GNU bug report logs - #10184
24.0.92; smtpmail-{auth,starttls}-credentials changes

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 24.0.92; smtpmail-{auth,starttls}-credentials changes
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:26:18 -0500

From the NEWS file for 24.0.92:

**** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
**** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.

The NEWS file goes on to explain that passwords are stored in
~/.authinfo.

I think this is a bad change as it forces me to store passwords in clear
text on a file on disk, which I am not willing to do.  I had written
emacs lisp code (years ago, actually) to pull my password from an agent
and pass it via smtpmail-auth-credentials or
smtpmail-starttls-credentials.  That way, the password neither had to
exist in the emacs lisp code nor on a file on disk.  While reading the
password from/storing the password in ~/.authinfo, assuming .authinfo
has appropriate permissions, is marginally better than putting it in the
lisp code itself and potentially allows emacs to not cache the password
in memory (I haven't looked at the code), it means that I now have to
trust people who have the ability to read my ~/.authinfo file.  Anyway,
I think any change that requires people to store clear-text passwords in
a file on disk is a bad change.  I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do
about this.  I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to work around it, but
I hope there will be better flexibility in 24.1.



In GNU Emacs 24.0.92.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.6)
 of 2011-12-01 on jberkenbilt-linux
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11004000
configured using `configure  '--prefix=/opt/emacs-24.0.92''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Outline

Minor modes in effect:
  which-function-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  view-mode: t

Recent input:
C-v C-v C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-SPC C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n M-+ M-= C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-l 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-x C-l C-h v d e l e t 
e SPC a c <tab> <return> C-x b <return> C-x b C-g C-x 
1 C-x 2 C-x o C-x b N E <tab> <return> C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-l C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-l C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-l C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-l C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-l C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-l C-v C-v C-v C-v 
C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-h z C-g C-h c C-z 
C-o C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v 
C-v C-v C-v C-v C-v C-x m q <tab> <return> _ q C-n 
t e s t C-c C-c s C-g C-g C-x k <return> y e s <return> 
C-x o C-v C-v C-v M-x r e p o r t SPC e m a c s SPC 
b <tab> <return> s <tab> C-g C-g M-x r e p o r t SPC 
e m a c s SPC b <tab> <tab> <tab> <return>

Recent messages:
Quit [2 times]
C-z C-o runs the command vc-next-action
Starting new Ispell process [default] ...
Sending...
Sending via mail...
Opening STARTTLS connection to `mail.tigertech.net:587'...done
Opening STARTTLS connection to `mail.tigertech.net:587'...done
Quit [4 times]
Making completion list...
Scanning for dabbrevs...100% [2 times]

Load-path shadows:
/home/ejb/elisp/startup hides /opt/emacs-24.0.92/share/emacs/24.0.92/lisp/startup

Features:
(shadow dabbrev emacsbug network-stream starttls tls mailalias
q-valid-addr mail-extr sort flyspell ispell pp help-mode multi-isearch
vc-rcs fg-lisp-indent noutline outline easy-mmode view vc-svn vc
ediff-merg ediff-diff ediff-wind ediff-help ediff-util ediff-mult
ediff-init ediff vc-dispatcher qmime qmime-compose qmime-view which-func
imenu filecache server uniquify warnings compile ange-ftp comint ring
message format-spec rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode
mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader cc-styles cc-align
cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs smtpmail auth-source eieio byte-opt bytecomp
byte-compile cconv macroexp assoc gnus-util password-cache sendmail
regexp-opt rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils
project advice help-fns advice-preload jka-compr cus-edit easymenu
wid-edit cus-start cus-load edmacro kmacro cl time-date tooltip
ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win x-dnd tool-bar dnd
fontset image fringe lisp-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer
select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core
frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai
tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european
ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help
simple abbrev minibuffer loaddefs button faces cus-face files
text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule
custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process
dbusbind dynamic-setting system-font-setting font-render-setting
move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs)

Message #8 received at 10184 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org>
Cc: 10184 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#10184: 24.0.92; smtpmail-{auth,starttls}-credentials changes
Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:07:19 +0100

Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org> writes:

> I think this is a bad change as it forces me to store passwords in clear
> text on a file on disk, which I am not willing to do.

You can store your passwords in any of the backends that auth-source
supports, which includes encrypted files, keychains or Lisp code.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

Message #11 received at 10184 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org>
To: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 10184 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#10184: 24.0.92; smtpmail-{auth,starttls}-credentials changes
Date: Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:18:38 -0500

On 12/04/2011 04:07 AM, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org> writes:
>
>> I think this is a bad change as it forces me to store passwords in clear
>> text on a file on disk, which I am not willing to do.
> You can store your passwords in any of the backends that auth-source
> supports, which includes encrypted files, keychains or Lisp code.

Perfect: .authinfo.gpg works for me.  I'm not sure how I was supposed to
know this.  It's not mentioned in NEWS, and it's not mentioned in the
manual for smtpmail-auth-credentials either.

By the way, I recognize the unmistakable writing style of the
auth-sources manual.  Very good reading. :-)

This issue can be considered resolved pending any updates to
documentation or pointers to appropriate documentation in the NEWS file,
which only mentions .authinfo.

--Jay

Message #14 received at 10184 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org>
Cc: 10184 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#10184: 24.0.92; smtpmail-{auth,starttls}-credentials changes
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:01:11 +0100

Jay Berkenbilt <ejb <at> ql.org> writes:

> Perfect: .authinfo.gpg works for me.  I'm not sure how I was supposed to
> know this.  It's not mentioned in NEWS, and it's not mentioned in the
> manual for smtpmail-auth-credentials either.

It's mentioned in the line above.  :-)  But I've now made it explicit
that auth-source can be used to store the credentials encrypted in the
NEWS file.

> By the way, I recognize the unmistakable writing style of the
> auth-sources manual.  Very good reading. :-)

It's all by Ted Zlatanov.  :-)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

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