Having managed to snag a log file, I can see where the login failure is
taking place. In my .muttrc, it loads my primary account (this one,
working fine) on startup, and to switch accounts I have some F-keys set,
so hitting F8 for the account that is failing, I see
[2024-07-15 22:59:31] Reading imaps://imap.ionos.co.uk:993/INBOX...
[2024-07-15 22:59:31] Looking up imap.ionos.co.uk...
[2024-07-15 22:59:31] Connecting to imap.ionos.co.uk...
[2024-07-15 22:59:31] SSL/TLS connection using TLS1.3
(ECDHE-RSA/AES-256-GCM/AEAD)
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] Connected to imap.ionos.co.uk:993 on fd=5
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] imap_cmd_step: grew buffer to 512 bytes
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] 5< * OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 CHILDREN ENABLE ID IDLE
LIST-EXTENDED LIST-STATUS LITERAL- MOVE NAMESPACE QUOTA SASL-IR SORT SPECIAL-USE
THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT UIDPLUS UNSELECT WITHIN AUTH=LOGIN AUTH=PLAIN] IMAP server
ready H mieue150 28.1 IMAP-1MC28p-1sd8W92byX-00CraV
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] Handling CAPABILITY
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] IMAP queue drained
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] imap_authenticate: Using any available method.
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] SASL local ip: 192.168.0.180;51858, remote
ip:212.227.15.154;993
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] External SSF: 256
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] mutt_sasl_cb_authname: getting authname for
imap.ionos.co.uk:993
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] mutt_sasl_cb_authname: getting user for
imap.ionos.co.uk:993
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] mutt_sasl_cb_pass: getting password for
xxxxxxxxxxx...@imap.ionos.co.uk:993
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] Authenticating (PLAIN)...
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] 5> a0000 AUTHENTICATE PLAIN
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx= > [2024-07-15
22:59:32] 5< a0000 NO authentication failed
[2024-07-15 22:59:32] IMAP queue drained
The account config file for this account in .mutt says (along with the
correct credentials):
# activate TLS if available on the server
set ssl_starttls=yes
# always use SSL when connecting to a server
set ssl_force_tls=yes
and that seems to be obeyed. But PLAIN authentication should work: this
is what the account is set to use in Thunderbird, where the account
functions normally.
So I base64-decoded the auth string (xxx'd out above) and it turned out
to contain the email address and password for my default account, the
one that loads at startup! Somehow it is failing to pick up the change
of account details correctly.
The switch between accounts was all working when I first set this up
some years ago, and all the other accounts still function normally.
Investigations continue.
Peter
