GNU bug report logs - #8050
Gnus does not connect to my IMAP server any more

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Message #29 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>
To: Ted Zlatanov <tzz <at> lifelogs.com>
Cc: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org, ding <at> gnus.org
Subject: Re: bug#8050: Gnus does not connect to my IMAP server any more
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:43:13 -0500

>>> - then I get prompted to save the password, which is the worst of the
>>> three:
LI> Yes, it should just say "Save the password for future sessions? " and
LI> not much more.

> How about:

> "Save the $HOSTNAME password for future sessions? y/n/s/?"

The previous prompt included the ~/.authinfo.gpg file name which
I thought was good.  On the contrary, the hostname info seems redundant
since it's already been displayed by the previous 2 prompts.

> where `s' shows the line we will add with the password replaced by ****?

Here are some ways to handle the "showing the line":
1- show it in the prompt: loud, noisy, and worst of all, shows the
   password in the clear, right after you entered it via `read-passwd'
   which was careful to keep it hidden.
2- Add an `s' option to the prompt.
3- Add a second prompt (when if the user selected `y') to confirm the
   actual text that will be saved.  Can be kind of a pain for the user,
   but presumably, password aren't saved all the time.
4- not show it at all, let the user visit the file afterwards to see
   what happened if he wants to.

1 is out.  2 seems like a lot of trouble compared to using y-or-n-p
(tho, if you add an `N' option anyway to remember not to prompt next
time, the extra work is already done).  3 might be a bit annoying to
some of the users (especially those who want to save the password but
don't want to have it displayed).  4 seemed sufficient to me, but
apparently YMMV.
So yes, I'd vote for 2 or 4 (as the coder, I'd choose 4 ;-)


        Stefan

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