Remove warnings about empty email. (#10214)

We strongly encouraged providing an email address because we wanted
people to get expiration notices to ensure that even if their Certbot
install broke, they could fix it before their site goes down.

Now that Let's Encrypt is getting rid of expiration notices
(https://letsencrypt.org/2025/01/22/ending-expiration-emails/), we can
remove some of the encouragement, providing a smoother user experience.

certbot/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ Certbot adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 
 ### Changed
 
+* The --register-unsafely-without-email flag is no longer needed in non-interactive mode.
+* In interactive mode, pressing Enter at the email prompt will register without an email.
 * deprecated `acme.crypto_util.dump_pyopenssl_chain`
 * deprecated `acme.crypto_util._pyopenssl_cert_or_req_all_names`
 * deprecated `acme.crypto_util._pyopenssl_cert_or_req_san`

certbot/certbot/_internal/cli/__init__.py

@@ -171,11 +171,7 @@ def prepare_and_parse_args(plugins: plugins_disco.PluginsRegistry, args: List[st
     helpful.add(
         ["register", "automation"], "--register-unsafely-without-email", action="store_true",
         default=flag_default("register_unsafely_without_email"),
-        help="Specifying this flag enables registering an account with no "
+        help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
-             "email address. This is strongly discouraged, because you will be "
-             "unable to receive notice about impending expiration or "
-             "revocation of your certificates or problems with your Certbot "
-             "installation that will lead to failure to renew.")
     helpful.add(
         ["register", "update_account", "unregister", "automation"], "-m", "--email",
         default=flag_default("email"),

certbot/certbot/_internal/client.py

@@ -186,15 +186,9 @@ def register(config: configuration.NamespaceConfig, account_storage: AccountStor
     # Log non-standard actions, potentially wrong API calls
     if account_storage.find_all():
         logger.info("There are already existing accounts for %s", config.server)
-    if config.email is None:
-        if not config.register_unsafely_without_email:
-            msg = ("No email was provided and "
-                   "--register-unsafely-without-email was not present.")
-            logger.error(msg)
-            raise errors.Error(msg)
-        if not config.dry_run:
-            logger.debug("Registering without email!")
 
+    if config.email == "":
+        config.email = None
     # If --dry-run is used, and there is no staging account, create one with no email.
     if config.dry_run:
         config.email = None

certbot/certbot/_internal/main.py

@@ -932,7 +932,7 @@ def update_account(config: configuration.NamespaceConfig,
     if not accounts:
         return f"Could not find an existing account for server {config.server}."
     if config.email is None and not config.register_unsafely_without_email:
-        config.email = display_ops.get_email(optional=False)
+        config.email = display_ops.get_email()
 
     acc, acme = _determine_account(config)
     cb_client = client.Client(config, acc, None, None, acme=acme)

certbot/certbot/_internal/tests/client_test.py

@@ -158,9 +158,10 @@ class RegisterTest(test_util.ConfigTestCase):
                 with pytest.raises(errors.Error):
                     self._call()
 
-    def test_needs_email(self):
+    def test_no_email_is_chill(self):
         self.config.email = None
-        with pytest.raises(errors.Error):
+        with self._patched_acme_client() as mock_client:
+            mock_client().external_account_required.side_effect = self._false_mock
             self._call()
 
     @mock.patch("certbot._internal.client.logger")
@@ -172,7 +173,6 @@ class RegisterTest(test_util.ConfigTestCase):
                 self.config.register_unsafely_without_email = True
                 self.config.dry_run = False
                 self._call()
-                mock_logger.debug.assert_called_once_with(mock.ANY)
                 assert mock_prepare.called is True
 
     @mock.patch("certbot._internal.client.display_ops.get_email")

certbot/certbot/_internal/tests/display/ops_test.py

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class GetEmailTest(unittest.TestCase):
         with pytest.raises(errors.Error):
             self._call()
         with pytest.raises(errors.Error):
-            self._call(optional=False)
+            self._call()
 
     @test_util.patch_display_util()
     def test_ok_safe(self, mock_get_utility):
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class GetEmailTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     @test_util.patch_display_util()
     def test_invalid_flag(self, mock_get_utility):
-        invalid_txt = "There seem to be problems"
+        invalid_txt = "The server reported a problem"
         mock_input = mock_get_utility().input
         mock_input.return_value = (display_util.OK, "foo@bar.baz")
         with mock.patch("certbot.display.ops.util.safe_email") as mock_safe_email:
@@ -65,19 +65,9 @@ class GetEmailTest(unittest.TestCase):
             self._call(invalid=True)
             assert invalid_txt in mock_input.call_args[0][0]
 
