[Opensim-dev] RFC: Ways of creating profiles for creators who will never log in

[Diva Canto]

Whatever you decided to do (option 3 seems the cleanest), this will 
probably also be used in the Hypergrid, to keep track of foreign users. 
I need that! :-)

Justin Clark-Casey wrote:
> 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?
>
>