(I would love to not need to use the web form when creating accounts for
my users, as browsers detect name and password fields and try to help
you fill in/remember values.)

In T168205#3404496, @MtDu wrote:

Not sure where I need to insert the reason itself in the maintenance script, ideas @Reedy?

Add an option in the constructor

Get the option into a variable in execute

Unfortunately, the promotion is then just done with array_map( [ $user, 'addGroup' ], $promotions ); which doesn't take a reason

Looking at SpecialUserrights.php and specifically UserrightsPage::addLogEntry... It adds one log entry for all the changes overall

You could steal the code below, but reusing would be more sensible, I think. However, you probably shouldn't just make it static, it's used and overridden in CentralAuth and GlobalUserrights extensions.

Though, making it static... There is https://secure.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.late-static-bindings.php

	/**
	 * Add a rights log entry for an action.
	 * @param User|UserRightsProxy $user
	 * @param array $oldGroups
	 * @param array $newGroups
	 * @param array $reason
	 * @param array $tags Change tags for the log entry
	 * @param array $oldUGMs Associative array of (group name => UserGroupMembership)
	 * @param array $newUGMs Associative array of (group name => UserGroupMembership)
	 */
	protected function addLogEntry( $user, $oldGroups, $newGroups, $reason, $tags,
		$oldUGMs, $newUGMs
	) {
		// make sure $oldUGMs and $newUGMs are in the same order, and serialise
		// each UGM object to a simplified array
		$oldUGMs = array_map( function ( $group ) use ( $oldUGMs ) {
			return isset( $oldUGMs[$group] ) ?
				self::serialiseUgmForLog( $oldUGMs[$group] ) :
				null;
		}, $oldGroups );
		$newUGMs = array_map( function ( $group ) use ( $newUGMs ) {
			return isset( $newUGMs[$group] ) ?
				self::serialiseUgmForLog( $newUGMs[$group] ) :
				null;
		}, $newGroups );

		$logEntry = new ManualLogEntry( 'rights', 'rights' );
		$logEntry->setPerformer( $this->getUser() );
		$logEntry->setTarget( $user->getUserPage() );
		$logEntry->setComment( $reason );
		$logEntry->setParameters( [
			'4::oldgroups' => $oldGroups,
			'5::newgroups' => $newGroups,
			'oldmetadata' => $oldUGMs,
			'newmetadata' => $newUGMs,
		] );
		$logid = $logEntry->insert();
		if ( count( $tags ) ) {
			$logEntry->setTags( $tags );
		}
		$logEntry->publish( $logid );
	}

So... A better option is looking how the API does userrights changes, and that's using UserrightsPage::doSaveUserGroups

Which does:

	protected function getUserRightsPage() {
		return new UserrightsPage;
	}

		$form = $this->getUserRightsPage();
		$form->setContext( $this->getContext() );
		$r['user'] = $user->getName();
		$r['userid'] = $user->getId();
		list( $r['added'], $r['removed'] ) = $form->doSaveUserGroups(
			$user, (array)$params['add'], (array)$params['remove'],
			$params['reason'], $tags, $groupExpiries
		);

I think the same should go for a --realname option. While for setting an (optional) e-mail address there is resetUserEmail.php, I could not find any other maintenance script to set the (optional) realname. Or did I just overlook something? And if it is not possible so far to add/change the realname of a user via maintenance scripts, would it be better to have a separate script to just do that (like for the resetUserEmail.php case) or should it go into the createAndPromote.php script as an option?

@Reedy Hi, I was looking at this file https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/mediawiki/browse/master/maintenance/createAndPromote.php and I think that I need to add the code, as you mentioned, in execute function on line #60 but I am confused which block of code needs to be used.

Change 876373 had a related patch set uploaded (by OwenR; author: OwenR):

[mediawiki/core@master] Add --reason option to createAndPromote.php

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/876373

Change 876373 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Maintenance: Add --reason option to createAndPromote.php

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/876373

Change 928083 had a related patch set uploaded (by Esanders; author: Esanders):

[mediawiki/core@master] Follow-up I6a02042f: Ensure reason is always a string

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/928083

Change 934591 had a related patch set uploaded (by Urbanecm; author: Urbanecm):

[mediawiki/core@master] createAndPromote: Fix logging of user right changes

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/934591

Change 934591 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] createAndPromote: Fix logging of user right changes

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/934591