GNU bug report logs - #24274
24.5; Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail

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

From: Viktor Slavkovikj <zhtvk <at> gmx.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 24.5; Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2016 20:12:00 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

I thought that it would be convenient to obtain remote passwords in
Rmail from an authinfo file. Therefore, I modified rmail.el to make use
of the auth-source library. I include a patch for this small feature in
attachment. Do you think that there could be any drawbacks to using this
approach?

Thanks,
Viktor

[patch_rmail_auth_source (application/octet-stream, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net>
To: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Viktor Slavkovikj <zhtvk <at> gmx.com>
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5;
 Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail 
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2016 19:45:50 +0000

>>>>> Viktor Slavkovikj <zhtvk <at> gmx.com> writes:

 > Hi, I thought that it would be convenient to obtain remote passwords
 > in Rmail from an authinfo file.  Therefore, I modified rmail.el to
 > make use of the auth-source library.  I include a patch for this
 > small feature in attachment.  Do you think that there could be any
 > drawbacks to using this approach?

	Personally, I can’t readily think of any.  (Not that I’m
	particularly familiar with either.)

	One issue I see with your patch is that it expands TABs into
	spaces outside of the actual code changes.  If deliberate, I’d
	rather see such whitespace changes in a separate patch.

 > ! (defun rmail-get-remote-password (imap user host)
 > !   "Get the password for retrieving mail from a POP or IMAP server.
 > ! If none has been set, check authinfo for one. If authinfo search
 > ! yields no result, prompt the user for the password."

	The auth-source library allows access to other backends beside
	plain ~/.authinfo, which is why I think it makes sense to
	mention the library by name here.  See the docstring for the
	erc-autojoin-channels-alist variable for an example.

 >     (when (not rmail-encoded-remote-password)
 >       (if (not rmail-remote-password)
 > !         (setq rmail-remote-password
 > !               (let ((found (nth 0 (auth-source-search :max 1
 > !                                                       :user user                                                      
 > !                                                       :host host
 > !                                                       :require '(:secret)))))
 > !                    (if found
 > !                        (funcall (plist-get found :secret))
 > !                      (read-passwd (if imap
 > !                                       "IMAP password: "
 > !                                     "POP password: "))))))

	The auth-source-search function will prompt for password
	automatically if given ‘:create t’ among its parameters, making
	explicit read-passwd unnecessary.  (But check also the
	auth-source-creation-prompts variable.)

 >       (rmail-set-remote-password rmail-remote-password)
 >       (setq rmail-remote-password nil))
 >     (rmail-encode-string rmail-encoded-remote-password (emacs-pid)))

-- 
FSF associate member #7257  http://am-1.org/~ivan/      … 3013 B6A0 230E 334A

Message #11 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>
To: Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net>
Cc: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, zhtvk <at> gmx.com
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5;
 Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2016 16:26:31 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net> writes:

>>>>>> Viktor Slavkovikj <zhtvk <at> gmx.com> writes:
>
>  > Hi, I thought that it would be convenient to obtain remote passwords
>  > in Rmail from an authinfo file.  Therefore, I modified rmail.el to
>  > make use of the auth-source library.  I include a patch for this
>  > small feature in attachment.  Do you think that there could be any
>  > drawbacks to using this approach?
>
> 	Personally, I can’t readily think of any.  (Not that I’m
> 	particularly familiar with either.)
>
> 	One issue I see with your patch is that it expands TABs into
> 	spaces outside of the actual code changes.  If deliberate, I’d
> 	rather see such whitespace changes in a separate patch.
>
>  > ! (defun rmail-get-remote-password (imap user host)
>  > !   "Get the password for retrieving mail from a POP or IMAP server.
>  > ! If none has been set, check authinfo for one. If authinfo search
>  > ! yields no result, prompt the user for the password."
>
> 	The auth-source library allows access to other backends beside
> 	plain ~/.authinfo, which is why I think it makes sense to
> 	mention the library by name here.  See the docstring for the
> 	erc-autojoin-channels-alist variable for an example.
>
>  >     (when (not rmail-encoded-remote-password)
>  >       (if (not rmail-remote-password)
>  > !         (setq rmail-remote-password
>  > !               (let ((found (nth 0 (auth-source-search :max 1
>  > !                                                       :user user                                                      
>  > !                                                       :host host
>  > !                                                       :require '(:secret)))))
>  > !                    (if found
>  > !                        (funcall (plist-get found :secret))
>  > !                      (read-passwd (if imap
>  > !                                       "IMAP password: "
>  > !                                     "POP password: "))))))
>
> 	The auth-source-search function will prompt for password
> 	automatically if given ‘:create t’ among its parameters, making
> 	explicit read-passwd unnecessary.  (But check also the
> 	auth-source-creation-prompts variable.)
>
>  >       (rmail-set-remote-password rmail-remote-password)
>  >       (setq rmail-remote-password nil))
>  >     (rmail-encode-string rmail-encoded-remote-password (emacs-pid)))

I've made an update (attached) to the previous patch. I removed the code
indentation spaces and changed the docstring to be more
descriptive. Also, I included a function check for the auth-source
password which was missing before.

