrieved from the WKD. If instead you see an error message like this:

gpg: key [keygrip]: no valid user IDs
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:           w/o user IDs: 1
gpg: error retrieving '[username]@kernel.org' via WKD: No fingerprint

This means there is no corresponding username@kernel.org uid on the key retrieved from the directory. If you’ve just added the kernel.org uid to your key, it takes about 24 hours for the WKD to be regenerated. If you repeatedly get this error even after 24 hours, please contact helpdesk@kernel.org.

Changing your forwarding address

If you have a kernel.org ssh account

You can self-administer your forwarding address if you have an active ssh account allowing you to access gitolite.kernel.org. To list your current forwarding address(es):

ssh git@gitolite.kernel.org mailforward list

To add another forwarding address in addition to what is already present:

ssh git@gitolite.kernel.org mailforward add foo@example.com

To replace your current forwarding address(es):

ssh git@gitolite.kernel.org mailforward set foo@example.com

For other commands and more information, run:

ssh git@gitolite.kernel.org mailforward help

If you don’t have an active ssh account

Please send a request to helpdesk@kernel.org with your username and the new desired destination.

Important

The new address must match one of the UIDs on your PGP key and exist on keyservers. See the section above for instructions on how to add a UID to your PGP key.

We can also forward to multiple destinations. Follow the same procedure to request additional destinations.

Topical addresses

We support using +topic addressing, so you can use any number of username+topic@kernel.org addresses when doing things like subscribing to mailing lists. E.g.:

username+lkml@kernel.org

They will be correctly delivered to your forwarding address.