theonedev/onedev · error · NotAcceptableException

This email address is already used by another user

Error message

This email address is already used by another user

What it means

Each email address value must be unique across all OneDev users. If emailAddressService.findByValue(value) already returns an address, the endpoint rejects creation with NotAcceptableException to prevent duplicate address ownership.

Source

Thrown at server-core/src/main/java/io/onedev/server/rest/resource/EmailAddressResource.java:83

    	if (!SecurityUtils.isAdministrator() && !emailAddress.getOwner().equals(getAuthUser())) 
			throw new UnauthorizedException();
    	return emailAddress.isVerified();
	}
	
	@Api(order=200, description="Create new email address")
	@POST
	public Long createEmailAddress(@NotNull @Valid EmailAddress emailAddress) {
		var owner = emailAddress.getOwner();
		if (!SecurityUtils.isAdministrator() && !owner.equals(getAuthUser()))
			throw new UnauthorizedException();
		else if (owner.isDisabled())
			throw new NotAcceptableException("Cannot set email address for disabled user");
		else if (owner.getType() != User.Type.ORDINARY)
			throw new NotAcceptableException("Cannot set email address for service or ai user");
		else if (User.getLoginName(emailAddress.getValue()) != null)
			throw new NotAcceptableException("Email address with noreply domain is not allowed");
		else if (emailAddressService.findByValue(emailAddress.getValue()) != null)
			throw new NotAcceptableException("This email address is already used by another user");
		
		if (SecurityUtils.isAdministrator()) 
			emailAddress.setVerificationCode(null);
		
		emailAddressService.create(emailAddress);

		if (!getAuthUser().equals(owner)) 
			auditService.audit(null, "added email address \"" + emailAddress.getValue() + "\" in account \"" + owner.getName() + "\" via RESTful API", null, null);
		return emailAddress.getId();
	}
	
	@Api(order=250, description="Set as primary email address")
	@Path("/primary")
	@POST
	public Long setAsPrimary(@NotNull Long emailAddressId) {
		var emailAddress = emailAddressService.load(emailAddressId);
		var owner = emailAddress.getOwner();
		if (!SecurityUtils.isAdministrator() && !owner.equals(getAuthUser()))

View on GitHub (pinned to d44925c47c)

Solutions

1. Check emailAddressService.findByValue(value) first and reuse/update the existing record instead of creating
2. Make provisioning scripts idempotent (lookup before create)
3. Choose a different, unused email value

Example fix

// before
emailAddressService.create(newAddressWithValue(value));
// after
EmailAddress existing = emailAddressService.findByValue(value);
if (existing == null) emailAddressService.create(newAddressWithValue(value));

if (emailAddressService.findByValue(value) != null) reuse existing instead of create;

boolean free = emailAddressService.findByValue(value) == null;

try { createEmailAddress(ea); } catch (NotAcceptableException e) { /* duplicate: lookup and update existing */ }

When it happens

Trigger: POST an EmailAddress whose value is already registered to any user (including the same user), or re-running a provisioning script that already created the address.

Common situations: Idempotency-unaware automation run twice; shared corporate addresses assigned to two accounts; a user re-adding an address they already have via a different flow.

Understand the failure class

Background: "already exists" / EEXIST / FileAlreadyExistsException: what the 'file already exists' error means and how to fix it — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• Reviewer not found:
• Assignee not found:
• Not authenticated
• Unable to create issue from email as service desk is not ena
• Unauthorized

AI-assisted analysis of theonedev/onedev@d44925c47c (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2dcb58649e54cf10. Report an issue: GitHub.