Re: GNOME 2.0 Must Fix Item #6

[Heeten <azari geo yahoo com>]

-ponder- PAM's not really my strong point, I just
remember George telling me it would be a problem when
I told him I was planing on doing the usability fixes,
and then seeing how it could be a problem when I was
coding some of them in.

The way GDM works is like this.

There is a front-end and a backend, the front-end is
the GUI, the back-end is the part that talks to PAM. 
When someone enters their username, it goes to the
back-end, and then to PAM, PAM sends the backend the
prompt (Password:) which sends it to the front end,
and then the backend waits for the password.  If we
wanted to have both things on one screen, we have to
buffer the username and password, wait for the user to
push ok, and then send the backend the username
followed by the password.  This isn't really that big
a deal.  I think the problem comes in when you for
some reason don't just type a username/password to
login, or when the prompt says something besides
Password: that the user needs to see.  Like I said, it
"might" break some PAM setups, but I think genrally
should be ok.  Still, I'm not positive :)

Heeten - Clueless fiend

--- Kevin Vandersloot <kfv101 psu edu> wrote:
> Could you explain why PAM is an issue. I can't see
> how PAM affects whether
> or not the text entries are shown together or after
> each other.
> 
> Kevin
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Heeten" <azari geo yahoo com>
> To: <usability gnome org>; <kfv101 psu edu>
> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 1:24 PM
> Subject: Re: GNOME 2.0 Must Fix Item #6
> 
> 
> > > From: Kevin Vandersloot <kfv101 psu edu>
> > > Date: 31 Aug 2001 09:48:22 -0400
> > >
> > > This one should be pretty straightforward. Note
> that
> > > recent versions of
> > > gdm have some of the changes suggested in the
> > > usability test. For fun I
> > > did a mockup of a possible improvement to the
> logout
> > > dialog here:
> > >
> > >
> >
>
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/k/f/kfv101//GNOME/logout-mockup.png
> > >
> > >
> > > GNOME 2.0 UI Must Fix Item #6- Logging In / Out
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Logging In
> > <SNIP/>
> > > * Should display username entry and password
> entry
> > > at same time.
> >
> > Due to the way PAM works this one is a bit tricky
> > which is why I didn't put it in when I did some of
> the
> > other changes.  If it would be a significant
> > improvment it could be done, but I'm worried it
> might
> > potentially break some PAM setups, or create some
> > other weird bugs.  Still it can be done if needed.
> >
> > Heeten
> > <SNIP/>
> > > Kevin

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