diff --git a/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint b/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint
index 6aa141b..3aa8ae1 100644
--- a/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint
+++ b/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 set -e
 
 # Allows us to bind mount arbitrary owned files
-chown -R gerrit:gerrit /var/gerrit/{logs,etc,db,git,index,cache}/
+chown -R gerrit:gerrit /var/gerrit/{logs,etc,db,git,index,cache,passwd}/
 
 # Drop privileges as we set `USER root` only to change file permissions
 exec setpriv --reuid=gerrit --regid=gerrit --init-groups --inh-caps=-all /unprivileged.sh "$@"
diff --git a/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint-unprivileged b/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint-unprivileged
index 86574b1..5af70c9 100644
--- a/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint-unprivileged
+++ b/gerrit/Dockerfile.entrypoint-unprivileged
@@ -11,4 +11,25 @@
         plugin.gerrit-oauth-provider-github-oauth.client-secret "${GITHUB_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET}"
 fi
 
+secret=/var/gerrit/passwd/secret
+
+{
+    if [ ! -f ${secret} ]; then
+        echo $(mktemp -u XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX) >${secret}
+    fi
+    chmod 400 ${secret}
+}
+
+if [ "${GERRIT_USER_EMAIL}" ]; then
+    passwd=$(cat ${secret})
+
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config user.email ${GERRIT_USER_EMAIL}
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config sendemail.smtpServer mail.${SA_PUBLIC_DOMAIN_NAME}
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config sendemail.smtpServerPort 465
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config sendemail.smtpEncryption ssl
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config sendemail.smtpUser ${GERRIT_USER_EMAIL}
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config sendemail.smtpPass ${passwd}
+    git config -f /etc/gerrit/gerrit.config sendemail.html false
+fi
+
 exec /entrypoint.sh "$@"