Comment 55 for bug 194472

A Modest Proposal

On what street corner of the internet will one *not* find confusion from
newcomers of the sudo entry method? It is obvious that something is wrong...
and any who say *not* to change even the least part is being stubbornly
traditional... *how* to change? this may be the challenge. I would vote that
at least we need to have an explanatory sentence; but preferably it would
default to *the standard password entry method* of Ubuntu, which just so
happens to be password length indicative. Every once in awhile, it comes
time to take out the trash. Take Out The Trash. The hardcore geeks who want
their old fashioned, esoteric entry method would not be stopped from getting
it out of the landfill. (aka. just make a preference with the default being
the one that matches Ubuntu philosophy and practice, password length
indicative!) This post was not meant to be offensive in any way, merely I am
trying to make a point. Yes, we could NDisWrap every wireless driver like
its 2005, but we've got more effective and intuitive ways to get wireless
connections going. Why, when countless newcomers *will* use the terminal, do
we refrain from doing what is best for the majority of users? There is a
paranoid minority that has voiced security concerns about people seeing the
length of a password... yet they say nothing about gksudo? Let it be known
that this day, February 21, is the day that sudo moved out of the Age of the
Wizards and into the Age of Humans; and let it be done with ubuntu (actual
word) on Ubuntu. (the OS)

This was a bit satirical, but I hope that each of you who read this will
understand what is meant, and will act for the benefit of the community.

On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 11:14 AM, Christoph Langner <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> So what about my initial proposal. Today - like every other day -
> someone showed up at ubuntuusers.de and asked...
>
> Original posting in german... http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic
> /passworteingabe-im-terminal-nicht-moeglich-1/<http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic%0A/passworteingabe-im-terminal-nicht-moeglich-1/>
>
> > Immer wenn ich im Terminal dazu aufgefordert werde mein Passwort
> einzugeben, ist dies nicht möglich. Ich kann im Terminal ganz normal mit
> der Tastatur tippen, bis es dann zur Passworteingabe kommt, dann weigert
> sich die Tastatur irgendetwas zu machen. Nur die Enter-Taster
> funktioniert. Was mache ich falsch? Wie kann man das beheben?
>
> Rough translation into english.
>
> > Whenever the system asks me to enter a password, it's not possible. I
> can type inside a terminal until i have to enter my passwort, the
> keyboard jams and except "Enter" nothing works. What am I doing worng.
>
> I don't ask to patch sudo, my only hope is ONE sentence which explains
> that you won't get visual feedback while typing your password. Sure, not
> everybody will read this line, but some people will.
>
> --
> Entering password in Terminal gives no visual feedback
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/194472
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts: Invalid
> Status in Ubuntu Server papercuts: Invalid
> Status in sudo: Fix Released
> Status in “sudo” package in Ubuntu: Won't Fix
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: sudo
>
> Until a user entered his first "sudo" command he sees these lines every
> time he opens a terminal
>
> --
> To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
> See "man sudo_root" for details.
>
> foo@bar:~$
> ---
>
> After the first sudo command ~/.sudo_as_admin_successful is created and
> terminal starts with a simple prompt.
>
> Now my point: I'm reading a lot of forum postings and every other day
> someone with little experience in linux and shell commands asks the question
> "I'm trying to execute sudo $command, but when i try to enter my password
> nothing happens, i can't see what i'm typing and i also don't see asteriks
> like ***, so is my keyboard dead?".
>
> So please could you add a little sentence, that you can't see asteriks or
> your password while entering your sudo password. This would reduce the
> confusion a little bit (if people would read that note ;)
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
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>

--
Sincerely,
   Josh