I don't think that the ':create' parameter of auth-source-search should
be used here, since we don't know if the authentication will be
successful.

[patch_update (application/octet-stream, attachment)]

Message #14 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net>
To: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>, zhtvk <at> gmx.com
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5;
 Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail 
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2016 19:30:43 +0000

>>>>> Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com> writes:
>>>>> Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net> writes:

[…]

 >> The auth-source-search function will prompt for password
 >> automatically if given ‘:create t’ among its parameters, making
 >> explicit read-passwd unnecessary.  (But check also the
 >> auth-source-creation-prompts variable.)

[…]

 > I've made an update (attached) to the previous patch.  I removed the
 > code indentation spaces and changed the docstring to be more
 > descriptive.  Also, I included a function check for the auth-source
 > password which was missing before.

 > !                 (if found
 > !                     (progn
 > !                       (setq secret (plist-get found :secret))
 > !                       (if (functionp secret)
 > !                         (funcall secret)))

	There, rmail-remote-password will end up being set to nil if
	‘secret’ is /not/ a function.  Compare:

                    (progn
                      (setq secret (plist-get found :secret))
                      (if (functionp secret)
                          (funcall secret)
                        secret))

 > I don't think that the ':create' parameter of auth-source-search
 > should be used here, since we don't know if the authentication will
 > be successful.

	We can call auth-source-forget+ if necessary once we figure it
	out; just like it’s done in gnus/nnimap.el and mail/smtpmail.el.

 > Content-Type: application/octet-stream

	I’d appreciate for the patches to come marked as something
	text/*, so that MIME-aware mail user agents could just display
	them (as opposed to: ask user to save one into a file.)  I guess
	that such a Content-Type: will be emitted automatically when the
	filename of the file being attached ends with .diff or .patch.

 > Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=patch_update
 > Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
 > Content-Description: updated patch

-- 
FSF associate member #7257  http://am-1.org/~ivan/      … 3013 B6A0 230E 334A

Message #17 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ted Zlatanov <tzz <at> lifelogs.com>
To: Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net>
Cc: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, zhtvk <at> gmx.com,
 Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5;
 Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2016 09:00:31 -0400

On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 19:30:43 +0000 Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net> wrote: 

>> I've made an update (attached) to the previous patch.  I removed the
>> code indentation spaces and changed the docstring to be more
>> descriptive.  Also, I included a function check for the auth-source
>> password which was missing before.

Thank you!

IS> 	We can call auth-source-forget+ if necessary once we figure it
IS> 	out; just like it’s done in gnus/nnimap.el and mail/smtpmail.el.

Right, those are the typical uses of auth-source.

IS> 	The auth-source library allows access to other backends beside
IS> 	plain ~/.authinfo, which is why I think it makes sense to
IS> 	mention the library by name here.  See the docstring for the
IS> 	erc-autojoin-channels-alist variable for an example.

Agreed! The authinfo file *format* is a default, but there are actually
three of them: '("~/.authinfo" "~/.authinfo.gpg" "~/.netrc")

Thanks
Ted

Message #20 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, zhtvk <at> gmx.com, Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net>
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5;
 Use auth-source library for remote passwords in Rmail
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2019 13:54:05 +0200

Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com> writes:

> I've made an update (attached) to the previous patch. I removed the code
> indentation spaces and changed the docstring to be more
> descriptive. Also, I included a function check for the auth-source
> password which was missing before.

This makes sense to me -- all password things in Emacs should go through
auth-source, I think.

But I'm not an rmail user, so I can't test this...

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

Message #23 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, zhtvk <at> gmx.com, Ivan Shmakov <ivan <at> siamics.net>
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5; Use auth-source library for remote passwords
 in Rmail
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2020 16:12:45 +0200

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org> writes:

> This makes sense to me -- all password things in Emacs should go through
> auth-source, I think.
>
> But I'm not an rmail user, so I can't test this...

