User gets a notification mail every 5 minutes

[sujiba]

How to use GitHub

• Please use the 👍 reaction to show that you are affected by the same issue.
• Please don't comment if you have no relevant information to add. It's just extra noise for everyone subscribed to this issue.
• Subscribe to receive notifications on status change and new comments.

---

Steps to reproduce

1. nextcloud cron container runs every 5 minutes
2. Or run cronjob manually inside container su -s /bin/sh www-data -c "php -f cron.php"

Expected behaviour

Only send notification mail if changes happen.

Actual behaviour

User gets a notification mail every 5 minutes.

Server configuration

Web server: Nginx

Database: Maria

PHP version: 8.3.25

Nextcloud version: 31.0.8

App list

Enabled:
  - activity: 4.0.0
  - app_api: 5.0.2
  - bruteforcesettings: 4.0.0
  - calendar: 5.5.3
  - circles: 31.0.0
  - cloud_federation_api: 1.14.0
  - comments: 1.21.0
  - contacts: 7.3.0
  - contactsinteraction: 1.12.0
  - dav: 1.33.0
  - deck: 1.15.2
  - federatedfilesharing: 1.21.0
  - federation: 1.21.0
  - files: 2.3.1
  - files_antivirus: 6.0.4
  - files_downloadlimit: 4.0.0
  - files_pdfviewer: 4.0.0
  - files_reminders: 1.4.0
  - files_sharing: 1.23.1
  - files_trashbin: 1.21.0
  - files_versions: 1.24.0
  - firstrunwizard: 4.0.0
  - forms: 5.1.2
  - group_default_quota: 0.1.11
  - groupfolders: 19.1.3
  - logreader: 4.0.0
  - lookup_server_connector: 1.19.0
  - nextcloud_announcements: 3.0.0
  - notes: 4.12.3
  - notifications: 4.0.0
  - oauth2: 1.19.1
  - password_policy: 3.0.0
  - photos: 4.0.0
  - polls: 8.4.6
  - privacy: 3.0.0
  - profile: 1.0.0
  - provisioning_api: 1.21.0
  - recommendations: 4.0.0
  - related_resources: 2.0.0
  - richdocuments: 8.7.4
  - serverinfo: 3.0.0
  - settings: 1.14.0
  - sharebymail: 1.21.0
  - spreed: 21.1.4
  - support: 3.0.0
  - text: 5.0.0
  - theming: 2.6.1
  - twofactor_backupcodes: 1.20.0
  - twofactor_totp: 13.0.0-dev.0
  - updatenotification: 1.21.0
  - user_ldap: 1.22.0
  - user_status: 1.11.0
  - viewer: 4.0.0
  - weather_status: 1.11.0
  - webhook_listeners: 1.2.0
  - whiteboard: 1.2.0
  - workflowengine: 2.13.0
Disabled:
  - admin_audit: 1.21.0 (installed 1.12.0)
  - dashboard: 7.11.0 (installed 7.0.0)
  - encryption: 2.19.0
  - files_external: 1.23.0
  - files_rightclick: 0.15.1 (installed 1.6.0)
  - survey_client: 3.0.0 (installed 1.6.0)
  - suspicious_login: 9.0.1
  - systemtags: 1.21.1 (installed 1.13.0)
  - twofactor_nextcloud_notification: 5.0.0

Nextcloud configuration

{
    "system": {
        "htaccess.RewriteBase": "\/",
        "memcache.local": "\\OC\\Memcache\\APCu",
        "apps_paths": [
            {
                "path": "\/var\/www\/html\/apps",
                "url": "\/apps",
                "writable": false
            },
            {
                "path": "\/var\/www\/html\/custom_apps",
                "url": "\/custom_apps",
                "writable": true
            }
        ],
        "overwrite.cli.url": "https:\/\/nextcloud.domain",
        "overwriteprotocol": "https",
        "filelocking.enabled": "true",
        "loglevel": "2",
        "trusted_proxies": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "forwarded_for_headers": [
            "HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR",
            "HTTP_X_REAL_IP"
        ],
        "default_phone_region": "DE",
        "default_language": "de",
        "default_locale": "de_DE",
        "trashbin_retention_obligation": "30 180",
        "memcache.distributed": "\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis",
        "memcache.locking": "\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis",
        "redis": {
            "host": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
            "password": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
            "port": 6379
        },
        "mail_smtptimeout": "20",
        "mail_smtpmode": "smtp",
        "mail_smtphost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpauthtype": "NONE",
        "mail_from_address": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_domain": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "instanceid": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "passwordsalt": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "trusted_domains": [
            "localhost",
            "nextcloud.domain"
        ],
        "datadirectory": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbtype": "mysql",
        "version": "31.0.8.1",
        "dbname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbhost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbport": "",
        "dbtableprefix": "oc_",
        "mysql.utf8mb4": true,
        "dbuser": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbpassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "installed": true,
        "maintenance_window_start": 1,
        "data-fingerprint": "3a06a7b638c6cb16d2a85379ed3f5168",
        "theme": "",
        "ldapProviderFactory": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAPProviderFactory",
        "mail_sendmailmode": "smtp",
        "mail_smtpport": "25",
        "mail_smtpstreamoptions": {
            "ssl": {
                "allow_self_signed": true,
                "verify_peer": false,
                "verify_peer_name": false
            }
        },
        "app_install_overwrite": [
            "mindmap_app"
        ],
        "maintenance": false,
        "upgrade.disable-web": true,
        "defaultapp": "",
        "mail_smtpsecure": "",
        "mail_smtpauth": false,
        "mail_smtpname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtppassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***"
    }
}

