SID-01960: Password could not be changed Your system may not support ch

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	6.0.0	Perl version:	5.10.1
Category:	CategoryRegistration	Server OS:	Centos 6 64 bit	Last update:	10 years ago

Used backup and restore plugin to copy site from twiki 4.x to newest release. When trying to change password or register for new user, getting error "Password could not be changed Your system may not support changing passwords through TWiki. Check with your TWiki administrator." I AM the administrator, what gives?

-- TWiki Guest - 2014-08-05

Discussion and Answer

Please do not register with obscene names, the TWiki community prefers to address each other with real names as indicated in the registration page.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-08-06

Chad, check this:

• Are the files and directories below the twiki root owned by the webserver user?
• Assuming use use TWiki::Users::HtPasswdUser password manager, does the twiki/data/.htpasswd exist, e.g. copied over from backup?
• Check the {Ldap}{AllowChangePassword} configure setting
• Check the apache error log

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-08-06

Sorry about username, too much coffee & frustration, ha. Yes, all files/directores owned by apache user. Yes, .htpasswd file is there, but does not show original users; however, if viewing UserList, all users show up. I honestly do not see the {Ldap}{AllowChangePassword} configure setting. Apache error log:

[Sun Aug 03 03:27:06 2014] [notice] Apache/2.2.15 (Unix) DAV/2 PHP/5.3.3 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Tue Aug 05 11:47:13 2014] [warn] [client 192.168.12.39] incomplete redirection target of '/twiki/bin/view' for URI '/' modified to 'http://csrtwiki/twiki/bin/view'
[Tue Aug 05 17:22:27 2014] [error] [client 192.168.13.232] [Tue Aug  5 17:22:27 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 3234., referer: http://csrtwiki.csid.corp/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
[Tue Aug 05 17:22:27 2014] [error] [client 192.168.13.232] [Tue Aug  5 17:22:27 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in concatenation (.) or string at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 4209., referer: http://csrtwiki.csid.corp/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
[Tue Aug 05 17:22:27 2014] [error] [client 192.168.13.232] [Tue Aug  5 17:22:27 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in string ne at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 4315., referer: http://csrtwiki.csid.corp/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
[Tue Aug 05 17:22:27 2014] [error] [client 192.168.13.232] [Tue Aug  5 17:22:27 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 3234., referer: http://csrtwiki.csid.corp/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
[Tue Aug 05 17:22:27 2014] [error] [client 192.168.13.232] [Tue Aug  5 17:22:27 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 3234., referer: http://csrtwiki.csid.corp/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
[Tue Aug 05 17:22:27 2014] [error] [client 192.168.13.232] [Tue Aug  5 17:22:27 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 3234., referer: http://csrtwiki.csid.corp/twiki/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

-- Chad Rid - 2014-08-06

Check also {Register}{EnableNewUserRegistration}. Make sure to copy over .htpasswd from the old installation.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-08-06

Yes, {Register}{EnableNewUserRegistration} is checked. Will try copying .htpasswd file from old installation...

-- Chad Rid - 2014-08-06

After copying old .htpasswd file to proper directory, I'm able to register new users, but still cannot change passwords for users due to original error message. I also cannot reset passwords, getting: ERROR Can't send mail using Net::SMTP. Can't connect to 'relay.mail.twtelecom.net' at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki/Net.pm line 659. Too many failures sending mail %PARAM2% %PARAM3% %PARAM4%

-- Chad Rid - 2014-08-07

What kind of {LoginManager}, {UserMappingManager} and {PasswordManager} do you use?

On mail, depending on your mail server you might need to specify a SMTP user name and password.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-08-07

TWiki::LoginManager::TemplateLogin, TWiki::Users::TWikiUserMapping, and TWiki::Users::HtPasswdUser, respectively.

Mail server is public on our ISP network and does not need credentials, I'm sure of that.

-- Chad Rid - 2014-08-08

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

-- Chad Rid - 2014-08-13

So how to clear out old users? When trying to reset passwords, I get "Password reset failed The entry for user <user> was missing in the password system."

