An email and MIME handling package - Add support to send CC of email

[Jack]

BPO	29771
Nosy	@warsaw, @ericvsmith, @bitdancer, @jack

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2017-03-09.13:59:09.141>
created_at = <Date 2017-03-09.13:10:10.587>
labels = ['type-feature', 'invalid', 'expert-email', 'docs']
title = 'An email and MIME handling package - Add support to send CC of email'
updated_at = <Date 2017-03-09.14:01:02.676>
user = 'https://github.com/Jack'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2017-03-09.14:01:02.676>
actor = 'r.david.murray'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2017-03-09.13:59:09.141>
closer = 'Nonickname'
components = ['Documentation', 'email']
creation = <Date 2017-03-09.13:10:10.587>
creator = 'Nonickname'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 29771
keywords = []
message_count = 9.0
messages = ['289291', '289292', '289293', '289294', '289295', '289296', '289297', '289298', '289299']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['barry', 'eric.smith', 'r.david.murray', 'docs@python', 'Nonickname']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue29771'
versions = ['Python 2.7']

[Jack]

Currently using the package we can only define emails in the 'TO'
as shown here:
https://docs.python.org/2/library/email-examples.html#email-examples

There is no support for email to be sent as CC or BCC which is useful quality in many emails. Please see if this can be added.

[ericvsmith]

The examples don't cover it, but look at the documentation for setting arbitrary mail headers such as CC.

And look at smtplib.SMTP.sendmail() on sending a message to arbitrary recipients (to, cc, or bcc are all the same):
https://docs.python.org/2/library/smtplib.html#smtplib.SMTP.sendmail

[Jack]

But this is what I mean.. It shouldn't be arbitrary.
When you define CC you want him as CC not as another one in the TO.
This is why I said this is enhancement request.

[ericvsmith]

So, you want to improve the examples? I wouldn't be opposed to that. I don't see that there's any code to change.

[Jack]

I think you missundersttod. I showed the example page just so you would understand what I am talking about.
Let me explain it better:
msg['Subject'] = 'The contents of %s' % textfile
msg['From'] = me
msg['To'] = you

Works.

msg['Subject'] = 'The contents of %s' % textfile
msg['From'] = me
msg['To'] = you
msg['CC'] = x
msg['BCC'] = y

won't work. It doesn't know what is CC and BCC.
This is why I opened this request to modify the package to support it.

[Jack]

Please see the stack overflow question:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/42696100/python-smtp-send-email-with-cc

[ericvsmith]

You need to review how SMTP works. The contents of the mail message have no bearing on where messages are sent. That's exactly how BCC works: there's nothing in the message telling you who is BCC'd, but the mail is still sent to the BCC recipients, via SMTP.

Similarly, you could have the message say that someone@example.com is in the To: header, but not send it to them via SMTP.

I'm on the fence about including this in the examples.

In any event, this bug tracker is not a place for an email tutorial. From your SO link, there's a reference (by user xyref) to another question which explains this in detail: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1546367/python-how-to-send-mail-with-to-cc-and-bcc. This completely explains the issue.

[Jack]

"I'm on the fence about including this in the examples."

Think of it this way.. Including it in the docs would have prevented this question.
It can be just a side note it doesn't have to be a whole example.

Thx.

[bitdancer]

If you use smtplib.send_message in python3, it will do what you want (including stripping BCC headers before sending the message).

If someone wants to create a PR to add an example of what Eric is talking about (specifying additional senders in smtplib.sendmail to match what is in the CC headers) please open a new issue with a PR (which may or may not get accepted :). I don't think it is worth doing, myself, but I won't object if others think it enhances the docs.