Manual talk:$wgSkipSkins

m:Skins#Ensure users using skipped skins use the default instead

Ensure users using skipped skins use the default instead of any others

(for MediaWiki 1.9.0)

This piece of code ensures that if you have removed a skin, and have specified this in the $wgSkipSkins array in LocalPreferences.php, users who have previously selected the removed skin, will now use $wgDefaultSkin instead. This is an easy way to ensure all of your users are running the same skin, merely put all of the other skins in $wgSkipSkins.

The middle section needs to be inserted into the "normalizeKey( $key )" function in the "includes/Skin.php" file.

        /**
         * Normalize a skin preference value to a form that can be loaded.
         * If a skin can't be found, it will fall back to the configured
         * default (or the old 'Classic' skin if that's broken).
         * @param string $key
         * @return string
         * @static
         */
        static function normalizeKey( $key ) {
                global $wgDefaultSkin, $wgSkipSkins;
                $skinNames = Skin::getSkinNames();
                if( $key == '' ) {
                        // Don't return the default immediately;
                        // in a misconfiguration we need to fall back.
                        $key = $wgDefaultSkin;
                }
 
                if( in_array( $key , $wgSkipSkins ) ) {
                        $key = $wgDefaultSkin;
                }
 
                if( isset( $skinNames[$key] ) ) {
                        return $key;
                }
                // Older versions of the software used a numeric setting
                // in the user preferences.
                $fallback = array(
                        0 => $wgDefaultSkin,
                        1 => 'nostalgia',
                        2 => 'cologneblue' );
                if( isset( $fallback[$key] ) ){
                        $key = $fallback[$key];
                }
                if( isset( $skinNames[$key] ) ) {
                        return $key;
                } else {
                        // The old built-in skin
                        return 'standard';
                }
        }

Hopefully this will be merged with the release version in the future (However I have not submitted it as yet!)

Additionally, the final if-then-else statement appears to default to a specific skin when all else fails. I believe this should try $wgDefaultSkin before using 'standard'. If I were a better man, I would have implemented this whilst I was at it. If enough people want this, they can contact me on the email above, and I will implement it.