-- Chad Rid - 2014-09-02

See TWiki06x01.ManagingUsers#Removing_User_Accounts

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-09-03

Right, I've already done #1 and #2, but no idea where to find the groups, the ALLOWWEB/ALLOWTOPIC... declarations, or user topic(s).

-- Chad Rid - 2014-09-03

These are topics in the Main web.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-09-03

I have the same issue with my brand new installation of twiki6 on CentOS 6.4

I can reset my password, but then I cannot change it with ChangePassword

It says :

Password could not be changed

Your system may not support changing passwords through TWiki. Check with your TWiki administrator.

Do I have to change my password manually in the data/.htpasswd file ?

I have no error in my error.log apache log file

What kind of {LoginManager}, {UserMappingManager} and {PasswordManager} do I use?

TWiki::LoginManager::TemplateLogin, TWiki::Users::TWikiUserMapping, and TWiki::Users::HtPasswdUser, respectively.

-- Etienne Pallier - 2014-10-06

For more information, when I used ResetPassword, It worked (I received an email with the new password and I could login), but I had an error in my error.log apache log file :

[error] [client 195.83.102.52] [Mon Oct 6 15:28:49 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 3234., referer: http://planetowiki.cesr.fr/do/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

-- Etienne Pallier - 2014-10-06

In fact, I just solve this issue by doing this :

I used my old .htpasswd file (from twiki version 4) instead of the new one (twiki6)

I could then login, but was still compelled to change my password (why so much hatred ???)

I changed my password, and it did update it !!!

but doing it, it modified the whole .htpasswd file by adding 2 ending columns ":0:0" to each line, except mine which was with ":0:1412606234"

Is it because I am the admin user ? or because I have a filled user topic ? or because I registered once directly in this twiki6 system (then I used to have a "1" instead of a "0" at the first of the 2 ending columns) ?

-- Etienne Pallier - 2014-10-06

Etienne: The two new fields are for "must change password" flag and for "last password change" date, respectively. See TWiki.EditUserAccount in your installation.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-10-06

Peter, user management is just not working properly. What things need to be done to start over with a new user base? For example, I try to change a password and I get:

TWiki detected an internal error - please check your TWiki logs and webserver logs for more information.

cannot change user passwords using TWiki::BaseUserMapping

-- Chad Rid - 2014-10-08

Hey there,

i'm a bit troubled. It's not possible for me to login in my TWiki installation with registered users. The only account which can be used to login is the internal administrator.

Whenever I try to change the passwords of my test users, TWiki says: TWiki detected an internal error - please check your TWiki logs and webserver logs for more information.

cannot change user passwords using TWiki::BaseUserMapping.

I think the problem is a mail configuration issue because once I installed Net::SMTP and didn't configure it correct. Afterwards I used a script to uninstall Net::SMTP but TWiki still says: Warning: Net::SMTP is installed in this environment, but {SMTP}{MAILHOST} is not defined, so the {MailProgram} will be used..

Any ideas? Thanks in regard

-- Carolin Preuss - 2014-10-16

Chad and Carolin, check the Apache error log. In case you get resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 3234 error, let's debug to find out where the issue is. Add this just before $web =~ s#\.#/#go; (aprox line 3234 if lib/TWiki.pm):

    # START DEBUG
    unless( $web ) {
        my $e = "===> ";
        $e .= $topic if( $topic );
        my $i = 0;
        my @c;
        do {
            @c = caller($i);
            if( $c[0] ) {
                $e .= "\n-- stack $i: " . $c[0] . ', ' . $c[3] . ', line '. $c[2];
            }
            $i++;
        } while( scalar @c );
        print STDERR "$e\n";
    }
    # END DEBUG

Let us know what output you get in the Apache error log.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-10-16

I think that's the point. Before debugging the apache error.log said

resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /var/www/twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 3234

Now when I try starting TWiki in the Browser, the following error occurs:

Software error:

syntax error at .../twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 1803, near "++:" Compilation failed in require at .../twiki/bin/view line 41. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at ..twiki/bin/view line 41.

