Hey all, there are two things I'd like to propose/bring to attention. First of all, Google is blocking Evolution from working with Gmail due to this: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en
This page might also be relevant: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6009563 Apparently this is a problem for a lot of desktop mail applications. I don't really know much about this, but it is explained here: http://mbeiley.blogspot.com/2014/09/google-less-secure-apps-explained.html Now I've read some other things on the Internet that say this does nothing for security, because you've already given the "less secure app" your login credentials anyway when Google blocks it. But regardless of whether what Google is doing is good or not, or anticompetitive or not, we need to deal with this. There are three options here. One is Evolution starts using 0auth2, and is therefore not blocked when it tries to login to Gmail. A second option is to tell the user how to connect their Evolution to their Gmail right in the setup wizard, without them having to look for the workaround online like I did (while you're at it, you might as well tell them to enable POP/IMAP too, since that also needs to be done). The third option is to do nothing, and essentially alienate every Gmail user who doesn't have the patience to figure out where to go in the Google settings to "allow less secure apps". So my question is, would it be feasible for Evolution to start using 0auth2, so that it is no longer blocked by Google? I believe Thunderbird already does this by the way, since I had no problem integrating my Gmail account with it. If it is not feasible, then I would suggest option 2, which is to give the user more instruction in the very beginning for how to get around this. Specifically, I think the setup wizard when you run Evolution for the first time should say something along the lines of "if you would like to connect a Gmail account, go to https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and enable less secure apps. Then log in to gmail with a web browser, go to settings, go to 'forwarding and pop/imap', and enable pop or imap." And this brings me to the other thing I want to talk about, which is that in order to give feedback about this I had to sign up for this mailing list and send out an email. I think there is a good opportunity for Evolution to improve its user-friendliness by having a forum on the web of some sort. *Forums are better than IRC and mailing lists because people don't have to sign up to look at them*, therefore if someone is having a problem they can look on the forum for solutions. Right now there is no central place on the web where people can go to look for help and tips with Evolution - unless they set up IRC, sign up to the mailing list, or to the Gnome wiki. There are threads *about* Evolution in other tech forums, but there is no Evolution forum. This does not even require any money, hardware, or investment from Gnome. All it would take is for someone to make a subreddit called "/r/evolutionmail" and then link to that subreddit in the Evolution manual, gnome wiki page, and setup wizard. Maybe advertise it a bit on Linux blogs/forums on the same day it's created. And it could even link to all the other Evolution stuff like this: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution/ and this: https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list So in short: 1: In light of Google's policy, do something to make it easier to connect Gmail accounts with Evolution. 2: Have a public forum where people can ask for help and provide assistance anonymously, but in public so it's easy for anyone to see, and link this reciprocally to all the other Evolution web presence. I will create a subreddit myself if there is general agreement that it is a good idea. I am open to having my mind changed though. I will end this by saying thank you and happy new year to all open source developers and contributors. Nice email client! :) _______________________________________________ evolution-list mailing list evolution-list@gnome.org To change your list options or unsubscribe, visit ... https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
