Comment 47 for bug 194472

If we expect standard Ubuntu users to use sudo, then my previous comment applies: either sudo should show feedback for each password character typed, or gksudo and PolicyKit should not.

But I think our long-term aim should be that sudo is used only by server administrators and software developers. Any situation where standard Ubuntu users feel the need to use sudo, *that* is a bug that should be fixed. <https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/security-karmic-no-sudo> As long as we expect to be able to give users instructions that involve the terminal, they will be at risk from people giving them malicious instructions, because a terminal can't possibly convey danger as effectively as a graphical interface can. We need to get to a point where anyone posting terminal instructions, for people other than server administrators and software developers to use, is shouted down -- just as they would be in Windows or Mac OS X.

So if servers have a higher security standard, such that showing feedback when typing your password would annoy or freak out administrators, then we shouldn't make any change to sudo. I don't know whether that's true, because I haven't done any user research on server administrators.