Bug 14920

(*** This bug was imported into bugs.kde.org ***)

Package: kdelibs
Version: 2.0pre
Severity: wishlist
Installed from: Source

[not really an error actually more a design issue]

using kmail with my pop3 account I had the problem of a missing 'no password option' so that kmail asked for my login and password every <check> minutes. because kmail as many other packages btw assumes 
password->IsEmpty <=> password->IsNotSet
which is wrong.
Not having a password for a pop3 account is very silly but still possible and finally *valid* for the protocol
the problem is that even modifying kmail doesn't solve the problem as pop3.cc (kioslave) does the same.

- My *error* feeling is that a base library should not assume even in a graphical environment like kde that the user is running anything interactively so that a messagebox should *never* be created from a base lib. this is of course not only true for this specific pop3 trouble.
I suggest the pop3.cc accept the missing password at worse or maybe have a special 'property' like *no password* to know if it should (at best) return some error code that should then be handled by the app (and then showing a message-box or not)

- My *wish* is (hope it can be discussed) :
there could be a special signal class that would have some 'exception' status and would work like any other signal but it could be propagated through aplication (with dcop or something like that)
The idea is that the 'error' could be handled by the application or not and it could go higher until the default handling would propagate the error to a special KErrors system server. the server could then do just about anything tyou can think of with the signal like
- reporting it with some messagebox sound ... (like system events)
- log it
- *answer to it* if such a mechanism is provided (a bit harder)
The user could then choose (by registered error classes) whether he wants to see hear or just ignore those errors.
I've recently seen a wish about something done for the shadow login process the troube being for people whose password expired. they don't have a way to know it form the login which is bad. the Kerrors server would be a nice way to solve this 'for free' and there are many other applications.

cheers..

Olivier.

(submitted via bugs.kde.org)