Online accounts credentials keep expiring when reading email in Evolution

[Oded Arbel]

I have set up "online accounts" to connect to my personal GMail account and the Google Apps account set up by my employer.

When I started Evolution, I saw that both accounts are already configured for reading email (and for calendering, though no calendar was actually selected so it didn't work - but that is another issue altogether).

It worked fine initially, but after a while it started having authentication problems and I got a yellow warning messages at the top of the screen saying:
Error while Refreshing folder 'INBOX'. [sic about weird capitalization]
GDBus.Error:org.gnome.OnlineAccounts.Error.NotAuthorized: Credentials not found in keyring (goa-error-quark, 0): Failed to retrieve credentials from the keyring: Error communicating with gnome-keyring-daemon

When I open "online accounts" again, I see that for both accounts have the message "Expired Credentials. Please log in again."

I can do the log in again and it works, until the next day when I have to do the whole process over again.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: evolution 3.2.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Oct 14 13:39:12 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/evolution
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta amd64 (20110921.2)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANGUAGE=
SourcePackage: evolution
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[alezflute (alezflute)]

I would say the problem is not in evolution but in Gnome-online-accounts, since for me it fails without even having evolution installed. The problem is the same, it seems as if the log into the google account doesn't work, it asks for it, I write my gmail login, password, give permission; the window closes and if I open again the online-accounts manager the autentification has failed. Is there anything we can do to help with this problem? I have Ubuntu 11.10 32 bit freshly installed. Please excuse my english.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[alezflute (alezflute)]

I think I found a way (unfortunately not a good one) to by-pass this problem: I set the login password in seahorse to a blank one and now Evolution syncs itself properly and the credentials for the online-accounts work ok. I also tested it with gnome-documents without any problem. Will test more and post later if I get different results. For now, it would seem to be a bad solution as it won't be satisfactory to have a blank password on the keys deposit for some people.

[dfavro (dfavro-redhat-bugs)]

Description of problem:
The Online Accounts control centre applet doesn't seem to set up credentials. They're added and authorized, but Evolution can't access them and subsequent attempts to re-authorize them result in "Credentials Expired" in Online accounts.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
fc16 as of 2011/11/3
gnome-online-accounts 3.2.1 Release 2.fc16

How reproducible:
Consistently reproducible

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open Online accounts
2. Add an account of type Google
3. Enter credentials into Google's Sign-in page (tested with an @gmail.com account)
4. Account is authorized sucessfully
5. Allow the use of mail, calendar...etc (all options)
6. Open Evolution

Actual results:
  Evolution returns:
"The reported error was "GDBus.Error:org.gnome.OnlineAccounts.Error.NotAuthorized: Credentials not found in keyring (goa-error-quark, 0): Failed to retrieve credentials from the keyring: Error communicating with gnome-keyring-daemon"."

  Online accounts is now stuck on "Expired Credentials. Please log in again". Attempts to re-log in do not change this status; the account has to be deleted, at which point the same behaviour can be reproduced

Expected results:
Evolution should access Google account as required.

Additional info:
LaunchPad has an entry for what looks like this same bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution/+bug/874120

[Andes (andesho91-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi, I can confirm that I have the exactly the same error as listed above. I did the upgrade from Lucid to Precise and it was working fine up until today with the GNOME3 Classic Interface, I daren't test it on Unity as Unity breaks various system components which I can fix, but would rather not have to.

[Donato Roque (donato-roque)]

Hi I also encounter the same error message and problem as reported here. Not sure what package is affected in Archlinux. goa shows "credential expired, login" message permanently with Google. It doesn't affect the other accounts e.g. Windows, Facebook.

Plus even as goa shows such an error message, I can use empathy with Google and Calendar with Google calendar. So it seems Evolution can't connect to server without clearing goa.

[Brian (brian-redhat-bugs)]

I'm seeing this in FC18 also. Any solution?

[Nathanael (nathanael-redhat-bugs)]

I see the same F18

[Nathanael (nathanael-redhat-bugs)]

It seems to me that the google online accounts item is at fault. It should be requesting 'offline' access as well and then refresh the authorization token when it expires...

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

This message is a reminder that Fedora 16 is nearing its end of life.
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[Brian (brian-redhat-bugs)]

Per comment #2, can we have the Version(s): field updated to 18 please?

[Brian (brian-redhat-bugs)]

I should have added, that I have seen this on FC18 also.

[Michael (michael-redhat-bugs)]

As soon as I updated to Fedora 18 is am getting warnings that my credentials have expired as well. When I re-enter my password for the Google account and grant access, it doesn't appear to do anything ... no failure, no clearing of the warning.

To get things going again, I had to completely delete the account and then re-add it.

[Ilkka (ilkka-redhat-bugs)]

I just upgraded f17 to f18, and can't get google account to sign in. I do have the 2 step auth in use. I even deleted the account and re-added it. No luck.

[Nick (nick-redhat-bugs)]

I am seeing the same problem. After upgrading from F17 to F18 I can't get 2-step authentication to work for my Google account.

From "Online Accounts"

"Expired Credentials. Please log in again."

I click "Log In" button and follow Google screens and log in successfully.

However, on returning to "Online Accounts" screen the "Expired Credentials..." message is still there.

[josef (josef-redhat-bugs-1)]

me, too

[Jonathan (jonathan-redhat-bugs)]

Yep. I'm using google 2-factor authentication.
At first, all seems fine and it seems to have accepted the login, BUT, trying to use evolution with google never goes through, and later, a notification pops up that an "online account needs attention".

Reauthenticating never works, I need to delete the account and add it again.
Adding it again seems to have worked, but I never see evolution integration working.

Fedora 18, fresh install and updated.

