Subject: Re: bug#30347: smtpmail.el doesn't retry with authentication when greylisting is used

From: Robert Pluim <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2018 18:14:19 +0200

Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]> writes:

> Robert Pluim <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>> Iʼm not sure I follow: the user has a matching machine in authinfo or
>> wherever they keep their passwords, and the SMTP server advertizes
>> AUTH support. Why would we not attempt authentication?
>
> Because Emacs doesn't know that the user has a password entry in
> ~/.authinfo.gpg until the user has type the password.  (If the user is
> using password-protected ~/.authinfo files without a password agent,
> that is.)
>

Ah, people who like typing passwords all the time. I see your point, though.

> Since most SMTP is still unauthorised, "opportunistic" password sending
> may not be welcome.

True, unfortunately, much like SMTP/TLS is sadly underused.