[GH-ISSUE #86] [Enhancement] Password prompt limitations #75

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opened 2026-03-03 01:19:35 +03:00 by kerem · 1 comment

kerem commented

2026-03-03 01:19:35 +03:00

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Originally created by @Kabouik on GitHub (May 17, 2021).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/d99kris/nmail/issues/86

Originally assigned to: @d99kris on GitHub.

It is all quite minor but:

The password prompt cannot be interrupted/cancelled with ^C, the terminal stays busy until something is typed and confirmed. This seems a bit unusual and multiple times I had to knowingly type a wrong password just to free my terminal (like if I realized it wouldn't work anyway because of a typo, caps lock, or "unsecure apps" not enabled on the server).
Maybe some visual hint of typed characters (***********) could help correcting typos, but I think opinions may diverge there, as password prompts with not hints are also quite common in UNIX.
The account cannot be opened if the IMAP credentials are correct but not the SMTP credentials. I think it would be best if SMTP just limited sending but not cache access and email reception.

Originally created by @Kabouik on GitHub (May 17, 2021). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/d99kris/nmail/issues/86 Originally assigned to: @d99kris on GitHub. It is all quite minor but: - The password prompt cannot be interrupted/cancelled with <kbd>^C</kbd>, the terminal stays busy until something is typed and confirmed. This seems a bit unusual and multiple times I had to knowingly type a wrong password just to free my terminal (like if I realized it wouldn't work anyway because of a typo, caps lock, or "unsecure apps" not enabled on the server). - Maybe some visual hint of typed characters (`***********`) could help correcting typos, but I think opinions may diverge there, as password prompts with not hints are also quite common in UNIX. - The account cannot be opened if the IMAP credentials are correct but not the SMTP credentials. I think it would be best if SMTP just limited sending but not cache access and email reception.

kerem closed this issue

2026-03-03 01:19:36 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-03-03 01:19:36 +03:00

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@d99kris commented on GitHub (Nov 16, 2022):

Hi @Kabouik - a bit late, but now I found time to look at this issue.

The password prompt cannot be interrupted/cancelled

This should be working now. I believe it was fixed quite a while ago (a year?), but I don't have the exact commit id. Anyway, I've tested ^C here both on setup and during regular login, and both are OK.

Maybe some visual hint of typed characters

This could be done, but unfortunately it's fairly complex to implement correctly (esp. w.r.t. to navigation keys etc), so I'm leaning towards just following scp, ssh behavior of not providing visible feedback. Possibly if you know some open-source Linux command line tool (C or C++) that does this nicely, I can take a look and see if I can use their implementation.

The account cannot be opened if the IMAP credentials are correct but not the SMTP credentials

I don't recall this being the case (but possibly there was some bug earlier). I also tested here now, and nmail can start up fine with just correct IMAP password, and then only fails upon sending if SMTP pass was entered wrongly.

Will proceed to close this issue for now.

@d99kris commented on GitHub (Nov 16, 2022): Hi @Kabouik - a bit late, but now I found time to look at this issue. > The password prompt cannot be interrupted/cancelled This should be working now. I believe it was fixed quite a while ago (a year?), but I don't have the exact commit id. Anyway, I've tested `^C` here both on setup and during regular login, and both are OK. > Maybe some visual hint of typed characters This could be done, but unfortunately it's fairly complex to implement correctly (esp. w.r.t. to navigation keys etc), so I'm leaning towards just following `scp`, `ssh` behavior of not providing visible feedback. Possibly if you know some open-source Linux command line tool (C or C++) that does this nicely, I can take a look and see if I can use their implementation. > The account cannot be opened if the IMAP credentials are correct but not the SMTP credentials I don't recall this being the case (but possibly there was some bug earlier). I also tested here now, and `nmail` can start up fine with just correct IMAP password, and then only fails upon sending if SMTP pass was entered wrongly. Will proceed to close this issue for now.