[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #15001: Duplication and incompatibilities in register_new_user() and wp_insert_user()

[WordPress Trac]

#15001: Duplication and incompatibilities in register_new_user() and
wp_insert_user()
--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  coffee2code   |       Owner:                 
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new            
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Users         |     Version:  3.0.1          
 Severity:  normal        |    Keywords:                 
--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
 As a result of [12778], the commit of a patch that was part of #11644 (the
 MU-merge ticket), `wp_insert_user()` was modified to introduce user
 verification checks.  The addition of these checks also introduced a
 number of duplications and incompatibilities between it and
 `register_new_user()`.  (Bear in mind that `register_new_user()` calls
 `wp_create_user()` which calls `wp_insert_user()`.)

 These issues include:

  * Duplication (both run-time execution and code): both functions perform
 `username_exists()` and `email_exists()` checks.  Ideally, we should only
 perform each check once, and from a single piece of code.
  * Whereas both functions perform `username_exists()` and `email_exists()`
 checks, `register_new_user()` performs more checks (empty_username,
 invalid_username, empty_email, invalid_email).  If the former 2 are being
 checked, all 6 criteria should be checked.
  * `wp_insert_user()` can now return a WP_Error object, but
 `register_new_user()` can't handle it (I reported this in #14290)
  * `register_new_user()` generates a new generic error if
 `wp_create_user()` (via `wp_insert_user()`) returns an error (assuming
 proper patch #14290), rather than passing along the more specific error it
 was told about
 If an error is returned by `wp_create_user()`, `register_new_user()`
 throws a generic 'registerfail' error (`'<strong>ERROR</strong>:
 Couldn&#8217;t register you... please contact the <a
 href="mailto:%s">webmaster</a> !'`).  However, most likely it received a
 more informative WP_Error object.
  * `register_new_user()` allows errors to be suppressed via filters, but
 `wp_insert_user()` does not
 `register_new_user()` has the filter 'registration_errors' which allows
 plugins to suppress any encountered errors.  Having done so,
 `register_new_users()`'s subsequent call to `wp_create_user()` can
 generate an error (of the type already suppressed) which is then un-
 suppressable.  This renders the 'registration_errors' filter useless for
 the username_exists and email_exists errors (and possibly other in the
 future).

 ----

 These different issues may warrant separate tickets, but cumulatively I
 think they point to the need to refactor `register_new_user()` and
 `wp_insert_user()` to be more efficient and compatible.

 This is a rare instance where I don't include an immediate patch for a
 ticket, but I wanted to get it out there and see if we can try and get
 these fixed for 3.1.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/15001>
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