Extension:Realnames

What can this extension do?
Attempts to replace any username links into realname links. This extension differs from other approaches in that it searches the page for links and replaces them, and does not rely on page hooks so should work in many more places. Compatibility with other extensions should also be very strong.

This means it works on:
 * Special:ListUsers
 * old and new Special:RecentChanges
 * Special:Search of the User: space
 * History of page
 * Revisions list of page
 * Revision view of page
 * Revision Compare
 * Page header + html title (limited)
 * and any page where user links are found

While the focus of the extension is for realname display, it can be co-oped to change the display of username links to anything desired (add an image? another class?). This makes it incredibly powerful.

It was developed mainly for Enterprise/Corporate users of MediaWiki where realnames are much more important, and often make much more sense than algorithmically chosen usernames.

While the defaults do a wholesale replacement of usernames with realnames, the extension can easily be configured to append realnames (or display realnames and append usernames). See the configuration options bellow.

Currently there is no way to preserve User: prefixes on links or text.

Download instructions
You can download the extension from github:

You can consult the CHANGELOG for version history.

Installation
To install this extension, add the following to LocalSettings.php:

or before mediawiki 1.25 instead do:

Configuration parameters
For your convenience, we also support Extension:Configure for settings these from within your wiki. See the talk page FAQ for further details.

Testing
It has been tested with:
 * MediaWiki 1.31.1 (LTS), 1.18.0, 1.17.1, 1.16.5, 1.15.5,

Alternative extensions

 * Extension:ShowRealUsernames