

Ask HN: Any way to access gmail IMAP through openid/oauth? - fjabre

Been scouring through google trying to find an answer to this. I suspect to access a user's email through IMAP one currently needs the credentials..<p>I've seen a few ways to get at contacts and such through openid/oauth but not email IMAP access.
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fjabre
Yep.. I think I've verified it is currently impossible to access IMAP without
asking for user credentials.

It would be nice to though. I can see all kinds of use cases for web apps
integrating with gmail and other email providers in this way - without having
to ask the user for their login/password.

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wmf
In general, OpenID/OAuth don't do well with non-browser clients and don't do
non-HTTP protocols at all.

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fjabre
Yeah got that. This actually is for a web app as ironic as that sounds.

I wondered if IMAP could be authenticated using openid/oauth without having to
make the user fork over their credentials.