Browser

Browser name: Edge

Browser version: 140

Operating system: Windows

Browser log

{"file":"/var/www/html/apps/activity/lib/MailQueueHandler.php","line":290,"function":"addEvent","class":"OCA\\Activity\\GroupHelper","type":"->",
"args":[96980,{"__class__":"OC\\Activity\\Event"}]},{"file":"/var/www/html/apps/activity/lib/MailQueueHandler.php","line":107,"function":"sendEmailToUser","class":"OCA\\Activity\\MailQueueHandler","type":"->",
"args":["USER_NAME","usermail@nextcloud.domain","de_DE","Europe/Berlin",1757589004]},{"file":"/var/www/html/apps/activity/lib/BackgroundJob/EmailNotification.php","line":42,"function":"sendEmails",
"class":"OCA\\Activity\\MailQueueHandler","type":"->","args":[500,1757589004]},{"file":"/var/www/html/lib/public/BackgroundJob/Job.php","line":61,"function":"run","class":"OCA\\Activity\\BackgroundJob\\EmailNotification",
"type":"->","args":[null]},{"file":"/var/www/html/lib/public/BackgroundJob/TimedJob.php","line":97,"function":"start","class":"OCP\\BackgroundJob\\Job","type":"->","args":[{"__class__":"OC\\BackgroundJob\\JobList"}]},
{"file":"/var/www/html/lib/public/BackgroundJob/TimedJob.php","line":84,"function":"start","class":"OCP\\BackgroundJob\\TimedJob","type":"->","args":[{"__class__":"OC\\BackgroundJob\\JobList"}]},
{"file":"/var/www/html/cron.php","line":170,"function":"execute","class":"OCP\\BackgroundJob\\TimedJob","type":"->","args":[{"__class__":"OC\\BackgroundJob\\JobList"}]}],"File":"/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php",
"Line":367,"message":"Error while parsing activity event","exception":{},"CustomMessage":"Error while parsing activity event"}}

[miaulalala]

Does the notification mail contain any data or is it an empty email?

[sujiba]

Hi,

sorry for the late reply. Here is a screenshot of one of the mails. The mail has over 40 entries. It seems that most of them are old notifications.

[miaulalala]

Can you check which value is set for activity_expire_days - the default is 365 days, which is probably one issue.

But, that doesn't explain yet why you get a notification email every 5 minutes.

If you can, please enable debug logging for one cron job run? https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/stable/admin_manual/configuration_server/logging_configuration.html#log-level

You can send them to me at this address if you don't want to post them here.

[sujiba]

I could not find the parameter in my config. I'm going to add activity_expire_days and set the value to 14 days. Additionally I'll change the log level to debug.

Am I correct in understanding that the activity should be deleted after the user has been notified?

[miaulalala]

Am I correct in understanding that the activity should be deleted after the user has been notified?

Yes, it should be removed from the oc_activity_mq table. Can you take a look at that?

Also, can you check your logs for any instances of Failed creating activity email for user ?

[sujiba]

Thank you for your help. Setting activity_expire_days and executing occ activity:send-mails seems to have fixed the issue for the user.

Maybe it's a cronjob issue. It seems like the cronjob adds the activities to the message queue, but does not remove them, after they were send?

# Wed Nov 12 11:45:52 2025 CET
amq_timestamp: 1762944352
# Wed Nov 12 12:45:52 2025 CET
amq_latest_send: 1762947954

After manually executing occ activity:send-mails the table is empty.

[miaulalala]

Maybe it's a cronjob issue. It seems like the cronjob adds the activities to the message queue, but does not remove them, after they were send?

That was my suspicion, yes. Did you see anything in your log files?

