We're building T100070: Allow CheckUsers to set User agent (UA)-based IP Blocks and there is a strong use case to allow CheckUsers to provide regular expressions in the User Agent field.
Description
Description
| Status | Subtype | Assigned | Task | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolved | • TBolliger | T120734 Epic ⚡️ Improve MediaWiki's blocking tools | |||
| Declined | None | T190889 Add regex functionality to User Agent + IP blocks | |||
| Open | None | T100070 Allow CheckUsers to set User agent (UA)-based IP Blocks |
Event Timeline
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FWIW, I have serious doubts about the use case here. The only rationale I could see for regex based UA blocking is to block someone who uses a browser that regularly auto-updates (The version number changes, reset of UA stays the same). If they are doing that, then they are almost certainly using a popular browser, and blocking based on user-agent is going to have massive collateral damage.
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As user agent based blocking is only allowed in combination with ip r(ange) blocking, the collateral damage shouldn't be really large.
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👍
My only concern is that regex isn't very user fridley/forgiving. I suppose we could at least have some sort of client-side syntax checker.
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Cleaning our backlog of indefinitely unprioritized projects.
Should solve T100070 before re-opening or reconsidering.