Credentials and the Secrets API...

Just wanted to keep folks in the loop. It turns out that the Secrets API is still to young. I asked about the format to store credentials in (as far as attributes), and got a response from a KDE developer that says it's still to young on their front. They hope to have support in the next release of KDE. But there's still the issue of what attributes to use.

With that information, I went ahead and created a gnome-credential-keyring that uses Gnome's Keyring facility. I still need to do a few more things (mainly run it against Jeff's tests), but it's generally working. Just wanted to keep folks in the loop. Hopefully, I can get patches out this weekend.

Jeff: it would be really excellent to break out the various pieces.  I
think it would also be better to split the asking for passwords from
the storing of passwords.

-John

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 12:05:03PM -0400, John Szakmeister wrote:

Thanks for looking into this. That explains why I had such trouble finding good documentation on it.

Great, I'm looking forward to reading it.

That's my current plan. I just need to stop dragging my feet on re-rolling the series.

-Peff

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 1:48 PM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:

[snip]

I've pushed up the work I've done to:
   <https://github.com/jszakmeister/git-credential-keyring>

There's not much to it. It also doesn't handle certs and that sort of thing. I think we need to figure out which protocols need to be handled differently so that we can use the appropriate api for the keyring-like api. :-)

I also chose this way instead of a patch to git, because it appears your work is no longer in pu (I must have missed the fact that it was removed). Once your work makes it way back in, I can look into getting it into the contrib area, if that's desired.

Sounds good! I'll be happy to update when you do re-roll it. The test you sent out was very helpful, BTW. I do think the test cases with no context are a bit broken though. It doesn't seem right to ask the storage backend to retrieve a password without any context at all, IMHO. My implementation doesn't pass those two tests. It does pass the rest of them though.

-John

On Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:05:03 -0400 John Szakmeister <john@szakmeister.net> wrote: 

JS> Just wanted to keep folks in the loop. It turns out that the Secrets JS> API is still to young. I asked about the format to store credentials JS> in (as far as attributes), and got a response from a KDE developer JS> that says it's still to young on their front. They hope to have JS> support in the next release of KDE. But there's still the issue of JS> what attributes to use.

JS> With that information, I went ahead and created a JS> gnome-credential-keyring that uses Gnome's Keyring facility. I still JS> need to do a few more things (mainly run it against Jeff's tests), but JS> it's generally working. Just wanted to keep folks in the loop. JS> Hopefully, I can get patches out this weekend.

Do you think the Secrets API has matured enough? KDE has had a new release since your post...

Thanks Ted

On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 9:46 AM, Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> wrote:

Yes, I think it has. Several other applications appear to be using it, including some things considered "core" in Fedora--which is a good sign.

-John

On Sat, 9 Feb 2013 05:58:47 -0500 John Szakmeister <john@szakmeister.net> wrote: 

JS> On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 9:46 AM, Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> wrote:

JS> Just wanted to keep folks in the loop. It turns out that the Secrets JS> API is still to young. I asked about the format to store credentials JS> in (as far as attributes), and got a response from a KDE developer JS> that says it's still to young on their front. They hope to have JS> support in the next release of KDE. But there's still the issue of JS> what attributes to use.

JS> Yes, I think it has. Several other applications appear to be using JS> it, including some things considered "core" in Fedora--which is a good JS> sign.

Wonderful.  Do you still have interest in working on this credential?

Ted

On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 12:01 PM, Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> wrote:

[snip]

I do, but I'm a bit short on time right now. So if you or someone else wants to pick up and run with it, please feel free. If I get some cycles over the next couple of months, I'll give it a go though.

-John