Newlines repeatedly added to UI Footer on save

[DrMaxNix]

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Description

Every time the UI footer html is saved, the backend adds <br /> at the end of every line. This modified version is now the new content. When clicking save again, it will add <br />s again. This is incredibly annoying, especially if you just want to edit one of the other inputs that share the same submit button (eg. Announcement text).

Steps to reproduce:

1. Log in as admin
2. Go to System > Configuration > Options > Customize
3. At the bottom of the page, enter mutiple lines into Footer (HTML allowed):
4. Save
5. Note that <br />s have been added to the end of every line
6. Save again
7. Note that another set of <br />s has been added

Initial input:

After 1st save:

After 2nd save:

After 3rd save:

Which branch are you using?

master (stable)

mailcow version:

2025-09c

[kcastner]

Same issue here - 2025-10a

The problem would be nl2br in this:
$UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"] = nl2br($UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"]);

See:

mailcow-dockerized/data/web/inc/header.inc.php

Line 68 in 45666d2

$UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"] = nl2br($UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"]);

[kcastner]

We could check every single line, if it ends with an html tag, if not, do nl2br.

if (isset($UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"])) {
    $lines = explode("\n", $UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"]);
    foreach ($lines as &$line) {
        // trim spaces at the end
        $trimmed = rtrim($line);
        // check if there is a html tag at end of the line before "\n"
        if (!preg_match('/<\/?[^>]+>$/', $trimmed)) {
            // no tag infront of  \n → do nl2br 
            $line = nl2br($line);
        }
    }
    $UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"] = implode("\n", $lines);
}

Otherwise there should be a check if last, current or next line has an html tag - if not, do a nl2br

if (isset($UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"])) {
    $lines = explode("\n", $UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"]);
    $total = count($lines);

    foreach ($lines as $i => &$line) {
        $prev = $i > 0 ? $lines[$i - 1] : '';
        $next = $i < $total - 1 ? $lines[$i + 1] : '';

        // right trim spaces
        $prevTrim = rtrim($prev);
        $currTrim = rtrim($line);
        $nextTrim = rtrim($next);

        // check if there is any html tag one of 3 lines
        $hasTag = preg_match('/<[^>]+>/', $prevTrim) ||
                  preg_match('/<[^>]+>/', $currTrim) ||
                  preg_match('/<[^>]+>/', $nextTrim);

        // if there is no tag, do nl2br
        if (!$hasTag) {
            $line = nl2br($line);
        }
    }

    $UI_TEXTS["ui_footer"] = implode("\n", $lines);
}

My suggestion is to check the previous, current, and next line for HTML tags, and only insert
if none of these lines contain tags, assuming the user knows what they are doing.

[victor-sm]

I stumbled upon this today, and think it might be prudent to disable nl2br entirely. Checking for a tag at the end of the line could also result in inconsistent behavior. What if it is an inline tag like <strong> or <span>?

A helper text e.g.:

For line breaks insert: <br>

would probably be the simplest solution.

[milkmaker]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.