[Python-Dev] netrc.py (original) (raw)

Fred L. Drake, Jr. fdrake@acm.org
Thu, 24 Apr 2003 14:43:06 -0400

Eric S. Raymond writes:

As the original designer, I say -1. It's not clear to me or when how entries of this kind have value. But I'm willing to be convinced otherwise by a good argument.

Looking at the netrc(5) manpage on my RedHat 7.3 box, I'd say it's clear that a machine entry without a login should specifically suppress autologin for that machine. For example, this .netrc file:

machine ftp.example.com default login anonymous password fred@example.com

should cause autologin on every machine except for ftp.example.com. If the ftp.example.com entry is simply dropped, the default could be used, and that would be wrong.

So I think the entry should be retained, with a login value of None.

-Fred

-- Fred L. Drake, Jr. PythonLabs at Zope Corporation