Email account that works for this mailing list _and without a cell phone number_

[Little Girl]

Hey there,

Oliver Grawert wrote:
>Am Freitag, dem 17.10.2025 um 09:16 -0400 schrieb Little Girl:

>> The Ubuntu repositories contain the oathtool package, which can be
>> used for 2-factor authentication without needing a phone.
>
>Well, yes and no ... depends on the mail service you want to use... 
>I.e. the gmail docs say:
>
>"To use oathtool with Gmail, you must have previously set up the
>account to use a 2-Step Verification app like Google Authenticator."

Yes. you have to set up Gmail to use a 2-Step Verification app.
Google Authenticator is an example of such an app. So is oathtool.

From Google Gemini AI-bot:

	"oathtool is a command-line tool that generates the same type
	of one-time passwords (OTPs) as Google Authenticator for
	two-step verification, but it's not a user-friendly app with
	a graphical interface. While Google Authenticator is a mobile
	app, oathtool is a command-line utility for users,
	particularly on systems like Linux, who prefer to manage
	their 2FA codes from the terminal."

>So you need a smartphone first to use G-Authenticator to do the
>initial setup and can only later switch over ...

Not at all. I used only my computer to set up Google's 2-Step
Verification. I don't, however, use oathtool when I need a fresh OTP
for any reason (not just for Google), but have opted, instead, to use
Duo on my phone for that.

The way I see it, the only way oathtool would be as secure as my use
of Duo on my phone would be if oathtool was located on a different
computer than the one I'm authenticating on. Otherwise, there's
the possibility of easy compromise. And since I don't keep two
computers running at once in this house, it would be orders of
magnitude more of a drag to boot another computer up every time I
wanted to log in somewhere than it already is to have to fetch my
phone, log into it, and fetch an OTP from there.

It is, however, a viable solution for someone who prefers not to use
a cell-phone and it comes with Ubuntu free of charge.

-- 
Little Girl

There is no spoon.