View source for Help:Setting user rights in MediaWiki

{{h:h|system admin toc}}
== Granting rights to users ==
There is a simple '''interface''' ([[Special:Userrights]]) for granting a specific username 'sysop' status - a user with 'Bureaucrat' status can enter a username into this form to grant 'sysop' status to that user. Older versions of [[MediaWiki]] (prior to 1.5) do not have a general interface for setting the [[user rights]] field of user accounts (use [[Special:Makesysop]] instead).

Assigning accounts status other than 'sysop' (including ''removing'' 'sysop' status) has to be done manually by issuing an SQL query in the database. Usually you'll want to do something like this (if you're using 1.4 or higher, see below):
<pre>
> mysql -u root -p

mysql> use wikidb;

mysql> UPDATE user SET user_rights='bureaucrat,sysop' WHERE user_name='The Username';
</pre>
The "user" in the above text is the user table in the wikidb database.

The user_rights field is actually a comma-separated list; presently four values are recognized by the software:

The Username is the person you want to give sysop rights.

'''Note''' that you probably need to log out and log back in for the rights information to be properly updated.

{{MW 1.4|or older}}
<b>If you are using 1.4:</b> The user_rights field has been removed and the user rights are now located in their own table. The new table is user_rights. It contains two fields; ur_user and ur_rights. This sql query should do the trick.
<pre>
UPDATE user_rights SET ur_rights="bureaucrat,sysop" WHERE ur_user=1;
</pre>
You may need to replace the number 1 with the appropriate user id. 
The user will need to log out and log back in before that user's rights will be in effect.

{{MW 1.5|or later}}
<b>If you are using 1.5:</b> The user rights are in a new table called user_groups with two fields call ug_user and ug_group.  There must be one row inserted for each user right.  You must know the user id number of the user from the "user" table.  This sql query should do the trick.  In the example below substitute 1 with the user ID number from the user table.
<pre>
INSERT INTO user_groups (ug_user, ug_group) VALUES ('1', 'bureaucrat'); 
INSERT INTO user_groups (ug_user, ug_group) VALUES ('1', 'sysop');
</pre>

=== Using phpMyAdmin ===
If you do not have raw access to mySQL, you can update a user's privileges via [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhpMyAdmin phpMyAdmin]. First open phpMyAdmin, and from the left-hand frame, choose your wiki's database from the drop-down box. In the right-hand frame, a page will load listing all of the tables in the DB. At top of that page in the right-hand frame, click on the "SQL" tab. You should now see a text-box. Enter the appropriate query in to the box.

For example, if you are trying to give a user Beaurocrat & Sysop privileges in 1.4, you would enter: 

<pre>
UPDATE user_rights SET ur_rights="bureaucrat,sysop" WHERE ur_user=1;
</pre>

... replacing, of course, the "1" in "ur_user=1" with the user's ID. (You can find this by clicking on the link in the left-hand frame which says "user." Then click the "Browse" tab and find the user's name. The ID will be on the left.) 

Then push "GO". If you ''don't'' see an "error" message, then it worked. The main point to remember is NOT to use things like: 

<pre>
> mysql -u root -p

mysql> use wikidb; 
</pre>

in phpMyAdmin.

==User rights levels==

=== sysop ===

This is the most common privileged user. A user marked as 'sysop' can delete and undelete pages, protect and unprotect pages, block and unblock IPs, issue read-only SQL queries to the database, and use a shortcut revert-to-previous-contributor's-revision feature in contribs. See [[Help:Administration]] for details. (Due to something of a historical accident, users with ''sysop'' status are generally referred to as 'administrators' or 'admins' on the English Wikipedia, and most likely elsewhere.)

=== developer ===

This is largely obsolete and will be removed from future versions of the software.

Developer has special RIGHTS and sees additional features in the Special-Pages (lock / unlock DB) as well in setting User-rights. Only a developer can UN-Set (delete) the Sysop-Rights of an admin.

=== bureaucrat ===

This is a user that is allowed to turn other users into sysops via the aforementioned [[Special:Userrights]] page.

=== bot ===

A registered bot account. Edits by an account with this set will not appear by default in Recentchanges; this is intended for mass imports of data without flooding human edits from view. (Add ''&hidebots=0'' to list changes by bots e.g. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Recentchanges&hidebots=0 like this])

See the category [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_vandalism Wikipedia Vandalism] on main wikipedia.

== Revoking user's privileges ==

In its current development stage, MediaWiki has a web-based interface to create users and make sysops and bureaucrats, but it has no interface for revoking privileges.

Currently, the only way to downgrade user's privileges is through SQL:
<pre>
update user set user_rights='' where user_name='yourusername';
</pre>

Version 1.4 Mediawiki:
<pre>
UPDATE user_rights SET ur_rights="" WHERE ur_user=1;
</pre>

or using Program '''phpMyAdmin''' read a textfile into the "TINYBLOB" ur_rights of table user_rights that contains the proper user-entries "sysop,bureaucrat,developer"

--[[User:HeliR|HeliR]] 12:01, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

== Configuring access restrictions to your wiki ==

Also see [[Preventing Access]]

Also see [[MediaWiki_FAQ#How do I force anonymous users to login, but not create accounts, nor see any other pages?|Restrict View-Edit-Register -but- Keep Login]]


For MediaWiki version 1.4 and prior, you can customise user restrictions by placing some or all of the commands below into <code>LocalSettings.php</code>; be sure to place them *below* the following statement:
  # this must be above all of your custom changes!
  require_once( "includes/DefaultSettings.php" );

 # Specify who can edit: true means only logged in users may edit pages
 $wgWhitelistEdit = true;
 
 # Pages anonymous (not-logged-in) users may see
 $wgWhitelistRead = array ("Main Page", "Special:Userlogin", "Wikipedia:Help");
 
 # Specify who may create new accounts: 0 means no, 1 means yes
 $wgWhitelistAccount = array ( 'user' => 0, 'sysop' => 1, 'developer' => 1 );

If new account creation is limited to sysops only, it must be performed by first logging in as a sysop user, and then visiting the <code>Special:Userlogin</code> page. You may manually enter the address <code><nowiki>http://<YOUR_WIKI_SERVER_ROOT_HERE>/index.php/Special:Userlogin</nowiki></code> into the address bar, or by clicking '''Special pages''' link in the '''toolbox''' menu, then click '''Create an account or log in''' (the first item available).
Warning: Mediawikis in other languages must change the whitelist pagenames. e.g. German: "Spezial:Userlogin" instead of "Special:Userlogin".

If you set <tt>$wgWhitelistEdit = true</tt> in LocalSettings.php, you may also want to set

 $wgShowIPinHeader = false; # For non-logged in users

This removes the link to the talk page in the header for non-logged in users. You may also want to change the contents of your wiki's [[MediaWiki:Userlogin]] page from '''Create an account or log in''' to '''Log in'''.

''For version 1.5 and above, see the [[Help:User rights]] page for instructions on configuring access rights.''

=== Other configuration options ===
This might be useful for cases where editing (or even read access) should be performed by only a select group.  MediaWiki can be a useful group collaboration tool on small as well as large scales.

When creating the whitelist, don't forget to add the stylesheet pages, for example "MediaWiki:Monobook.css" and "MediaWiki:Monobook.js". Also add "-" for the default style.

 $wgSysopUserBans    = false;      # Allow sysops to ban logged-in users
 $wgSysopRangeBans   = false;      # Allow sysops to ban IP ranges

== Related pages ==
*[[Status]]
*[[Help:User levels]] (a new user rights system implemented in MediaWiki 1.5)
*A patch to enable [[Page access restriction with MediaWiki]]
*[[Hidden pages]]
*[[Access Restrictions]]