What could be wrong?

Edit: Just opened my ../bin/configure in the Browser an another error came up:

TWiki module in @INC path

Error: TWiki.pm could not be loaded. The error was:

syntax error at ../twiki/lib/TWiki.pm line 1803, near "++:"
Compilation failed in require at (eval 111) line 2.
 at (eval 111) line 2
   eval 'require TWiki
;' called at .../twiki/lib/TWiki/Configure/Checkers/CGISetup.pm line 135
   TWiki::Configure::Checkers::CGISetup::ui('TWiki::Configure::Checkers::CGISetup=HASH(0x11202f0)') called at .../twiki/bin/configure line 859
   TWiki::_actionConfigure() called at ../twiki/bin/configure line 478

Error: Check path to twiki/lib and check that LocalSite.cfg is present and readable

-- Carolin Preuss - 2014-10-17

What do you have at line 1803 in twiki/lib/TWiki.pm? TWiki-6.0.0' TWiki.pm has my ($epWeb, $epTopic) = normalizeWebTopicName($this, $this->{webName}, $topic);, e.g. no ++. Maybe best to restore the original TWiki.pm and re-add above debug statements.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2014-10-17

Well, it's TWiki 6.0.1 and at line 1603 in TWiki.pm there is

} while (scalar@c );

from the debug statements you suggested.
I included the debug statements in front of the line with $web =~ s#\.#/#go;

Afterwards I restored the original TWiki.pm. I included the debug statements again and the apache2 error log said:

resetpasswd: Exciting eval via next at ../lib/TWiki/Contrib/LdapContrib.pm line 3549., referer: ,,/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 3268 referer: ,,/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in concatenation (.) or string at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 4278 referer: ../bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in string ne (.) or string at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 4384 referer: ../bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 3268 referer: ../bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 3268 referer: ,,/bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in concatenation (.) or string at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 4278 referer: ../bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in string ne (.) or string at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 4384 referer: ../bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword
resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at ../lib/TWiki.pm line 3268 referer: ../bin/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

On line 3549 in LdapContrib.pm there is

$this->writeDebug("no such group") and next unless defined $msg;

-- Carolin Preuss - 2014-10-18

For me "change password" works, but it does not work if the "must change password" is set to 1, it works only if this field is set to 0.

So if you do a "reset password", then you cannot change your password because the field is set to 1.

Can this bug be fixed ?

-- Etienne Pallier - 2014-11-03

Some errors I have in my Apache log file :

[Mon Nov 03 14:53:06 2014] [error] [client 10.10.135.118] [Mon Nov 3 14:53:06 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 3250., referer: http://myserver/do/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

[Mon Nov 03 14:53:06 2014] [error] [client 10.10.135.118] [Mon Nov 3 14:53:06 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in concatenation (.) or string at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 4260., referer: http://myserver/do/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

[Mon Nov 03 14:53:06 2014] [error] [client 10.10.135.118] [Mon Nov 3 14:53:06 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in string ne at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 4366., referer: http://myserver/do/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

[Mon Nov 03 14:53:06 2014] [error] [client 10.10.135.118] [Mon Nov 3 14:53:06 2014] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 3250., referer: http://myserver/do/view/TWiki/ResetPassword

-- Etienne Pallier - 2014-11-03

Experiencing the same error on the latest twiki and CentOS 6.6 x86_64

-- Amal Abdul Majeed - 2014-12-01

I still have the same issue that I've been having since october 2014 (see my comments just above this one)

Any fix available on this topic ?

I recall this issue : * For me "change password" works, but it does not work if the "must change password" field is set to 1 (in the data/.htpasswd file) , it works only if this field is set to 0. So if you do a "reset password", then you cannot change your password because the field is set to 1. *

This is really annoying because all my (about 100) users forget their password from time to time, and they cannot use the "forgot my password" facility because it does not work (because of the mandatory "change password"). Thus they have to ask me to reset their password manually...

