[Users] Why ask for the password twice?

[Bruce Bowler]

On Mon, 06 Jan 2014 23:52:37 +0530, Abhay S. Kushwaha wrote:

> Hi Bruce.
> 
> Claws-Mail, by design, does not try to be overly intelligent. In this
> case it's a good thing.
> 
> The reason you've been asked to put in your password is because
> Claws-Mail was asked for it by Google. However, it wasn't expecting to
> be asked so.
> 
> That is because when you set up the account, you did not specify that
> there would be authentication involved and it's supposed to use the
> username/password used to retrieve mail.

But I did specify authentication (or at least I think I did)

In the 'send' page of 'Edit account preferences', I have SMTP 
Authentication checked and I left User ID and Password blank which, 
according to the fine print, means use the same User ID and password as 
for receiving.  It would appear as if claws is using the same User ID, but 
not the same password...

> In a sense, it could attempt to use your POP/IMAP account user/password
> when prompted, but in some fringe cases, it could result in lack of
> privacy and could be a security concern. I can also think of further
> fringe cases where it could be undesirable that such an attempt even be
> made -- if somebody has decided not to put in the credentials for
> outgoing server, I would imagine they have a good reason for doing so
> rather than assuming they made a mistake or overlooked an option.
>
> So I'm guessing it behaves thus more because of the philosophy of the
> developers rather than overt design decision. It's definitely not an
> oversight though.
> 
> Abhay
> 
> On Mon, 6 Jan 2014 17:50:48 +0000 (UTC), Bruce wrote:
> 
>> I'm mostly curious if it was 'by design' or an oversight or something
>> else...
>> 
>> First, my environment.  I'm running version 3.9.3-31-gc98d95 on windows
>> 7 pro.  I use IMAP4 for my gmail account with the receiving server set
>> to imap.gmail.com and the sending server set to smtp.gmail.com.  I've
>> moved over to claws recently (a couple of months ago) from sylpheed.
>> 
>> When I start up claws, it asks for my password.  I fully understand
>> that. The first time I send mail, it asks for my password again, which
>> given that I'm using gmail, is the same as the password I entered when
>> I started claws.
>> 
>> Is there a reason (I'm sure there is, and it's probably obvious) why
>> claws doesn't first try the password it already knows, and if that
>> fails, ask for the other password?
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> Bruce