pass-paste: an extension for pass - paste passwords by mouse without clipboard

This extension to pass: the standard unix password manager could best be described as a better version of the pass -c option/command.

Whereas pass -c uses the clipboard, does this extension use xdotool, xprop and xwininfo.

The benefits are:

• No hurry is needed because the clipboard may be cleared before you are ready
• No dbus involved, which was indeed the trigger to write this extension
• No worry if the clipboard kept the secrets due to some malfunction
• No unneeded exposure of secrets to each application or listeners, like KDE-Connect

To be honest, this solution doesn't work as best as it could. Best would be to "paste" by middle mouse button, just as usual. But xprop, which is used to select the target window, doesn't have an option -button like xkill. This limitation is more bothersome than expected.

Usage

Run pass paste instead of pass -c. The secrets will be "copied " into the window where you next click with the mouse, no matter with which button. So, the only thing you have to care for, don't click the wrong window. Consequently you can't use some task bar to switch to to desired window.

Requirements

• Xorg
• pass
• xdotool
• xwininfo
• xprop

Installation

ArchLinux

You can find pass-paste in AUR

Manually

• Get and extract the source
• cd into the tree
• sudo make install
• For best user experience ensure the bash completion file pass-paste.bash will be sourced when a shell is invoked. Depending on your configuration, this may happen automatically or you may need to add an entry to your bashrc
• Ensure the Requirements are available on your system

License

pass-paste: an extension for pass: the standard unix password manager

Copyright (C) 2022 [email protected]

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

TODO/BUGS

• Find a way to paste with the middle mouse button and make sure that clicking windows with the left/right button does not cancel the current operation
• No man page yet
• No -h/--help option is provided
• No shell completion other than bash is supported yet, at least nothing was done to support other
• No Wayland support, at least I guess so
• Only tested on ArchLinux with KDE/Plasma, please report when it works for you on another system

Thanks To

• pass-update where I shamelessly nicked their Makefile and I could study how such pass-extension has to be done
• stackoverflow.com, stackexchange.com for their great knowledge base
• dict.cc and deepl.com without which my english would be even worse
• github.com for kindly hosting
• Mom&Dad and archlinux.org

Release History

Patch version v0.8.1, Feb 2022

• a58cb89 - Suppress rare error message when bring window to front

Very first version was v0.8, Feb 2022

• Hello World!
• We start with 0.8 because it's feature complete, except the flaws noted at TODO/BUGS.
• Version 1.0 should support Wayland and at least zsh shell completion