On Wed 05 Mar 2025 at 21:12:32 (+0000), Russell L. Harris wrote: > On Wed, Mar 05, 2025 at 03:46:01PM -0500, Dan Purgert wrote: > > > The "Mail Authentication Request" has only a blank (already filled in) > > > for a password which (very stupidly) is shown as a line of dots, > > > rather than in plain text. Foolish paranoia! The password is > > > protected (from what threat?), even at the cost of losing the account > > > and all the messages! > > > > So, it's not "blank" then? > > I do not know the source of the "Mail Authentication Request" -- it > may be the local Evolution installation. Apparently the row of dots > represents the password my machine is sending to the host which > receives message and awaits a download request from my local > computer. > > My complaint is that when something is amiss, a row of dots does not > help solve the problem. And unless I am working in a public location, > there is no need to conceal the password. Thankfully, now many > applications provide a check-box to display the password in plain > text. > > And in a case such as this, it would be nice for the root user to be > able to disable password checking. > > > Sounds like you've saved the password for the account and the client is > > trying to auto-fill it for you. Could be as simple as "you changed your > > password, and the auto-fill details are wrong". > > > > "Password" boxes have been asterisks for 25 or 30 years by now; not sure > > what you're really going on about there .. > > Security for the sake of security is folly.
I'm not sure how an MUA would know whether you are alone at your screen. Nor how a hosting site would know that you were logged in as root¹, assuming that you've a /hosting/ password problem. But obviously you need to ascertain whether the queried password is for your MUA/desktop, or for the hosting service. But anyway … I typed evolution mua password into google and got a variety of hits like: https://askubuntu.com/questions/682242/evolution-3-10-4-password-nuisance on E~ repeatedly nagging for a password, https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=417389 on E~ not storing passwords, https://superuser.com/questions/59168/moving-domain-and-keeping-imap-email-linux-evolution-mac-mail on the problem of moving a hosting account, https://forums.opensuse.org/t/evolution-insists-on-password-every-time/148709 similar to #2 above. Perhaps worth a look. ¹ Running an MUA as root is about as bad as a browser. Cheers, David.
