Users confused by incorrect MySQL password help string

When my users click on their "Edit Databases: Password" option, they see the following message:

"This form can be used to change the primary database passwords for this virtual server. By default they are kept the same as the server's administration password."

But, during Virtualmin setup, I chose secure password hashing to ensure that no password syncing takes place.

This incorrect message is therefore confusing to users and leads them to believe that their administrator password is their MySQL password, when it isn't.

Here is my temporary fix:

sed -i "s/ By default they are kept the same as the server's administration password.//" /usr/libexec/webmin/virtual-server/lang/en

The permanent fix is one of the following:

  • Delete the string entirely. It's not needed, even for beginners, because there's a very clear "Show..." password reveal button on the same exact page.
  • Split the localization into two strings and only display the "By default they are kept the same..." part if that option is actually active in Virtualmin.

Investigating the language file I discovered that the same issue affects the "Keep MySQL username in sync with admin username" option:

databases_desc2=This form can be used to change the names of the database logins for this virtual server. By default they are kept the same as the server's administration login.

databases_desc3=This form can be used to change the primary database passwords for this virtual server. By default they are kept the same as the server's administration password.

Something has to be done to avoid confusing users. Getting rid of both of the "By default..." text chunks and relying on users to see the very visible "Show... [Password]" button is definitely the simplest solution. There is nothing else on the page, so the "Show..." button really can't be missed.

Status: 
Closed (fixed)

Comments

Thanks for pointing this out - I will fix this in the next release.

Thanks, always good to help make things clearer for end-users. :)

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.