-    @test_util.patch_display_util()
-    def test_optional_flag(self, mock_get_utility):
-        mock_input = mock_get_utility().input
-        mock_input.return_value = (display_util.OK, "foo@bar.baz")
-        with mock.patch("certbot.display.ops.util.safe_email") as mock_safe_email:
-            mock_safe_email.side_effect = [False, True]
-            self._call(optional=False)
-            for call in mock_input.call_args_list:
-                assert "--register-unsafely-without-email" not in call[0][0]
-
     @test_util.patch_display_util()
     def test_optional_invalid_unsafe(self, mock_get_utility):
-        invalid_txt = "There seem to be problems"
+        invalid_txt = "There is a problem"
         mock_input = mock_get_utility().input
         mock_input.return_value = (display_util.OK, "foo@bar.baz")
         with mock.patch("certbot.display.ops.util.safe_email") as mock_safe_email:

certbot/certbot/_internal/tests/main_test.py

@@ -1062,8 +1062,6 @@ class MainTest(test_util.ConfigTestCase):
     def test_noninteractive(self, _):
         args = ['-n', 'certonly']
         self._cli_missing_flag(args, "specify a plugin")
-        args.extend(['--standalone', '-d', 'eg.is'])
-        self._cli_missing_flag(args, "register before running")
 
     @mock.patch('certbot._internal.eff.handle_subscription')
     @mock.patch('certbot._internal.log.post_arg_parse_setup')

certbot/certbot/display/ops.py

@@ -19,12 +19,10 @@ from certbot.display import util as display_util
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def get_email(invalid: bool = False, optional: bool = True) -> str:
+def get_email(invalid: bool = False, **kwargs: Any) -> str:
     """Prompt for valid email address.
 
     :param bool invalid: True if an invalid address was provided by the user
-    :param bool optional: True if the user can use
-        --register-unsafely-without-email to avoid providing an e-mail
 
     :returns: e-mail address
     :rtype: str
@@ -32,45 +30,22 @@ def get_email(invalid: bool = False, optional: bool = True) -> str:
     :raises errors.Error: if the user cancels
 
     """
-    invalid_prefix = "There seem to be problems with that address. "
+    # pylint: disable=unused-argument
-    msg = "Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices)\n"
+    invalid_prefix = ""
-    unsafe_suggestion = ("\n\nIf you really want to skip this, you can run "
+    if invalid:
-                         "the client with --register-unsafely-without-email "
+        invalid_prefix = "The server reported a problem with your email address. "
-                         "but you will then be unable to receive notice about "
+    msg = "Enter email address or hit Enter to skip.\n"
-                         "impending expiration or revocation of your "
-                         "certificates or problems with your Certbot "
-                         "installation that will lead to failure to renew.\n\n")
-    if optional:
-        if invalid:
-            msg += unsafe_suggestion
-            suggest_unsafe = False
-        else:
-            suggest_unsafe = True
-    else:
-        suggest_unsafe = False
 
     while True:
-        try:
+        code, email = display_util.input_text(invalid_prefix + msg, default="")
-            code, email = display_util.input_text(invalid_prefix + msg if invalid else msg,
-                                                  force_interactive=True)
-        except errors.MissingCommandlineFlag:
-            msg = ("You should register before running non-interactively, "
-                   "or provide --agree-tos and --email <email_address> flags.")
-            raise errors.MissingCommandlineFlag(msg)
 
         if code != display_util.OK:
-            if optional:
+            raise errors.Error("Error getting email address.")
-                raise errors.Error(
+        if email == "":
-                    "An e-mail address or "
+            return ""
-                    "--register-unsafely-without-email must be provided.")
-            raise errors.Error("An e-mail address must be provided.")
         if util.safe_email(email):
             return email
-        if suggest_unsafe:
+        invalid_prefix = "There is a problem with your email address. "
-            msg = unsafe_suggestion + msg
-            suggest_unsafe = False  # add this message at most once
-
-        invalid = bool(email)
 
 
 def choose_account(accounts: List[account.Account]) -> Optional[account.Account]: