Extension:UserMerge

MediaWiki extensions manual

UserMerge Release status: stable
Implementation	Special page , User identity
Description	Merges references from one user to another user in the Wiki database - can also delete old users following merge
Author(s)	Tim Laqua Thomas Gries Siebrand Mazeland
Latest version	1.10.1
Compatibility policy	Snapshots releases along with MediaWiki. Master is not backward compatible.
MediaWiki	>= 1.37.0
Database changes	No
License	GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Parameters $wgUserMergeProtectedGroups $wgUserMergeEnableDelete
Added rights usermerge
Hooks used UserGetReservedNames
Hooks provided UserMergeAccountFields MergeAccountFromTo UserMergeAccountDeleteTables DeleteAccount
Translate the UserMerge extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Vagrant role	usermerge
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

The UserMerge extension allows wiki users with the usermerge permission (Bureaucrat by default) to merge one Wiki user's account with another Wiki user's account.

Features

• merge (refer contributions, texts, watchlists, edit count of a first account A to a second account B)
• delete the first account A after the merge (option box)

Limitations

• you cannot delete a user A without having merged the user A to B
• you cannot merge your own account (logged-in user) into a different user

Notes

• if you omit the "New User" field, then the extension auto-populates the New User as "Anonymous" (user_id 0), and ask you to confirm a merge to Anonymous. This is used for user deletion: you first empty (merge to user 0) contributions of a user A, and then delete the user A.
  • If your version of the extension complains about an empty "New User" field you can fill in  "Anonymous"
• the extension creates a User Merge log and logs all User Merge extension activity.

Installation

• Download and place the file(s) in a directory called UserMerge in your extensions/ folder.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php :

  wfLoadExtension( 'UserMerge' );
  // By default nobody can use this function, enable for bureaucrat?
  $wgGroupPermissions['bureaucrat']['usermerge'] = true;
  
  // To enable for administrators add this:
  $wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['usermerge'] = true;
  
  // optional: default is [ 'sysop' ]
  $wgUserMergeProtectedGroups = [ 'groupname' ];
  

•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Vagrant installation:

• If using Vagrant , install with vagrant roles enable usermerge --provision

Usage

• follow Installation Instructions
• a new Special Page Special:UserMerge with the title Merge and Delete Users is created
• unmergeable users can be defined (examples):

# Allow all users to be merged (by default, the 'sysop' group is unmergeable)
$wgUserMergeProtectedGroups = [];

# Disallow merging of the users in the 'sysop' or 'awesomeusers' groups
$wgUserMergeProtectedGroups = [ 'sysop', 'awesomeusers' ];

You can use Help:RevisionDelete feature of MediaWiki to replace the UserMerge logs information with neutral information.

Active RevisionDelete in "LocalSettings.php" file with:

$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['deletelogentry'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['deleterevision'] = true;

Then, from Special:Log/usermerge, you can check and disable the logs content resulting from modifications made by UserMerge with simple check box.

A better approach would be to use the "CleanMediawiki.sh" script for delete massive spam user and all logs.

See also

• hideuser right - Allows to "hide" users from various lists when indefinitely blocking them
• phab:T8397 - Flag to mark accounts locked/hidden (aka remove/delete user)