110830 - Clarify mysql "user creation" information.

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Bugzilla :: Documentation, defect, P3)

Description

[Christian Reis]

The documentation currently states that a bugs user should be created for
Bugzilla, and then proceeds on to do a grant command. This seems to me not very
intuitive, even though it's the way it works. Perhaps the text could be changed
to clarify the user permissions in mysql?

Comment 1

[Christian Reis]

IRC log:

<kiko> okay, support time: how do I create a user in mysql?

[ Barnboy pastes in GRANT line ]

<kiko> Barnboy: I read that, but I assumed.. 

<kiko> so there is no "user creation" step?

<Barnboy> Nope, just assign privileges in the grant tables.

<kiko> Barnboy: I also have to create a system user "bugs"?

<Barnboy> kiko: NO!

<Barnboy> kiko: you say "bugs@localhost", but it's like telnet -- you just give
a name to mysql, and that is arbitrary.

* kiko finds mysql permissions odd

<Barnboy> kiko: Well, imagine it as its own little operating system, and it
makes more sense.

<Barnboy> kiko: The fact that the "root" user is named "root" is arbitrary.  You
can rename mysql's "root" to "zerbleflug" with no ill effects.

* kiko gets it

<kiko> okay, clarifying this in the docs should help

<Barnboy> kiko: The reason for that is so you can create an arbitrary number of
users for an arbitrary database application, controlling access via grant table
permissions rather than custom-coding your own permissions set.

<Barnboy> kiko: My old boss initially wanted me to do that for Bugzilla users. 
That way you could have read-only users, users with permissions to only alter
certain things.  It didn't work out because grant tables aren't broad enough
(though you can expand them), and not wanting to totally screw up Bugzilla for
upgradaes.

[ Ignore reporter's stupidity for now ]

Comment 2

[Matthew Barnson]

Hey, Kiko, you left off the best part: where you used the word "orthogonal" and
I didn't know what it meant! (and here I thought I had a good vocabulary).

The best way may be for me to include a <note> in the HTML, saying "MySQL user
names are completely unrelated to system user names, and are created in process
of granting that user name rights via the grant tables."

It may help if I make sure and clarify, or italicize, all instances of "user",
since I use that word in several different ways in the documentation.  For
Bugzilla, I can easily identify three types of users:

Bugzilla user
MySQL user
System user

with varying levels of permission I should probably specify as:
Bugzilla Administrator user
MySQL root user
System root user

What should I call the "System 'bugs' user"?  That one has bugged me a long
time, since we overuse the word "bugs", and we have both a system and mysql
"bugs" user.  Icky.

I will also provide definitions of these terms in the glossary for clarity.

Comment 3

[Matthew Tuck [:CodeMachine]]

Orthogonal: Indicating a set of things are at "right angles" to each other.  In
mathematics, a set of vectors at right angles.  In computer science by analogy
to mathematics, a set of concepts which are independent and logical.

Comment 4

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Barnboy changed his email address and opened a new account instead of having the
address changed on his existing one.  Reassigning all docs bugs to his new account.

Comment 5

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

kiko: Can you please tell me if there's any useful information in this bug to go
into the Guide? I don't understand what's going on here...

Gerv

Comment 6

[Christian Reis]

Well, in MySQL there is no actual "user creation" step - what is done is a grant
on a resource (table, index, etc) to a  string that defines a user name. All
access checking is done against the "users" listed in mysql the grant tables.
Furthermore, the "user" doesn't even have to exist in the system user files
(passwd & co).

Some other databases (pgsql, for instance) have a user concept that is a bit
more 'solid': you create users and, based on the users that are created, grant
permissions.

I thought this was a bit unusual when I first installed bugzilla and actually
had to go to IRC to ask about it, so perhaps a paragraph explaining this would do.

Comment 7

[Christian Reis]

Oh, and "orthogonal" relates to the fact that system users and mysql users are
completely independent things. Just so you know :-)

Comment 8

[Matthew Barnson]

Will fix it up in the Guide to make sure people know that user creation is
accomplished by adding an entry to the GRANT table in MySQL.

Nice that we have people new to the whole procedure who can make an old
mysql-head like me realize that adding a row to a table to add a user is not
necessarily an intuitive thing!

Comment 9

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

I've added a few words to the installation section.

Gerv