Comment 42 for bug 137247

Fair enough, it's not a bug, it's a misfeature as the guy above said.

Can we not have a private/public key scheme here? Somehow, I can't think of the specifics. Something that allows root to unlock the password, but in a secure way.

Even if a solution requires you to enter your password ones when you setup your auto-login, I think most will agree that this is fine, as long as you are not asked for a password every time you boot/login.