[OrlandoSaavedra (orlandosaavedra)]

root cause semms to be within gnome-online-accounts (backend) rather than evolution (used as frontend), as gnome-online-accounts fails to store proper credentials, a temporary workaround is to remove the online account and create it again

[Rajesh KSV (rajeshksv37-h)]

I am using Gnome shell 3.8 on Ubuntu 13.04. I am still facing this issue. I removed the google account and added it again. Still it happens. I am using Google 2 step authentication. And the worst thing is credentials are getting expired with in a minute :(

[Sergio Costas (rastersoft-gmail)]

I receive the same error with Thunderbird.

[PopularOutcast (popularoutcast-redhat-bugs)]

I upgraded to Fedora 19 and am having the same problem. I have never used it before and decided to try it. I do use Google 2-factor authentication and it accepts the password, the second factor, and seems to work then immediately says that my credentials have expired.

In an effort to overcome this, I tried to use an application-specific password for my account. Fedora will not take that password at all even after deleting the account and creating a new one.

[Nathanael (nathanael-redhat-bugs)]

I should note - I haven't had this issue with F19 install from scratch. I did have it on fedup'd systems however.

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Rajesh, the Google 2-Factor Authentication bug is bug 1175122. It should be fixed for GNOME Shell users with Ubuntu 13.04 and the GNOME3 PPA. Install the latest updates, reboot, then remove your Google account and re-add it.

[Slava (slava-redhat-bugs)]

Same Here Fedora19 x86_64. google account stuck in "Expire Credentials".

Jul 29 10:11:31 j8p3zn1 /etc/gdm/Xsession[2244]: (evolution:3611): evolution-mail-WARNING **: Failed to refresh folder '': [Gmail]/misc': Failed to obtain an access token for '': GDBus.Error:org.gnome.OnlineAccounts.Error.NotAuthorized: No credentials found in the keyring

[Slava (slava-redhat-bugs)]

Jul 29 10:15:32 j8p3zn1 /etc/gdm/Xsession[2244]: Window manager warning: CurrentTime used to choose focus window; focus window may not be correct.
Jul 29 10:15:32 j8p3zn1 /etc/gdm/Xsession[2244]: Window manager warning: Got a request to focus 0x180007f (Bug 751094) with a timestamp of 0. This shouldn't happen!
Jul 29 10:16:21 j8p3zn1 goa[3009]: secret_password_lookup_sync() returned NULL [goautils.c:210, goa_utils_lookup_credentials_sync()]

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

This message is a reminder that Fedora 18 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 18. It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora
'version' of '18'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version'
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Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we may not be
able to fix it before Fedora 18 is end of life. If you would still like
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version
of Fedora, you are encouraged change the 'version' to a later Fedora
version prior to Fedora 18's end of life.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes
bugs or makes them obsolete.

[Kevin (kevin-redhat-bugs)]

I am also seeing this on v20, since this thread has persisted since v16, can we assume that Redhat just does not care, wont fix, and is just hoping that it will go away? I don't see any RH participation on this thread, and no fix comming.

[Nathanael (nathanael-redhat-bugs)]

So I haven't been seeing this at all since I think f19.

Also @Kevin Fries this bug is against Fedora which is sponsored by RedHat but is a community distro made up of open source projects. Provide a patch or make sure the bug is reported upstream.

[Fedora (fedora-redhat-bugs)]

Fedora 18 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2014-01-14. Fedora 18 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
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current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.

[David (david-redhat-bugs)]

Same is happening on F24. Usually after logout and subsequent login. Solution is to kill goa-deamon and let it respawn.

[German (german-redhat-bugs)]

I do not see why this was closed as WONTFIX. It seems to be a real bug, which affects some people. I am affected by it BTW. I am using Fedora 24 fully updated, the first time I connected my account (with twp-factor-authentication enabled) it worked fine. Now Evolution will not connect and gonme-online-accounts just says "Credentials have expired". Signing-in again does nothing, it does not work.

[Bastien (bastien-redhat-bugs)]

(In reply to gpulido from comment #21)
> I do not see why this was closed as WONTFIX.

Because it's about Fedora 18, released in 2013. File a new bug.

[Brian (brian-redhat-bugs)]

(In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #22)
> (In reply to gpulido from comment #21)
> > I do not see why this was closed as WONTFIX.
>
> Because it's about Fedora 18, released in 2013. File a new bug.

But in comment #21, he said he is experiencing it in F24. ISTM that the right thing to do here is to update the Version: to 24, not close the ticket.

Opening a new ticket for exactly the same problem loses all of the history with the problem in the closed ticket.

[Bastien (bastien-redhat-bugs)]

(In reply to Brian J. Murrell from comment #23)
> (In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #22)
> > (In reply to gpulido from comment #21)
> > > I do not see why this was closed as WONTFIX.
> >
> > Because it's about Fedora 18, released in 2013. File a new bug.
>
> But in comment #21, he said he is experiencing it in F24. ISTM that the
> right thing to do here is to update the Version: to 24, not close the ticket.
>
> Opening a new ticket for exactly the same problem loses all of the history
> with the problem in the closed ticket.

6 releases later the root cause of the problem is likely not related. Especially as we switched to using systemd --user in the session in Fedora 24, which did cause some related problems which wouldn't have existed in F18.

[David (david-redhat-bugs)]

There is open bug report similar to this one: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1350678

[Daniel Gimenez (egoipse)]

At Juanuary 23th, 2020, still the same bug, among many others. Elementary OS Hera on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS here.

Almost 10 years of people reporting the bug and Gnome hasn't been able to find a solution. Incredible.

[Daniel Gimenez (egoipse)]

By the way, Evolution running on Pantheon (Elementary OS native desktop) didn't generate this bug. It begun to appear when I changed from Pantheon to Gnome desktop