Bug 264888

Summary: Committer's Handbook unclear about smtp.freebsd.org, Kerberos, mail password and Thunderbird
Product: Documentation Reporter: Graham Perrin <grahamperrin>
Component: WebsiteAssignee: Philip Paeps <philip>
Status: In Progress ---    
Severity: Affects Only Me CC: carlavilla, grahamperrin, philip, zi
Priority: --- Flags: grahamperrin: maintainer-feedback? (grahamperrin)
Version: Latest   
Hardware: Any   
OS: Any   
See Also: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=261812
Attachments:
Description Flags
Screenshot: Thunderbird preferences
none
Clarify smtp.FreeBSD.org instructions in the Committers Guide none

Description Graham Perrin freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-06-25 15:51:18 UTC 
Created attachment 234933 [details]
Screenshot: Thunderbird preferences

Thunderbird 91.10.0_1 on FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT responds: 

> Sending of the message failed.
> 
> The Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.freebsd.org does not support the selected 
> authentication method. Please change the 'Authentication method' in 
> 'Account Settings | Outgoing Server (SMTP)'.

In line with <https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/committers-guide/#smtp-setup>, Thunderbird is configured as shown in the attached screenshot. 

I tried smtp.FreeBSD.org instead of smtp.freebsd.org, no difference.
Comment 1 Ryan Steinmetz freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-06-25 16:18:16 UTC 
I'm not a thunderbird user, however, Kerberos/GSSAPI would not be the correct authentication mechanism.
Comment 2 Graham Perrin freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-06-25 17:47:45 UTC 
(In reply to Ryan Steinmetz from comment #1)

Thanks for the hint. 

So, with regard to step 4: 

> For authentication, you can use your FreeBSD Kerberos username and password …

* it's not appropriate to use Kerberos / GSSAPI

* instead, choose the 'Normal password' method of authentication.
Comment 3 Graham Perrin freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-06-25 17:49:57 UTC 
<https://docs.freebsd.org/en/articles/committers-guide/#kerberos-ldap> suggests: 

ssh kpasswd.freebsd.org

– this routine generates two things: 

* a password

* a mail password. 

Confusingly: 

* the password works with Thunderbird. 

* the mail password does not.
Comment 4 Ryan Steinmetz freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-06-25 18:33:45 UTC 
For authentication, you can use your FreeBSD Kerberos username and password (see Kerberos and LDAP web Password for FreeBSD Cluster).

The yourusername/mail principal is preferred, as it is only valid for authenticating to mail resources.

Separate users for the two separate passwords.
Comment 5 Philip Paeps freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-07-08 06:35:38 UTC 
Created attachment 235117 [details]
Clarify smtp.FreeBSD.org instructions in the Committers Guide

The documentation is a little rough.

Does this patch make things clearer?

Incidentally, I'd appreciate help with the formatting.  While I've got a doc commit bit, I don't actually have any idea what I'm doing. :-)
Comment 6 Sergio Carlavilla Delgado freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2022-07-24 17:48:57 UTC 
I'm gonna upgrade the patch to use the one sentence per line format and for me it's ok.

@Graham this new patch clarify the process?
Comment 7 Mark Linimon freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2024-01-19 15:06:38 UTC 
^Triage: to carlavilla@; did some patch based on this ever get committed?