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I upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 and I find a very annoying "feature" when I commit in git which was not present in 16.04 with Unity. I have gpgsign enabled and everytime I commit in git it opens a modal dialog box where I have to insert the GPG password.

As someone who values my security I keep all my passwords in a KeePass database which is conveniently not usable when this uselessly modal dialog comes up.

How do I stop Gnome from creating a modal dialog when asking for passwords?

I want to be able to copy&paste my password from KeePass when the dialog asking for password is already shown, and even better be able to search my KeePass db for the correct entry (i.e. I should also be able to type inside KeePass).

It's a real waste of time having to cancel whatever operation, then copy the password and having 10 seconds to repeat it before the password gets cleared from the clipboard. Especially when I try to commit from an IDE since when selecting files it does not stage them which means if I forget to copy the password right before clicking on commit I have to reselect all the files/portions of files to commit.

BTW: I do not want to use the GNOME keyring. I want to be able to use KeePass. Is there a way to do this in Gnome or do I have to uninstall ubuntu-desktop and install kubuntu-desktop instead?

Giacomo Alzetta
  • 221

2 Answers2

1

This is not really a solution, just a theory for someone brave and crafty to implement.

Let the password manager implement an on-screen keyboard, like here https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/3330/improved-onscreen-keyboard/ which is not your usual keyboard, but rather a password picker. Enable on-screen keyboard in accessibility.

Then when the GNOME modal password prompt pops up, prompting for on-screen keyboard, instead of keyboard, show the password picker.

...?

Robert Cutajar
  • 479
1

There is now a solution to this, courtesy of this answer: https://askubuntu.com/a/1392565/305208

$ sudo update-alternatives --config pinentry
There are 2 choices for the alternative pinentry (providing /usr/bin/pinentry).

Selection    Path                      Priority   Status


    

  • 0            /usr/bin/pinentry-gnome3   90        auto mode
1            /usr/bin/pinentry-curses   50        manual mode
2            /usr/bin/pinentry-gnome3   90        manual mode
    • 



Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 1
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/pinentry-curses to provide /usr/bin/pinentry (pinentry) in manual mode
Per Lundberg
  • 163
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