241547 - when checking my POP3 account I have to enter my password twice

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(MailNews Core :: Networking: POP, defect)

Description

[Michael Taeuber]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; de-AT; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040113
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040421

When I check my POP3 account at T-Online (pop.t-online.de, Port 110), Mozilla
1.7rc1 asks me twice for my password. With Mozilla 1.6  (and former versions) I
had to enter it only once.
T-Online doesn't use in its standard configuration (which I use) any
authentication with POP3. The user is identified by the IP address which is
assigned to him at logon. So it doesn't care what you enter. I don't use SSL or
secure authentication. 

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. check POP3 account at T-Online
2.
3.

Actual Results:  
Mozilla 1.7rc1 asks me twice for my PW

Expected Results:  
ask only once like Mozilla 1.6 (and former versions)

Comment 1

[Christian Eyrich]

Maybe it's the additional GetPassword in SendUsername for bug 200436. But the
result should be cached and not asked twice. Additionally any user would see
this. So I've no real idea at the moment.

You only get the normal password dialog, no error? And after the second dialog
everything is fine, yes?

Unfortunately I don't get a connection to the T-Online server (maybe since I'm
none of their customers) so I can't test myself.
Would you please attach a log above?
http://www.mozilla.org/quality/mailnews/mail-troubleshoot.html#pop

Comment 2

[Michael Taeuber]

Attachment: log output when checking my POP3 account

This is the requested logfile from Mozilla 1.7rc1 and 1.6. The output of the
two versions doesn't differ very much.
Yes, you're right, I get the normal password dialog twice, no errors. After the
second dialog everything is fine and I get my eMail (if there's any).

Comment 3

[Christian Eyrich]

Thanks for the log. Unfortunately nothing spectacular, but good to see the steps
processed.

I've still no idea. Hm, have you disabled the password manager (unchecked
"Remember passwords" in the preferences)? If yes, please try again when enabled.

If no, does Mozilla ask every time when retrieving mails, or only the first time
in a session? And please try enabling the checkbox "Use Password Manager to
remember this password" in the password dialog. Does the behaviour change?

Comment 4

[Michael Taeuber]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Hm, have you disabled the password manager (unchecked
> "Remember passwords" in the preferences)? 

Yes, the password manager was disabled.

> If yes, please try again when enabled.
> If no, does Mozilla ask every time when retrieving mails, or only the first time
> in a session? 

Mozilla asks me everytime when retrieving emails, Mozilla 1.6 once and Mozilla
1.7rc1 twice. Even if I use the password manager and if I enable the checkbox
"Use Password Manager to remember this password" in the password dialog, Mozilla
keeps me asking.
The reason for this behaviour is the following:
As I wrote before T-Online doesn't use username and password for the POP3 user
authentication. The authenticate and authorize you by the IP address they assign
to you via PPP or PPPoE. Therefore I didn't enter any password and left the
dialog box blank. 
If I use any password (even one letter), Mozilla behaves as expected. Both
versions, 1.6 and 1.7rc1 ask me once a session once for the password and they
remember the password when I use the password manager.
That's something that I should have thought about before filing a bug, sorry for
that.
Many thanks for your help.

Comment 5

[Christian Eyrich]

Ah yes, if you don't enter any password it's ok. A little bit annoying but
Mozilla can't see any difference between no password and empty password.
Erm, if you've switch the PW manager off and enter a dummy password, do you get
asked once or every time again?

Comment 6

[Michael Taeuber]

(In reply to comment #5)

> Erm, if you've switch the PW manager off and enter a dummy password, do you get
> asked once or every time again?

If I switch off the password manager and use a dummy PW, I get asked once for a
session.
I have to enter it the first time I try to access the mail server and then I
don't have to enter it again until I close Mozilla. Even if I close the mail
component and the browser is still open I don't have to re-enter it. Maybe there
is a kind of time-out for the cached PW but I havent't seen this so far.

Comment 7

[Christian Eyrich]

Ok, that's how it should be. And there's no timout I know about.