GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 784270
Keyring unlock prompt should not be modal
Last modified: 2021-07-05 14:41:40 UTC
When asking "An application wants access to the keyring 'Default', but it is locked" allow the user to ask Google what is going on. Don't just lock all other windows, so that even if one can switch to them, one is not permitted to type anything into them. In fact the only way to get to Google, is to leave all of X-windows, via ALT-CTRL-F1. But at that point the user can use a text browser, e.g., w3m, or lynx. And many users don't know how to use them. So the user returns to X-windows (nodm, icewm, ALT-CTRL-F7) and types a few passwords and finally gives up with "Cancel". And who knows if the password (for the website he was browsing, that wanting to save triggered this mess) is saved. Furthermore, besides not allowing the user to reach Google, you don't even let him type $ import -pause 11 screenshot.jpg to send you a picture of what he is talking about. Nor can he copy it with a mouse.
You effectively lock the user's entire computer. He is not allowed to use Facebook, email, anyting, until he answers the question. You might as well go one step further, and remove the cancel button.
journalctl says Gcr: calling the PromptReady method on /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p@:1.2 so maybe that is what is doing this.
Yeah, this is a problem. It also happens for all Polkit authorization prompts, preventing users from looking up passwords at the very moment the passwords are needed. Quite annoying. There's another bug for that somewhere. The keyring unlock prompt is a separate issue, though, so I won't mark this as a duplicate. (Note: gnome-shell presents this prompt, not Epiphany.)
Oh and thanks for trying to take a screenshot, but yeah it's not possible when the shell is displaying a modal dialog. :/ Anyway, we know exactly what dialog this is. If you're curious, the code in the gnome-shell repo is under js/ui/components/keyring.js.
By the way, can anybody tell me what the password is that I am supposed to type? You know the message could give a hint. Maybe it is my password. Maybe it is the root password. Maybe it is some other password. Maybe there is no password. Well I suppose we could just feed all our guesses into its mysterious mouth, but guess what, it is never satisfied. And it should say the consequences of not giving it a password. Will it just throw all our facebook, google, etc. passwords away? Will it keep them for us anyway, but just not also put them in some place B in addition to original place A? And it should say how to not have to deal with it over and over again.
It's your gnome-keyring password, which should be the same as the password of your user account if your distro has configured gnome-keyring properly. Most users should never see this dialog ever, because in that case the keyring gets unlocked automatically when you log in.
(In reply to Michael Catanzaro from comment #6) > It's your gnome-keyring password Specifically, the password for your login keyring.
Maybe I could somehow set it to the same password that I use that ends up in /etc/passwd . Then maybe it wouldn't bother me ever again. Alas I do not know how to do that.
Easiest way to change the password manually would be to use seahorse.
OK I installed seahorse, and it asked me the old password, and I guessed wrong. And it also says seahorse-Message: DNS-SD initialization failed: Daemon not running (seahorse:5082): Gtk-WARNING **: (/build/gtk+3.0-Bt64AJ/gtk+3.0-3.22.16/./gtk/gtkicontheme.c:5493):gtk_icon_theme_lookup_by_gicon_for_scale: runtime check failed: ((flags & GTK_ICON_LOOKUP_GENERIC_FALLBACK) == 0) (seahorse:5082): Gtk-WARNING **: (/build/gtk+3.0-Bt64AJ/gtk+3.0-3.22.16/./gtk/gtkicontheme.c:2226):gtk_icon_theme_choose_icon_for_scale: runtime check failed: ((flags & GTK_ICON_LOOKUP_GENERIC_FALLBACK) == 0) (seahorse:5082): Gtk-WARNING **: (/build/gtk+3.0-Bt64AJ/gtk+3.0-3.22.16/./gtk/gtkicontheme.c:5493):gtk_icon_theme_lookup_by_gicon_for_scale: runtime check failed: ((flags & GTK_ICON_LOOKUP_GENERIC_FALLBACK) == 0) (seahorse:5082): Gtk-WARNING **: (/build/gtk+3.0-Bt64AJ/gtk+3.0-3.22.16/./gtk/gtkicontheme.c:2226):gtk_icon_theme_choose_icon_for_scale: runtime check failed: ((flags & GTK_ICON_LOOKUP_GENERIC_FALLBACK) == 0) (seahorse:5082): seahorse-CRITICAL **: gkr-keyring-properties.vala:33: Unknown internal child: action_area (seahorse:5082): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_container_add: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed (seahorse:5082): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
P.S., Aren't you guys worried that you will be fined by some European commission for taking over peoples' computer? Even 1/10000 of what they fined Google for monopolizing ads. You know we are using nodm + icewm + epiphany ... I.e., only one window belongs to you. So locking users out of all their other windows, leaving them helpless like some ransomware program, is worse than the Great Firewall of China. Cease and desist now.
Or maybe, like Android, some controls need to be added somewhere, to not let a single app take over the whole cellphone.
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