Manage Users

Register users on your Foswiki site; change/reset/install passwords; remove user accounts

Some of the features below may be disabled, depending on your Foswiki configuration.

Authentication and Access Control

• UserAuthentication describes your options for user authentication
• AccessControl describes how to define groups and how to restrict access to content

Register User

You don't have to have user home pages in Foswiki for Authentication to work - see UserAuthentication for details.

• UserRegistration is used when you want new users to individually register with Foswiki by filling out a form
• You can create a custom versions of NewUserTemplate and UserForm
• BulkRegistration is used by administrators to register multiple users at the same time

Change, Reset and Install Passwords

Note that the below features are only relevant when you use an internal password manager where Foswiki can set and reset passwords.

• ChangePassword is for users who can remember their password and want to change it
• ResetPassword is for users who cannot remember their password; a system generated password is e-mailed to them
• BulkResetPassword is for administrators who want to reset many passwords at once
• ChangeEmailAddress changes the hidden email address stored in the password file

Changing User Account Names

To change the user's WikiName:

• Rename the user's Foswiki homepage in the Main web, such as from JaneSmith to JaneMiller.
  • Fix backlinks in the Main web only
  • Make sure the group topics are updated (if any.)
• Edit the Main.WikiUsers topic and move the user's entry so that the list is in proper alphabetical order.
• Recreate the old topic with a pointer to the new topic, so that links in other webs work properly. Example content:
  %M% Jane Smith is now known as JaneMiller

If external authentication is used and you want to change the login name:

• The login name needs to be changed in the authentication server (e.g. Active Directory)
• In Foswiki's Main.WikiUsers topic, fix the mapping from login name to WikiName:
     * JaneSmith - jsmith - 13 Sep 2006
  to:
     * JaneMiller - jmiller - 13 Sep 2006

Removing User Accounts

To remove a user account (FredQuimby, who logs in as "fred"):

1. If you are using a .htpasswd file, edit the .htpasswd file to delete the line starting fred:
   • Warning: Do not use the Apache htpasswd program with .htpasswd files generated by Foswiki! htpasswd wipes out email addresses that Foswiki plants in the info fields of this file.
2. Remove the FredQuimby - fred line from the Main.WikiUsers topic
3. Remove FredQuimby from all groups and from all the ALLOWWEB/ALLOWTOPIC... declarations, if any.
   Note: If you fail to do this you risk creating a security hole, as the next user to register with the wikiname FredQuimby will inherit the old FredQuimby's permissions.
4. [optional] Delete their user topic Main.FredQuimby (including attachments, if any.)

Note: Consider leaving the user topic file in place so their past signatures and revision author entries don't end up looking like AnUncreatedTopic?. If you want to make it clear the user is no longer around, replace the topic content with a note to that effect. The existence of the UserName topic should also prevent that user name from being re-used, sealing the potential security hole regarding inherited permissions..

Customizing registration Emails.

1. User registration confirmation - templates/registerconfirm.tmpl
2. User registration notification - templates/registernotify.tmpl
3. Email to notify the Wiki admin of registration - templates/registernotifyadmin.tmpl

As these are SkinTemplates, they can be customized and selected using the SKIN path setting. Because there are default tmpl files in the templates dir, this cannot use Template topics.

These template files have a specific format that matches the raw format of emails sent via SMTP, so be careful and test your changes. It is easiest to start by copying the default templates:

cd templates
cp registernotify.tmpl registernotify.myskin.tmpl
cp registerconfirm.tmpl registerconfirm.myskin.tmpl
cp registernotifyadmin.tmpl registernotifyadmin.myskin.tmpl

From this point on, your myskin templates will be used for the registration emails.

To make it possible for WikiUsers? to modify the email contents, you could use a parameterized %INCLUDE% statement in your customized version. eg:

From: %WIKIWEBMASTERNAME% <%WIKIWEBMASTER%>
To: %FIRSTLASTNAME% <%EMAILADDRESS%>
Subject: %MAKETEXT{"[_1] - Registration for [_2] ([_3])" args="%WIKITOOLNAME%, %WIKINAME%, %EMAILADDRESS%"}%
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=%CHARSET%
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

%INCLUDE{
    "%USERSWEB%.RegisterNotifyEmail"
    WIKINAME="%WIKINAME%"
    FIRSTLASTNAME="%FIRSTLASTNAME%"
    EMAILADDRESS="%EMAILADDRESS%"
}%

• note the use of %WIKINAME%, %FIRSTLASTNAME%, %EMAILADDRESS% passed in from the INCLUDE so that the topic below is similar to the original template

and then create a topic Main.RegisterNotifyEmail:

Welcome to %WIKITOOLNAME%.

%MAKETEXT{"Your personal [_1] topic is located at [_2]. You can customize it as you like:" args="%WIKITOOLNAME%, %SCRIPTURL{"view"}%/%USERSWEB%/%WIKINAME%"}%

   * %MAKETEXT{"Some people turn it into a personal portal with favorite links, what they work on, what help they'd like, etc."}%
   * %MAKETEXT{"Some add schedule information and vacation notice."}%

Regards
%WIKIWEBMASTERNAME%
Your Wiki Admin


%MAKETEXT{"Note:"}%
   2 %MAKETEXT{"You can change your password at via [_1]" args="%SCRIPTURL{"view"}%/%SYSTEMWEB%/ChangePassword"}%
   3 %MAKETEXT{"If you haven't set a password yet or you want to reset it, go to: [_1]" args="%SCRIPTURL{"view"}%/%SYSTEMWEB%/ResetPassword"}%

%MAKETEXT{"Submitted content:"}%
%FORMDATA%

• remember to secure the topic appropriately to prevent attackers from getting emailed sensitive passwords.