I've re-spun the patch for Emacs 28.  Can somebody that uses rmail test
this?

diff --git a/lisp/mail/rmail.el b/lisp/mail/rmail.el
index 44cde7cb5a..fc670ebe2b 100644
--- a/lisp/mail/rmail.el
+++ b/lisp/mail/rmail.el
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 
 (require 'mail-utils)
 (require 'rfc2047)
+(require 'auth-source)
 
 (require 'rmail-loaddefs)
 
@@ -1917,7 +1918,8 @@ rmail-parse-url
 		(when rmail-remote-password-required
 		  (setq got-password (not (rmail-have-password)))
 		  (setq supplied-password (rmail-get-remote-password
-					   (string-match "^imaps?" proto))))
+					   (string-match "^imaps?" proto)
+                                           user host)))
 	      ;; FIXME
 	      ;; The password is embedded.  Strip it out since movemail
 	      ;; does not really like it, in spite of the movemail spec.
@@ -1938,13 +1940,13 @@ rmail-parse-url
    ((string-match "^po:\\([^:]+\\)\\(:\\(.*\\)\\)?" file)
     (let (got-password supplied-password
           ;; (proto "pop")
-	  ;; (user  (match-string 1 file))
-	  ;; (host  (match-string 3 file))
+	  (user  (match-string 1 file))
+	  (host  (match-string 3 file))
           )
 
       (when rmail-remote-password-required
 	(setq got-password (not (rmail-have-password)))
-	(setq supplied-password (rmail-get-remote-password nil)))
+	(setq supplied-password (rmail-get-remote-password nil user host)))
 
       (list file "pop" supplied-password got-password)))
 
@@ -4498,15 +4500,32 @@ rmail-set-remote-password
     (setq rmail-remote-password nil)
     (setq rmail-encoded-remote-password nil)))
 
-(defun rmail-get-remote-password (imap)
-  "Get the password for retrieving mail from a POP or IMAP server.  If none
-has been set, then prompt the user for one."
+(defun rmail-get-remote-password (imap user host)
+  "Get the password for retrieving mail from a POP or IMAP server.
+If none has been set, the password is found via auth-source. If
+you use ~/.authinfo as your auth-source backend, then put
+something like the following in that file:
+
+machine mymachine login myloginname password mypassword
+
+If auth-source search yields no result, prompt the user for the
+password."
   (when (not rmail-encoded-remote-password)
     (if (not rmail-remote-password)
-	(setq rmail-remote-password
-	      (read-passwd (if imap
-			       "IMAP password: "
-			     "POP password: "))))
+        (setq rmail-remote-password
+              (let ((found (nth 0 (auth-source-search :max 1
+                                                      :user user                                                      
+                                                      :host host
+                                                      :require '(:secret))))
+                    (secret))
+                (if found
+                    (progn
+                      (setq secret (plist-get found :secret))
+                      (if (functionp secret)
+                        (funcall secret)))
+                     (read-passwd (if imap
+                                      "IMAP password: "
+                                    "POP password: "))))))
     (rmail-set-remote-password rmail-remote-password)
     (setq rmail-remote-password nil))
   (rmail-encode-string rmail-encoded-remote-password (emacs-pid)))


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

Message #26 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Antoine Kalmbach <ane <at> iki.fi>
Cc: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5; Use auth-source library for remote passwords
 in Rmail
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2020 17:58:40 +0200

Antoine Kalmbach <ane <at> iki.fi> writes:

> I can confirm it works. Applied the patch and it works
> perfectly. Tested with both passwords in ~/.authinfo and the macOS
> keychain, the value of auth-sources was:

Thanks for testing.  I've now applied the patch to Emacs 28.  (It was
almost too long to apply without copyright assignment papers, but
squeaked in.)

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

Message #33 received at 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Antoine Kalmbach <ane <at> iki.fi>
To: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 24274 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Viktor Slavkovik <viktor.slavkovik <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#24274: 24.5; Use auth-source library for remote passwords
 in Rmail
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2020 18:29:20 +0300

Lars Ingebrigtsen writes:

> I've re-spun the patch for Emacs 28.  Can somebody that uses rmail
> test this?

I can confirm it works. Applied the patch and it works perfectly. Tested with
both passwords in ~/.authinfo and the macOS keychain, the value of auth-sources
was:

   (macos-keychain-generic macos-keychain-internet "~/.authinfo" "~/.authinfo.gpg" "~/.netrc")

The version of Emacs used was

   GNU Emacs 27.1 (build 1, x86_64-apple-darwin18.7.0, Carbon Version 158 AppKit 1671.6) of 2020-08-16

-- 
Antoine Kalmbach

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