bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Teodor Zlatanov]

Requested as a separate bug:

The epg.el+GnuPG X pinentry dialog is very non-specific ("Enter
passphrase") so there's no way to know what passphrase is being
requested and why if you don't have the specific instance in focus.

In GNU Emacs 24.3.50.2 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.4.4)
 of 2013-09-20 on flea.lifelogs.com
Bzr revision: 114415 rgm@gnu.org-20130921005207-1eq49miu7feptu8i
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11304000
System Description:	Gentoo Base System release 2.2

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Stefan Monnier]

> The epg.el+GnuPG X pinentry dialog is very non-specific ("Enter
> passphrase") so there's no way to know what passphrase is being
> requested and why if you don't have the specific instance in focus.

I only use epg.el in very simple ways, where the dialog (no idea whether
it's from "pinentry" or anything else) is very clear and explicit about
which password for which key is requested.
So could you give a recipe to reproduce the above problem?


        Stefan

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:17:22 -0400 Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote: 

>> The epg.el+GnuPG X pinentry dialog is very non-specific ("Enter
>> passphrase") so there's no way to know what passphrase is being
>> requested and why if you don't have the specific instance in focus.

SM> I only use epg.el in very simple ways, where the dialog (no idea whether
SM> it's from "pinentry" or anything else) is very clear and explicit about
SM> which password for which key is requested.
SM> So could you give a recipe to reproduce the above problem?

1. run Emacs, nothing else (no gpg-agent, no idea if that would make a difference)
2. open file1.gpg
3. prompt is "Enter Passphrase"

Then from the command line:

4. gpg --decrypt file2.gpg
5. prompt is "Enter Passphrase"

This hit me yesterday actually; I was using Git's netrc helper, which
calls out to GnuPG for .gpg files, and it took a while to run something
before getting to the .gpg decode.  I was in Emacs doing VCS interaction
with file1.gpg at that time and saw the dialog with no indication of
what passphrase was wanted.

Ted

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Stefan Monnier]

> 1. run Emacs, nothing else (no gpg-agent, no idea if that would make a difference)
> 2. open file1.gpg
> 3. prompt is "Enter Passphrase"

I just tried it and it opened the file without prompting (so presumably
the password is cached somewhere: I have no gpg-agent running, only an
ssh-agent and a polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1).


        Stefan

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Tue, 08 Oct 2013 13:01:48 -0400 Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote: 

>> 1. run Emacs, nothing else (no gpg-agent, no idea if that would make a difference)
>> 2. open file1.gpg
>> 3. prompt is "Enter Passphrase"

SM> I just tried it and it opened the file without prompting (so presumably
SM> the password is cached somewhere: I have no gpg-agent running, only an
SM> ssh-agent and a polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1).

I'm not sure about your setup.  The dialog shows up for me on Gentoo.

In any case, the problem is that the pinentry dialog is not showing the
filename or anything else to identify which passphrase is requested.  I
can't tell how to change that with GnuPG command-line options, although
I could conceivably write my own pinentry program and use that with some
environment variables to set the message appropriately.  So I don't
think epg.el can fix this issue from the Emacs side.

Ted

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> In any case, the problem is that the pinentry dialog is not showing the
> filename or anything else to identify which passphrase is requested.  I
> can't tell how to change that with GnuPG command-line options, although
> I could conceivably write my own pinentry program and use that with some
> environment variables to set the message appropriately.  So I don't
> think epg.el can fix this issue from the Emacs side.

I spent ten minutes googling and reading man pages, but I don't see any
way to control the prompt from the gpg pinentry program.

Does anybody know whether this is possible?  I agree that it would be a
good idea if the prompt say what you're being prompted for.

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

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> In any case, the problem is that the pinentry dialog is not showing the
> filename or anything else to identify which passphrase is requested.  I
> can't tell how to change that with GnuPG command-line options, although
> I could conceivably write my own pinentry program and use that with some
> environment variables to set the message appropriately.  So I don't
> think epg.el can fix this issue from the Emacs side.

I spent ten minutes googling and reading man pages, but I don't see any
way to control the prompt from the gpg pinentry program.

Does anybody know whether this is possible?  I agree that it would be a
good idea if the prompt say what you're being prompted for.

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

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>
> Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2019 13:05:48 +0200
> 
> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:
> 
> > In any case, the problem is that the pinentry dialog is not showing the
> > filename or anything else to identify which passphrase is requested.  I
> > can't tell how to change that with GnuPG command-line options, although
> > I could conceivably write my own pinentry program and use that with some
> > environment variables to set the message appropriately.  So I don't
> > think epg.el can fix this issue from the Emacs side.
> 
> I spent ten minutes googling and reading man pages, but I don't see any
> way to control the prompt from the gpg pinentry program.
> 
> Does anybody know whether this is possible?  I agree that it would be a
> good idea if the prompt say what you're being prompted for.

Maybe Daiki (CC'ed) knows.

bug#15559: 24.3.50; epg.el: pinentry prompt is not specific

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> I spent ten minutes googling and reading man pages, but I don't see any
>> way to control the prompt from the gpg pinentry program.
>> 
>> Does anybody know whether this is possible?  I agree that it would be a
>> good idea if the prompt say what you're being prompted for.
>
> Maybe Daiki (CC'ed) knows.

That was a month ago, and nobody has chimed in, so I'm closing this bug
report as it seems like this isn't something gpg supports.  If this
turns out to be wrong, please reopen.

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