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

And for more information, I have these errors in my apache error log :

[Wed Sep 30 10:50:44 2015] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 3250

[Wed Sep 30 10:50:44 2015] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in concatenation (.) or string at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 4260

[Wed Sep 30 10:50:44 2015] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $includingWeb in string ne at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 4366

[Wed Sep 30 10:50:44 2015] resetpasswd: Use of uninitialized value $web in substitution (s///) at /projects/TWIKI/twiki6/twiki/lib//TWiki.pm line 3250

Thank you for helping

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

It is only the "change my password" facility that does not work (twiki 6.0.1, centOS 6.4)

When I login and then ask for the page ChangePassword,

I enter a new password and then click on the button "Change password",

I get to the error page with the message : "Password could not be changed Your system may not support changing passwords through TWiki. Check with your TWiki administrator"

But I have NO error message in my apache error log file...

I have only this in my apache access file :

- - [30/Sep/2015:11:48:44 +0200] "GET /do/view/TWiki/ChangePassword HTTP/1.1" 200 34404 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.10; rv:40.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/40.0"

- - [30/Sep/2015:11:48:46 +0200] "GET /pub/TWiki/AutoSectionsPlugin/AutoSections.js?t=1443606525 HTTP/1.1" 200 12472 "http://my_server_name/do/view/TWiki/ChangePassword" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.10; rv:40.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/40.0"

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

Hello Etienne,

This seems similar to SID-02006 - ResetPassword / ChangePassword causing problem, so let me check whether it is the same issue or just the same symptoms for a different issue:

• Which login manager are you using? TemplateLogin or ApacheLogin ?
  • If you are using ApacheLogin, then you are a victim of Bugs:Item7606. We have yet to figure out whether this bug occurs in TWiki 6.0.1, but not in the current development code
  • If you are using TemplateLogin, check your web server configuration whether it contains a Require valid-user directive. This directive doesn't make sense with TemplateLogin, so you should delete it. This happened to be the solution in SID-2006.

-- Harald Jörg - 2015-09-30

Meanwhile, is there a way I can make this "change password" action optional so that users who reset their passwords can login with the system generated password ?

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

Hello Harlad,

I am using TemplateLogin, but I have no "Require valid-user" directive in my web server configuration.

Here is an excerpt of what I have in the web server config file :

...

<Directory "/path_to_my/twiki/bin">
    AllowOverride None
    Order Allow,Deny
    Allow from all
    Deny from env=blockAccess

    Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
    SetHandler cgi-script

    # Password file for TWiki users
    AuthUserFile /path_to_my/twiki/data/.htpasswd
    AuthName 'Enter your WikiName: (First name and last name, no space, no dots, capitalized, e.g. JohnSmith)'
    AuthType Basic

    # File to return on access control error (e.g. wrong password)
    ErrorDocument 401 /do/view/TWiki/TWikiRegistration
</Directory>

...

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

In fact, this issues is only with my Firefox browser.

If I use Chrome instead, I have no problem changing my password.

At least, we know a little bit more where the problem comes from...

Anyway, I cannot compell my users to use Chrome, and as for me, my favorite browser is still Firefox...

Meanwhile I will try to deactivate this "mandatory change password" behavior.

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

OK, I simply deactivated this "mandatory change password" behavior from my config file (lib/LocalSite.cfg) with this line :

$TWiki::cfg{MustChangePasswordAfterReset} = 0;

Now, when a user resets his password, he can login with the system generated password (sent by email).

Then, he can ALSO change his password with the ChangePassword page, and it works even with Firefox !

So, for me the problem is solved.

It was just a matter of configuration.

I then suggest that you set this configuration as the default one for all future versions of TWIKI.

-- Etienne Pallier - 2015-09-30

Closing this question after more than 30 days of inactivity. Feel free to reopen if needed. Consider engaging one of the TWiki consultants if you need timely help. We invite you to get involved with the community, it is more likely you get community support if you support the open source project!

-- Peter Thoeny - 2015-12-03

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