Author: bugzilla

Description:
The proposed enhancement:

• does not disrupt the stock MediaWiki
• allows for extensions to handle rights management at a more granular level.

Proposed change to User.php:

<source lang=php>
function isAllowed($action='', $ns = null /*optional*/, $title = null /* optional */ )

{
        if ( $action === '' )
                // In the spirit of DWIM
                return true;
 
        // CHANGE begin{{
        $result = null;
        wfRunHooks('UserIsAllowed', array( &$this, $ns, $title, &$action, &$result ) );
        if ( $result !== null )
                return $result;
        // CHANGE end }}
 
        return in_array( $action, $this->getRights() );
}

</source>

Of course it does not address the policing issues of the whole MediaWiki platform but updating this method could open up the path to enhancements to the rights management sub-system i.e. do it piece-by-piece maybe? I know I have seen discussion around 'using more' the 'Title::userCan' method but, in retrospect, after delving for many hours in the bowels of MW, I now could argue 'more intelligently' that this wouldn't be, IMO, a course of action I would follow; e.g. there are 'title/namespace' level rights and there are 'title independent' rights to manage here.

Version: 1.11.x
Severity: enhancement