Info Catalog auth: Overview auth: Top auth: Multiple GMail accounts with Gnus

auth: Help for users

 
 2 Help for users
 ****************
 
 “Netrc” files are a de facto standard.  They look like this:
      machine MYMACHINE login MYLOGINNAME password MYPASSWORD port MYPORT
 
    The ‘machine’ is the server (either a DNS name or an IP address).
 It’s known as :HOST in ‘auth-source-search’ queries.  You can also use
 ‘host’.
 
    The ‘port’ is the connection port or protocol.  It’s known as :PORT
 in ‘auth-source-search’ queries.
 
    The ‘user’ is the user name.  It’s known as :USER in
 ‘auth-source-search’ queries.  You can also use ‘login’ and ‘account’.
 
    You can use spaces inside a password or other token by surrounding
 the token with either single or double quotes.
 
    You can use apostrophes inside a password or other token by
 surrounding it with double quotes, e.g., ‘"he'llo"’.  Similarly you can
 use double quotes inside a password or other token by surrounding it
 with apostrophes, e.g., ‘'he"llo'’.  You can’t mix both (so a password
 or other token can’t have both apostrophes and double quotes).
 
    All this is optional.  You could just say (but we don’t recommend it,
 we’re just showing that it’s possible)
 
      password MYPASSWORD
 
    to use the same password everywhere.  Again, _DO NOT DO THIS_ or you
 will be pwned as the kids say.
 
    “Netrc” files are usually called ‘.authinfo’ or ‘.netrc’; nowadays
 ‘.authinfo’ seems to be more popular and the auth-source library
 encourages this confusion by accepting both, as you’ll see later.
 
    If you have problems with the search, set ‘auth-source-debug’ to
 ‘'trivia’ and see what host, port, and user the library is checking in
 the ‘*Messages*’ buffer.  Ditto for any other problems, your first step
 is always to see what’s being checked.  The second step, of course, is
 to write a blog entry about it and wait for the answer in the comments.
 
    You can customize the variable ‘auth-sources’.  The following may be
 needed if you are using an older version of Emacs or if the auth-source
 library is not loaded for some other reason.
 
      (require 'auth-source)             ;; probably not necessary
      (customize-variable 'auth-sources) ;; optional, do it once
 
  -- Variable: auth-sources
 
      The ‘auth-sources’ variable tells the auth-source library where
      your netrc files or Secret Service API collection items live for a
      particular host and protocol.  While you can get fancy, the default
      and simplest configuration is:
 
           ;;; old default: required :host and :port, not needed anymore
           (setq auth-sources '((:source "~/.authinfo.gpg" :host t :port t)))
           ;;; mostly equivalent (see below about fallbacks) but shorter:
           (setq auth-sources '((:source "~/.authinfo.gpg")))
           ;;; even shorter and the _default_:
           (setq auth-sources '("~/.authinfo.gpg" "~/.authinfo" "~/.netrc"))
           ;;; use the Secrets API LOGIN collection
           ;;; (Secret Service API)
           (setq auth-sources '("secrets:Login"))
 
      By adding multiple entries to ‘auth-sources’ with a particular host
      or protocol, you can have specific netrc files for that host or
      protocol.  Usually this is unnecessary but may make sense if you
      have shared netrc files or some other unusual setup (90% of Emacs
      users have unusual setups and the remaining 10% are _really_
      unusual).
 
      Here’s a mixed example using two sources:
 
           (setq auth-sources '((:source (:secrets default)
                                 :host "myserver" :user "joe")
                                "~/.authinfo.gpg"))
 
    If you don’t customize ‘auth-sources’, you’ll have to live with the
 defaults: the unencrypted netrc file ‘~/.authinfo’ will be used for any
 host and any port.
 
    If that fails, any host and any port are looked up in the netrc file
 ‘~/.authinfo.gpg’, which is a GnuPG encrypted file (GnuPG and
 EasyPG Assistant Configuration).
 
    Finally, the unencrypted netrc file ‘~/.netrc’ will be used for any
 host and any port.
 
    The typical netrc line example is without a port.
 
      machine YOURMACHINE login YOU password YOURPASSWORD
 
    This will match any authentication port.  Simple, right?  But what if
 there’s a SMTP server on port 433 of that machine that needs a different
 password from the IMAP server?
 
      machine YOURMACHINE login YOU password SMTPPASSWORD port 433
      machine YOURMACHINE login YOU password GENERALPASSWORD
 
    For url-auth authentication (HTTP/HTTPS), you need to put this in
 your netrc file:
 
      machine yourmachine.com:80 port http login testuser password testpass
 
    This will match any realm and authentication method (basic or digest)
 over HTTP.  HTTPS is set up similarly.  If you want finer controls,
 explore the url-auth source code and variables.
 
    For Tramp authentication, use:
 
      machine yourmachine.com port scp login testuser password testpass
 
    Note that the port denotes the Tramp connection method.  When you
 don’t use a port entry, you match any Tramp method, as explained
 earlier.  Since Tramp has about 88 connection methods, this may be
 necessary if you have an unusual (see earlier comment on those) setup.
 

Info Catalog auth: Overview auth: Top auth: Multiple GMail accounts with Gnus