Empathy requires authorisation for Facebook repeatedly

[Angelos Sfakianakis]

I am running Ubuntu 13.04 since June. There seems to be a persistent problem with Empathy and Ubuntu Online Accounts. On a clean installation of the OS, you can authenticate your Facebook account normally. After about half a month, you usually need to re-authorise your Online Accounts.
In the old Gnome Online Accounts, everything worked well. At the moment, random authorisation requests emerge. Most of them are reset after a Computer restart; in some cases, though, Empathy seems to stuck even after the User performs an authorisation. The Plugin for the Unity Menu that displays posts from the News Feed works fine, so does Shotwell. Only Empathy refuses to show the Contact list and connect to Facebook.
To be more specific it displays this message: "Facebook account requires authorisation". However, when you open the Online Accounts, there is no relevant notice! I have tried removing and resetting the Account, I removed Ubuntu app from Facebook, I reinstalled (apt-get purge, apt-get install) Empathy, Facebook Account Plugin, Ubuntu Online Accounts and cleaned up all data using Bleachbit! Even deleting the account doesn't fix the problem.
I noticed through Seahorse that every time you authorise an account, the Authorisation Token Name changes (e.g. from "Ubuntu Online Account: id 3-1" to "Ubuntu Online Account: id 4-1). What is more, there are two entries for Facebook! One that contains my Password, and another one that what seems to be a generated Key. Maybe Empathy mixes up the names, because the problem occurs only after a re-authorisation.

I'm running Empathy 3.6.4 on Ubuntu 13.04 32bit. The problem occurs on both 32bit and 64bit versions of Ubuntu. I did some research and found out that Ubuntu Online Accounts and Empathy has been unstable for some time now.

It is not very easy to reproduce the issue, as it may take some time. However, once it occurs, there seems to be no return. Simply use a Facebook Account in UOA with 2-Step Verification enabled. Originally, you will be able to connect normally, after entering your password and generated code. After some time (usually right after 15 days, when a re-authorisation is normally needed) you will not be able to access Facebook Chat from Empathy with that account again, no matter how many times you re-authorise it or even if you delete it and re-add it!

As I've seen on the Web, similar problems affect a significant number of Users! Please, spend some time in fixing the UOA; its being so annoying acts as a deterrent from Ubuntu... And this is a pity, because - in my opinion - it is currently the best Linux Distribution out there.

Thanks in Advance!!! :D

[Bryan Fullerton (fehwalker)]

Moving to empathy package.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Walter Garcia-Fontes (walter-garcia)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We are sorry that we do not always have the capacity to look at all reported bugs in a timely manner. There have been many changes in Ubuntu since that time you reported the bug and your problem may have been fixed with some of the updates. It would help us a lot if you could test it on a currently supported Ubuntu version. When you test it and it is still an issue, kindly upload the updated logs by running apport-collect <bug #> and any other logs that are relevant for this particular issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for empathy (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]