Option 3 sounds most logical - I don't like the idea of ghost accounts in the users table, and the option of mixing a standard account with a hollow profile seems wrong too. Splitting into two may be a little more effort, but a logical data layer makes for a more easy to understand and administer backend. The code can handle the magic of profile-only versus regular user accounts if it's done well.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Justin Clark-Casey Sent: 26 March 2009 21:00 To: [email protected] Subject: [Opensim-dev] RFC: Ways of creating profiles for creators who willnever log in Hello, For Inventory Archives I plan to preserve item creator information. When the archive is loaded I would like to recreate these profiles where possible/necessary (grid operators can choose not to allow this and that will be the default, I expect). However, unless an item creator has an account on the OpenSim to which the archive is loaded, they shouldn't be able to login to that instance. So far I've thought of 3 ways to create a profile without automatically allowing login. (1) Create a normal user account but set the password to something random. PROS * Doesn't require any changes to what we have today CONS * Creates user accounts which are never intended to be used for login * No way to distinguish archive created accounts from legitimate accounts ~~~~~ (2) Add a 'ProfileOnly' flag to the Users table PROS * Minimal changes to what we have today * Makes it clear that an entries has been created for its profile only, which can be used as a flag to disallow logins CONS * Creates user accounts where many details will be irrelevant unless item creators then get accounts on the instance. * Complicates administration tasks (e.g. create user). ~~~~~ (3) Separate the current 'users' table into 'userprofiles' and 'users' tables. 'userprofiles' will largely contain all the metadata about a user that you can see in the profile on the Linden Labs Second Life client today (name, about, interests, 1st life, etc.). 'users' will contain the data associated with a particular account (passwordHash, passwordSalt, homeRegion, homeLocationX, etc.) PROS * Makes it possible to create user profiles without creating user accounts. * Makes it possible to have somewhat separate profile and authentication plugins allow mix & match. However, the reuse of avatar name as the login identifier makes things a bit awkward. * Simplifies database understandability - the only people in the 'users' table are those with actual accounts, though on the other hand this does create 2 tables instead of 1. CONS * Short term adjustment pain for systems accessing OpenSim's databases directly * Complicates administration tasks (e.g. create user). ~~~~ I suspect that archiving isn't the only potential use for this functionality. For instance, the Hypergrid may also find it useful to preserve user information when a user rezzes an object on a foreign system. Of the above approaches, I prefer (3) over (2) since it seems to me to be the better long term approach even if there is some short term pain. I'm don't think that (1) is a good option. I've reproduced most of text at http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Creating_profiles_not_used_for_login for reference. Comments? -- justincc Justin Clark-Casey http://justincc.wordpress.com _______________________________________________ Opensim-dev mailing list [email protected] https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.11.22/2015 - Release Date: 03/25/09 18:54:00 _______________________________________________ Opensim-dev mailing list [email protected] https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
