authToken in Android SampleSyncAdapter Sample

Question

This piece of code is from AuthenticatorActivity in Android SampleSyncAdapter Sample project. It says,

We store the authToken that's returned from the server as the 'password' for this account - so we're never storing the user's actual password locally.

But I don't see authToken being used at all. Why? Is this a mistake or intentional?

/**
 * Called when response is received from the server for authentication
 * request. See onAuthenticationResult(). Sets the
 * AccountAuthenticatorResult which is sent back to the caller. We store the
 * authToken that's returned from the server as the 'password' for this
 * account - so we're never storing the user's actual password locally.
 *
 * @param result the confirmCredentials result.
 */
private void finishLogin(String authToken) {

    Log.i(TAG, "finishLogin()");
    final Account account = new Account(mUsername, Constants.ACCOUNT_TYPE);
    if (mRequestNewAccount) {
        mAccountManager.addAccountExplicitly(account, mPassword, null);
        // Set contacts sync for this account.
        ContentResolver.setSyncAutomatically(account, ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, true);
    } else {
        mAccountManager.setPassword(account, mPassword);
    }
    final Intent intent = new Intent();
    intent.putExtra(AccountManager.KEY_ACCOUNT_NAME, mUsername);
    intent.putExtra(AccountManager.KEY_ACCOUNT_TYPE, Constants.ACCOUNT_TYPE);
    setAccountAuthenticatorResult(intent.getExtras());
    setResult(RESULT_OK, intent);
    finish();
}

Answer 1

Agreed, this is confusing, especially since SampleSyncAdapter represents some of the only documentation around these classes. That said, I think the comment is the mistake here, since both the AbstractAccountAuthenticator and the service rely on the password. I have filed a bug for clarification:

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=40878&thanks=40878&ts=1354582803