Chrome Version (Chromium) Version 51.0.2704.79 (64-bit)      : <Copy from: 'about:version'>
URLs (if applicable) : https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=977941#c18
Other browsers tested: Not relevant
  Add OK or FAIL, along with the version, after other browsers where you
have tested this issue:
     Safari:
    Firefox:
         IE:

What steps will reproduce the problem?
(1) Install openSuse 13.2 Linux with Chromium and keep evergreen.
(2) In some updates, read before-and-after descriptions.
(3) Find statement in "after" description about Chromium deleting passwords with warning during "before" stage.

What is the expected result?
Passwords should be kept or migrated safely.

What happens instead?
Passwords were and maybe still are deleted.

Please provide any additional information below. Attach a screenshot if
possible.

When you discontinue password storage and delete users' passwords, please provide advance notice designed to let users migrate, preserve, sync, or otherwise be able to use their passwords after you have deleted them. There should be no interruption in their ability to use anything needing a password and no need to say that a password was lost and get a reset, not always easy to do.

In openSuse 13.2 Linux, which I keep evergreen, every few weeks an OS update announces this: "By using the openSUSE update-alternatives the password store for Chromium is changed to utilize Gnome's Keyring. Please be aware that by this change the old password [sic] are no longer accessible and are also not converted to Gnome's Keyring." A similar statement refers to KDE's KWallet. This statement appears only after an update is completed, so there is no possibility of recovering passwords. No warning precedes deletion. No migration is offered or performed.

Two possibilities are present.

One is that deletion can never happen again. The package description, by being written in the present tense, is out of date. In that case, the statement needs to be edited to the past tense.

The other possibility is that deletion can happen again. Apparently, Chromium has resumed accepting passwords into storage. Whether storage is in the local computer or in the cloud doesn't matter. What matters is that there is storage somewhere. That means it's possible Chromium will once again stop storing passwords and then delete those it has without warning.

When an update is offered, the Chromium update that includes password deletion should begin with a warning and a user opt-in. Precedent exists. A while back, for some OS or other, a group of updates included one requiring agreement to license terms for one software package. I refused to agree, and that prevented the update, but I could still use the computer.

Synchronizing passwords has been suggested. I understand a user can sync into Google's cloud. That's fine but must require an opt-in. Sync'ing automatically would be a security risk several times over. First, logging into the Google cloud while sitting in a public place or at work may require exposing a password to someone else, so a user must be allowed to delay an update until sync'ing can be done privately. Second, letting a nonroot user sync root's various passwords could expose root's passwords and what they're used for to a nonroot user. Third, the user's Google cloud password may be unknown to root, blocking root from accessing root's own passwords. Thus, synchronization cannot be automatic without root's approval.

I am told (https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=977941#c14) that the decision to delete passwords is made by Chromium/Chrome developers, thus upstream from the Linux distro, so I'm reporting here.

In the attachment, scroll to the big hand-drawn arrow. The rest is context.
 

Deleted: assy.png 683 KB

	assy.png 683 KB View Download