[sujiba]

This is the only entry I get from the log:

Details

{
  "reqId": "oLONzY32oW9jkI1ldEbV",
  "level": 3,
  "time": "2025-11-13T08:05:05+00:00",
  "remoteAddr": "",
  "user": "--",
  "app": "core",
  "method": "",
  "url": "--",
  "message": "Error while running background job OCA\\Activity\\BackgroundJob\\EmailNotification (id: 24, arguments: null)",
  "userAgent": "--",
  "version": "32.0.1.2",
  "exception": {
    "Exception": "OC\\ServerNotAvailableException",
    "Message": "Lost connection to LDAP server.",
    "Code": 0,
    "Trace": [
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php",
        "line": 405,
        "function": "processLDAPError",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAP",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "*** sensitive parameters replaced ***",
          "*** sensitive parameters replaced ***",
          -1,
          "Can't contact LDAP server"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php",
        "line": 287,
        "function": "postFunctionCall",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAP",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php",
        "line": 44,
        "function": "invokeLDAPMethod",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAP",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/Connection.php",
        "line": 752,
        "function": "bind",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAP",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/Connection.php",
        "line": 663,
        "function": "bind",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\Connection",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/Connection.php",
        "line": 234,
        "function": "establishConnection",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\Connection",
        "type": "->",
        "args": []
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/Connection.php",
        "line": 242,
        "function": "init",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\Connection",
        "type": "->",
        "args": []
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/Access.php",
        "line": 189,
        "function": "getConnectionResource",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\Connection",
        "type": "->",
        "args": []
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/User_LDAP.php",
        "line": 286,
        "function": "readAttribute",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\Access",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "cn=surname\\5c2C name,ou=unit,ou=group,dc=domain,dc=tld",
          "",
          "(memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=CN=-Nextcloud,OU=ActiveDirectory,OU=Gruppen,OU=All,DC=domain,DC=tld)"
        ]
      },
      {
        "function": "userExistsOnLDAP",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\User_LDAP",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          {
            "__class__": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\User\\User"
          },
          false
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/User_Proxy.php",
        "line": 66,
        "function": "call_user_func_array",
        "args": [
          [
            {
              "__class__": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\User_LDAP"
            },
            "userExistsOnLDAP"
          ],
          [
            "UserName",
            false
          ]
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/Proxy.php",
        "line": 153,
        "function": "walkBackends",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\User_Proxy",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "UserName",
          "userExistsOnLDAP",
          [
            "UserName",
            false
          ]
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/User_Proxy.php",
        "line": 202,
        "function": "handleRequest",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\Proxy",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "UserName",
          "userExistsOnLDAP",
          [
            "UserName",
            false
          ]
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/User_Proxy.php",
        "line": 179,
        "function": "userExistsOnLDAP",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\User_Proxy",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "UserName"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/lib/private/User/Manager.php",
        "line": 140,
        "function": "userExists",
        "class": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\User_Proxy",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "UserName"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/activity/lib/MailQueueHandler.php",
        "line": 94,
        "function": "get",
        "class": "OC\\User\\Manager",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          "UserName"
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/apps/activity/lib/BackgroundJob/EmailNotification.php",
        "line": 43,
        "function": "sendEmails",
        "class": "OCA\\Activity\\MailQueueHandler",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          500,
          1763021103
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/lib/public/BackgroundJob/Job.php",
        "line": 61,
        "function": "run",
        "class": "OCA\\Activity\\BackgroundJob\\EmailNotification",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          null
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/lib/public/BackgroundJob/TimedJob.php",
        "line": 97,
        "function": "start",
        "class": "OCP\\BackgroundJob\\Job",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          {
            "__class__": "OC\\BackgroundJob\\JobList"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/lib/public/BackgroundJob/TimedJob.php",
        "line": 84,
        "function": "start",
        "class": "OCP\\BackgroundJob\\TimedJob",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          {
            "__class__": "OC\\BackgroundJob\\JobList"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "file": "/var/www/html/cron.php",
        "line": 175,
        "function": "execute",
        "class": "OCP\\BackgroundJob\\TimedJob",
        "type": "->",
        "args": [
          {
            "__class__": "OC\\BackgroundJob\\JobList"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "File": "/var/www/html/apps/user_ldap/lib/LDAP.php",
    "Line": 367,
    "message": "Error while running background job OCA\\Activity\\BackgroundJob\\EmailNotification (id: 24, arguments: null)",
    "exception": {},
    "CustomMessage": "Error while running background job OCA\\Activity\\BackgroundJob\\EmailNotification (id: 24, arguments: null)"
  }
}

[miaulalala]

My suspicion: the first few users loop through fine, but then the LDAP error throws and isn't caught, and the delete method never happens.

Are you using the User_LDAP app, and if so, can you check your connection and settings?

[sujiba]

Yes, we're using the app LDAP user and group backend. The checks for Server, Users, Login Attributes and Groups confirm with OK.