gleam-lang/gleam

Unable to provide alternative hexpm credentials for `gleam publish`

Open

#4,318 opened on Mar 9, 2025

View on GitHub
 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Rust (21,417 stars) (960 forks)batch import
good first issuehelp wanted

Description

If you have already authenticated and saved a local token for Gleam to interact with the hex api, it is impossible to provide alternative user/pass credentials when publishing a package.

Attempting to publish a package by setting HEXPM_USER and HEXPM_PASS variables results in the following error:

error: Failed to decrypt data

A problem was encountered decrypting data.
The error from the encryption library was:

    Decryption failed

Steps to reproduce:

  • Generate a local hex token for a hexpm account using gleam hex authenticate
  • Run HEXPM_USER=a_different_account HEXPM_PASS=****** gleam publish
  • Observe the error above.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
clideveloper experience
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
basic knowledge of Gleam packagingunderstanding of hex credentials management
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Investigate the authentication flow in the `gleam publish` command, likely in the `src/command/publish.rs` file. Check how the credentials from `HEXPM USER` and `HEXPM PASS` environment variables are handled compared to the stored token from `gleam hex authenticate`. The error 'Failed to decrypt data' suggests a conflict in credential handling. Look for any decryption logic that might be incorrectly applied when using environment credentials.