Re: Opportunistic STARTTLS in smtpmail.el

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Stefan Monnier <address@hidden> writes:

> It's still very common for SMTP servers to use the IP address instead of
> authentication credentials, and having to enter a password each time in
> order for smtpmail to discover that no authentication was needed is
> *really* annoying.

Yup.

A yucky work-around (which (some versions of) Thunderbird uses, I think)
is that if the SMTP server announces that it accepts auth, then
Thunderbird prompts the user for the auth.

However, some SMTP servers announce auth even though they don't require
auth (from all users), so it's icky.

So I'd really prefer a way to query whether credentials exists without
having to enter a password.  Which I think means that an /etc/passwd +
/etc/secrets-type split is unavoidable.

Since the pre-release date is fast approaching, we should try to hash
this out in a timely fashion.  :-)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/