Changes/Enable pwfeedback in sudo by default

Enable pwfeedback in sudo by default

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

This change enables visual feedback for sudo's password prompt by default.

Owner

• Name: Skye Chappelle
• Email: skyeforeverblue@tuta.io

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 42
• Last updated: 2024-10-30
• [Announced]
• [<will be assigned by the Wrangler> Discussion thread]
• FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Feedback

Several (most) of the users in the Fedora Discussion thread I made for this agree that this change makes sense, for several reasons:

- "Hmmm, I haven’t thought about this in years — thanks for bringing it up. I think it’s a reasonable suggestion, especially since other password prompts on the desktop act that way." (mattdm)

- "Even as an experienced Linux user there are times when I’m not sure I’m actually typing the password or not." (bcotton)

- "I think this is a reasonable distro-wide (that is, for all variants) change to consider, since it’s a strange default to not show feedback when typing. There are also implications for remote connectivity: if you don’t see feedback, you cannot tell if your typing actually made it over to the other side and that can result in you inadvertently mistyping." (ngompa)

Espionage724 had some differing opinions:

- "No since nobody else does it." (this is not true; several other distributions, notably Linux Mint, do this by default as well)

- "It can be an option for people that want it, but I don’t agree with it being a default. I believe it to be reducing a good security practice as a minor user “convenience”, and don’t like the idea of encouraging others to reduce good security practices/exposing others to reduced good security practices." (mattdm had earlier said "Also, in 2024, if you are worried enough about someone snooping over your shoulder to gain information about your password length… why are you still using passwords?", which I believe is valid. (Matthew said this before Espionage724 chimed in, but it works as a good response to Espionage724's statement here.))

Espionage724 suggested an alternative to enabling this by default:

"They could tie it behind a gsettings prop; I already have to mess with my mouse stuff through it with libinput. I’m not too sure how other DEs handle that, but iirc gsettings didn’t throw an error on Plasma 6, and was usable on Xfce also for mouse accel.". catanzaro replied to this with "GNOME is not going to expose a preference for whether sudo should display asterisks when you type your password or not. That’s way too niche.", which is unfortunately probably true.

vgaetera says, "I think we should more carefully consider this change. The silent prompt behavior is consistent for most CLI tools.", which I think is worth considering; however, I still think the usability benefit outweighs this.

Benefit to Fedora

This change will benefit Fedora by making sudo easier to use for both novice and advanced users. It will make Fedora Linux more friendly and approachable for everyone.

Scope

• Proposal owner: Skye Chappelle

• Other developers:

• Release engineering: #Releng issue number

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with the Fedora Strategy:

I think this aligns with the Fedora Strategy because it makes Fedora Linux slightly more usable for everyone, new and old users alike.

Upgrade/compatibility impact

According to ngompa, RPM should handle this in exactly the way I wanted without much effort. The change will only take effect if someone hasn't modified their sudoers file(s) manually.

Early Testing (Optional)

Do you require 'QA Blueprint' support? N (not system wide change)

How To Test

Edit /etc/sudoers, replacing "Defaults !visiblepw" with "Defaults pwfeedback". Run a command with sudo. Your password should be displayed as asterisks in the prompt.

User Experience

This will make sudo password prompts more friendly and consistent with other password prompts a normal user is likely to encounter. This will make it easier for novices and advanced users to use the system. -->

Dependencies

N/A

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)
• Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
• Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release Notes

sudo now shows visual feedback for passwords by default.