Subject: bug#33146: .authinfo.gpg not automatically loaded when using (dired) on macOS

From: Michael Albinus <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2018 12:56:28 +0100

Michael Albinus <[email-masked]> writes:

Hi Christian,

>> Alright, that worked. Would it be possible to make ange-ftp.el
>> automatically aware of .authinfo files?
>> I think that would improve user experience a lot.
>
> Finally, it means that ange-ftp.el uses auth-source.el. Anything goes,
> but somebody must implement it. And auth-source.el has its own
> interpretation of the "port" element in .netrc/.authinfo lines, which is
> kind of incompatible.
>
> I'll mark this bug report as wishlist. If nobody beats me I'll could do
> it, but it will take time (too many other open requests). And for the
> time being, you'll be able to apply the workaround.

I have checked ange-ftp.el, and it does much more with the netrc file
than auth-sources.el. For example, it handles also the "account" token.

Therefore I have decided not to touch this. Instead, I have added the
following text to the Tramp manual, section "5.12.1 Using an
authentication file":

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
   *Note* that ‘auth-source.el’ is not used for ‘ftp’ connections,
because TRAMP passes the work to Ange FTP.  If you want, for example,
use your ‘~/.authinfo.gpg’ authentication file, you must customize
‘ange-ftp-netrc-filename’:

     (customize-set-variable 'ange-ftp-netrc-filename "~/.authinfo.gpg")
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

If you agree, I would close this bug.

>> Regards
>> Christian

Best regards, Michael.