how to save a password in a file of configuration in python

Question

I'm writing an applet in python for gnome2 that checks for new emails in gmail.

Actually i'm saving the pass of gmail in a file .config using an encoding base-64. and then decoding the pass everytime i need it.

is this secure?? it's a better way to store a password??

Thanks

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-18 19:57:58Z

7

No, it's not secure. Instead, you should use the Gnome keyring service, or whatever the current system offers, to store passwords.

See the keyring package for a Python interface to such services:

import keyring

keyring.set_password('your_application_name', username, password)

keyring will store your password in the most secure keyring available, use get_password('your_application_name', username) to retrieve it again.

answered Oct 18, 2012 at 19:52

Martijn Pieters

1.1m326 gold badges4.2k silver badges3.4k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Thanks for the answer @Martijn.. just one more thing. With this method, I only have to set the password once? whats happen when i reboot the pc?

@Matias: it is stored, so it can be retrieved after a reboot.