Manual:User rights (older versions)

This page describes user rights assignment and the use of $wgGroupPermissions, $wgAddGroups, $wgRemoveGroups and Special:Userrights.

See Manual:User rights for user rights and user groups in general.

Default
The default setting is:

This means that a user in the 'bureaucrat' group can add/remove any group, using Special:Userrights.

Managing user rights of certain groups
This can be set using $wgAddGroups and $wgRemoveGroups. Introduced in 1.11, and behaviour changed in 1.12. For earlier versions you will need to use an extension.

1.11
Here are some examples, assuming you haven't changed anything yet (so bureaucrat has still his default 'userrights' right).


 * Example: If a group (bureaucrat in this case) can remove any group. Bureaucrat can't add any groups.


 * Example: If a group (bureaucrat in this case) can add only some groups (sysop and bot groups in this case). Bureaucrat can't remove any groups.

Set the following in your LocalSettings.php file: This is for sysops. A bureaucrat has the 'userrights' right by default, so you don't need to set this unless you changed it in your LocalSettings.php.
 * Example: You want a sysop to be able to add/remove the bot group, and a bureaucrat be able to add/remove all groups.

1.12
Here are some examples, assuming you haven't changed anything yet (so bureaucrat has still his default 'userrights' right).


 * Example: If a group (bureaucrat in this case) can remove any right. Bureaucrat can't add any groups.


 * Example: If a group (bureaucrat in this case) can add only some groups (sysop and bot groups in this case). Bureaucrat can't remove any group.

Set the following in your LocalSettings.php file:
 * Example: You want a sysop to be able to add/remove the bot group, and a bureaucrat be able to add/remove all groups.
 * This is for sysops. A bureaucrat has the 'userrights' right by default, so you don't need to set this unless you changed it in your LocalSettings.php.

Managing user rights of users on foreign wikis
This can be set using the right "userrights-interwiki", for example:

All wikis you want to manage should be added to $wgLocalDatabases. You can add this setting to LocalSettings.php (e.g. )

In pre-1.12 versions you have to use Extension:Makesysop.

Extensions
There are various extensions for user rights management. See Category:User rights extensions for a full list of them. Below are alternative ways described using core instead of extensions.

GiveRollback
Alternative ways for 1.11 and 1.12. Note that the actions are now logged in Special:Log/rights, not in Special:Log/gvrollback.

Do not forget to replace 'other groups' by the groups a bureaucrat should be able to add/remove, e.g. 'sysop'!
 * Alternative way for the GiveRollback extension, for version 1.11 only.

Do not forget to replace 'other groups' by the groups a bureaucrat should be able to add/remove, e.g. 'sysop'!
 * Alternative way for the GiveRollback extension, for version 1.12 only.

MakeBot
Alternative ways for 1.11 and 1.12. Note that the actions are now logged in Special:Log/rights, not in Special:Log/makebot.

Do not forget to replace 'other groups' by the groups a bureaucrat should be able to add/remove, e.g. 'sysop'!
 * Alternative way for the MakeBot extension, for version 1.11 only.

Do not forget to replace 'other groups' by the groups a bureaucrat should be able to add/remove, e.g. 'sysop'!
 * Alternative way for the MakeBot extension, for version 1.12 only.

Wikimedia
The Wikimedia sites use a different user rights assignment scheme.


 * Bureaucrats can't access the whole Special:Userrights anymore, they can add the groups 'bot', 'sysop' and 'bureaucrat', and they can only remove 'bot'. Bureaucrats can access Special:Makesysop and Special:Makebot. Before 28 December 2007 (see bug 11645), they could only acess those special pages, and not the part of Special:Userrights.


 * Stewards can access the whole Special:Userrights on Meta-Wiki and can remove and add all groups, including extra, optional groups of extensions such as 'checkuser', 'import' etc.