When I started using my L5, I got lured into installing gnome keyring and Seahorse, only to discover I do not like this way of doing things. Because it seemed somewhat complicated to de-install the whole thing, I stuck to it. One of the apps I have in the keyring is Authenticator. I need Authenticator to manage two factor logins I need for my work.
This worked adequately until I upgraded to Crimson. Now, when I start the Authenticator, I get an error message telling me I have to check whether I have installed a Secret Service provider like gnome-keyring, and whether there is an unlocked default keyring.
So, what I would like to do now, is get rid of the whole keyring thing, and start anew. I find remembering a couple of passwords much less of a hassle than managing the keyring(s).
Therefore my request: could somebody please help me safely uninstalling the keyring/Seahorse sh*t?
I recommend not doing that. You never know whether some application or the system itself expects Gnome keyrings to be present.
Your actual workaround is persuading whatever additional application you are using not to use a Gnome keyring i.e. to store its secrets “somewhere else”. (Then your supplementary problem becomes: was that “home brew somewhere else” implemented as securely as Gnome keyring?)
If you install an application and the only option that it offers is to store its secrets in a Gnome keyring then there is a high likelihood that if you completely obliterate the Gnome keyring functionality then the application will simply fail.
I understand your frustration when things don’t “just work”.
I would imagine that any friction that you are experiencing between flatpak and Gnome keyring is actually the system attempting to protect your security, albeit that it might not be working for you.
I don’t know what kind of two factor authentication you are talking about. If it’s just TOTP (time-based one time password, usually a 6-digit code, derived from a shared secret) then, between you and me, I would like Gnome keyring to be enhanced to provide native support for that. (Then you wouldn’t need a separate app at all and it would “just work”.)
Okay, I will not give up on gnome-keyring just yet. I have simplified and cleaned up my entries somewhat, which gave me a better insight in how it all works. Authenticator (the Belmoussaoui one) still errors out on me, though. So, it seems best to delete the app and try another one (I have installed Clockode), and setup my 2FA’s anew.