Comment 63 for bug 194472

Seriously? #ubuntu-hardened isn't a supreme court.... this can be discussed
so that by reasoning with them they would see that this isn't really a
security issue. However, I do propose one final alternative. The first time
you run sudo you should get to type a number, 1 or 2, and choose whether you
want to enable or disable visual feedback. And furthermore, there definitely
needs to be a one liner to tell people what's up if that option isn't
viable.

On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 6:25 PM, Dustin Kirkland
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Per discussion in #ubuntu-hardened, the Ubuntu Security guys are opposed
> to the change I proposed above.
>
> Thus, this bug is closed, and should be handled in documentation.
>
> I have added a section to the sudoer's documentation:
> *
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Sudoers#Enabling%20Visual%20Feedback%20when%20Typing%20Passwords
>
> Those who want to enable visual feedback, can do so in the configuration
> file. Sorry.
>
> --
> 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: Confirmed
> 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:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/194472/+subscribe
>

--
Sincerely,
   Josh