Re: bug#7487: 24.0.50; Gnus nnimap broken

[Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com>]

On Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:06:42 +0900 Daiki Ueno <ueno@unixuser.org> wrote: 

DU> BTW, I forgot to mention in the previous response, I think it overkill
DU> to make epa-file to encrypt files with symmetric encryption by default,
DU> because as long as a file is visited in a buffer, epa-file remembers the
DU> last used encryption method (in epa-file-encrypt-to local variable),
DU> which will be used on the next save-buffer.  So a user should see the
DU> key selection UI only the first time she saves the buffer.

DU> Default symmetric might be useful when Emacs does visit/save/kill-buffer
DU> repeatedly, but I think it is a rare case.

I agree.  The user may not even know the implications of symmetric
encryption.  So IMHO this should be an external option (maybe requested
by setting `epa-file-encrypt-to' to 'ask if it's nil) which would change
the current key selection UI as follows (this is a refinement of my
previous UI proposal):

1) show prompt "Do you want to encrypt %s with a passphrase (symmetric)
or with a specific key?  (p/k/P/K/h)"

2) on `h', show some help, mentioning for instance that this question is
asked only once per file and link to the EPA manual

3) on `p', proceed without the key selection UI

4) on `k', proceed with the current key selection UI

5) on `P' or `K', save the choice as a new customized default for
`epa-file-encrypt-to'

All of this shouldn't involve auth-source.el beyond setting
`epa-file-encrypt-to' to 'ask if it's nil.  That way other packages can
use this same approach.

So this inconveniences users at least once, but gives them a chance to
understand what's going on, and with `P' will not be asked again.  What
do you think?

Ted