Credible help pages say you should avoid changing a password as root
(e.g. http://bodhizazen.net/Tutorials/Ecryptfs#Password).

That is all very well if you know it. But you are not likely to know it
if your system doesn't tell you.

And users are encouraged to change passwords on the command line instead
of the GUI if they use encryption.

This error is really, inevitable.

i) Users would increasingly feel it advisable to use the Ubuntu
installer's option of encryption when installing.

ii) They would also increasingly feel it sensible at some point to
change their encryption password.

iii) There is no obvious place in the GUI to change the encryption
password (not in Xubuntu at least). Ubuntu forums, when you search for
how to change the encryption password, give command line instructions.

iv) Changing encryption password requires root privileges

v) Users would likely change their user password while changing their
encryption password

vi) They would likely attempt to make this change as root, since recent
instructions have demonstrated it is required and it is anyway intuitive
that you would need root privileges to do something as sensitive as
change a user password.

Ergo, the problem is inevitable. And it is negligent of linux password
system not to warn users when they are about to change their user
password as root.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/579876

Title:
  encrypted home directory isn't mounted if password changed by another
  user

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ecryptfs-utils/+bug/579876/+subscriptions

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