Subject: 30.1; Inconsistency in imap authenticator keyword

From: Anush V <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 04 May 2025 01:40:15 -0400

Hello Emacs Maintainers,

1.
;; emacs --no-init

This configuration works as expected.

    (require 'mail-source)
    (add-to-list 'mail-sources '(imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
                                      :authentication login))

This configuration works as expected but gives a warning.

    (require 'mail-source)
    (setopt mail-sources '((imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
                                 :authentication login)))

Warning

     ■  Warning (emacs): Value ‘((imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :authentication login))’ does not match type (choice (const :tag None nil) (repeat :tag List (choice :format %[Value Menu%] %v :value (file) (list :tag Group parameter `mail-source' (const :format  group)) (cons :tag Spool file (const :format  file) (checklist :tag Options :greedy t (group :inline t (const :format  :value :path) file))) (cons :tag Several files in a directory (const :format  directory) (checklist :tag Options :greedy t (group :inline t (const :format  :value :path) (directory :tag Path)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :suffix) (string :tag Suffix)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :predicate) (function :tag Predicate)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :prescript) (choice :tag Prescript :value nil (string :format %v) (function :format %v))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :postscript) (choice :tag Postscript :value nil (string :format %v) (function :format %v))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :plugged) (boolean :tag Plugged)))) (cons :tag POP3 server (const :format  pop) (checklist :tag Options :greedy t (group :inline t (const :format  :value :server) (string :tag Server)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :port) (choice :tag Port :value pop3 (integer :format %v) (string :format %v))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :user) (string :tag User)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :password) (string :tag Password)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :program) (string :tag Program)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :prescript) (choice :tag Prescript :value nil (string :format %v) (function :format %v) (const :tag None nil))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :postscript) (choice :tag Postscript :value nil (string :format %v) (function :format %v) (const :tag None nil))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :function) (function :tag Function)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :authentication) (choice :tag Authentication :value apop (const password) (const apop))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :plugged) (boolean :tag Plugged)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :stream) (choice :tag Stream :value nil (const :tag Clear nil) (const starttls) (const :tag SSL/TLS ssl))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :leave) (choice :format %{Leave mail on server%}:
    		%[Value Menu%] %v :value nil (const :tag Don't leave mails nil) (const :tag Leave all mails t) (number :tag Leave mails for this many days :value 14))))) (cons :tag Maildir (qmail, postfix...) (const :format  maildir) (checklist :tag Options :greedy t (group :inline t (const :format  :value :path) (directory :tag Path)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :plugged) (boolean :tag Plugged)))) (cons :tag IMAP server (const :format  imap) (checklist :tag Options :greedy t (group :inline t (const :format  :value :server) (string :tag Server)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :port) (choice :tag Port :value 143 integer string)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :user) (string :tag User)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :password) (string :tag Password)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :stream) (choice :tag Stream :value network (const gssapi) (const kerberos4) (const tls) (const ssl) (const network) (const shell) (const starttls))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :program) (string :tag Program)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :authenticator) (choice :tag Authenticator :value login (const gssapi) (const kerberos4) (const sasl) (const cram-md5) (const login) (const anonymous) (const digest-md5))) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :mailbox) (string :tag Mailbox :value INBOX)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :predicate) (string :tag Predicate :value UNSEEN UNDELETED)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :fetchflag) (string :tag Fetchflag :value \Deleted)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :dontexpunge) (boolean :tag Dontexpunge)) (group :inline t (const :format  :value :plugged) (boolean :tag Plugged)))))))

Expected Behavior: There should be no warning, since the second code
snippet is functionally doing the same thing as first code snippet

2.
According to info manual, gnus#Mail Source Specifiers, authenticator for imap is
specified using the keyword :authentication.  And same is reflected in
the value of the variable mail-source-keyword-map

But the defcustom for mail-sources in mail-source.el uses the
keyboard :authenticator instead.

I’m suspecting that these two issues are related but i’m not 100% sure

Thank you for your time!

* * *

In GNU Emacs 30.1 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.43,
cairo version 1.18.2)
System Description: Guix System

Configured using:
 'configure
 CONFIG_SHELL=/gnu/store/m0xdsa8cfq6mq1kxgxmpmpg71la4f0b9-bash-minimal-5.1.16/bin/bash
 SHELL=/gnu/store/m0xdsa8cfq6mq1kxgxmpmpg71la4f0b9-bash-minimal-5.1.16/bin/bash --prefix=/gnu/store/lq0nwm8qkj9cmyjm85z3dcqrjnglhcym-emacs-next-pgtk-30.1-rc1-2.7144e84 --enable-fast-install --with-pgtk --with-cairo --with-modules --with-native-compilation=aot --disable-build-details'

Configured features:
ACL CAIRO DBUS FREETYPE GIF GLIB GMP GNUTLS GPM GSETTINGS HARFBUZZ
JPEG LCMS2 LIBOTF LIBSELINUX LIBSYSTEMD LIBXML2 MODULES NATIVE_COMP
NOTIFY INOTIFY PDUMPER PGTK PNG RSVG SECCOMP SOUND SQLITE3 THREADS
TIFF TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS TREE_SITTER XIM GTK3 ZLIB

--
Regards,
Anush