The APIs currently used by MC assume that all necessary parameters to connect to an account are supplied up-front. This isn't the case if passwords aren't saved.

After API for interactive credentials prompting has been designed (Bug #14003) and added to connection managers, the password can disappear from the connection managers' set of required parameters, which will in turn mean that an account with no password can be considered "valid".

Leaving this open as a metabug, but reassigning to telepathy-spec (it's not really MC's fault).

telepathy-gabble now does not require 'password' up front. Of course other CMs might..

There is also the case where the password is an empty string. I can't say if the problem is in the GUI side (Empathy) for this case. For example, my SIP registration doesn't use a password, but Empathy will not let me create an account with an empty password.

(In reply to comment #3)
> There is also the case where the password is an empty string. I can't say if
> the problem is in the GUI side (Empathy) for this case.

Strictly speaking, yes this is Empathy's fault: Telepathy (and Mission Control) can distinguish between "password is not provided" and "password is present and is the empty string", but Empathy's account-editing UI doesn't.

I'm not sure how you'd do a sensible UI for this while allowing empty strings as passwords, though: the best I can come up with is this:

    SIP address:  [bob@example.com___]

    [x] Provide a password
    Password:     [******____________]

which is still a bit rubbish.

> For example, my SIP
> registration doesn't use a password, but Empathy will not let me create an
> account with an empty password.

I think you're actually trying to not provide a password, rather than providing the empty string :-)

In any case, telepathy-sofiasip does not mark the "password" parameter as REQUIRED, so this looks like Empathy's fault too.

This is now possible using the SASL API; closing.