[pmwiki-users] Auth User & New User Registration

[Dominique Faure]

On 3/13/06, The Editor <editor at fast.st> wrote:
> > Let me just say that user self-registration systems are a
> > real pain to write and get to work properly, which is one
> > of the reasons I haven't implemented one yet.  (Also, none of
> > my sites need user registration, or even use AuthUser. :-)
>
> In exploring the various options, for creating a user authentication
> systems, it occurred to me that the HtpasswdForm might be easily
> adapted for new users.  It already allows Admins to create new
> accounts instantly, it allows authenticated users to change their
> passwords, and it works off the same passwordfile as AuthUser. The
> only thing needed would be to modify it so that when a
> non-authenticated user views the form, he is allowed to create an
> account--without seeing the list of existing users (i.e. remove a
> capability, not add anything).
>
> I'm not a coder, and this solution might not offer all the features
> others would want, but it seems it wouldn't be too hard, and it might
> be enough features for some. As for email verification, I could just
> have them send some form to my autoresponder, which passes them a
> temporary password used to access the HtpasswdForm page, and thus
> create the account then.
>
> The only feature it seems to lack is checking that a new user's name
> does not already exist. Also, thinking down the road, it is already
> set up for a comment field which could be used to store an email
> address, thus adding other possibilities to the script (i.e. password
> reminder).
>
> Is there a chance someone on this list might be able to look at the
> script and see if such a change were doable?  If it were, it might be
> a nice addition (or update) to the cookbook. And it might save having
> to write a new recipe from scratch.
>

The initial purpose of the .htpasswd authentication support was to
allow some synchronization between Apache and PmWiki, and the
HtpasswdForm was just a thin "web-wrapper" around .htpasswd files to
handle them as easily as regular wiki content (in this case, the
Site.AuthUser page).

IMHO, making a user self-registration system for PmWiki should only
rely on what is available into the core, the using of .hpasswd files
instead of the Site.AuthUser page would (should?) be an optional
configuration of the recipe.

Regards,
Dom