Matrix-appservice-irc: Automatically rename users when the config displayname format changes

[cremesk]

hello,

i would like to rename my exits virtual matrix users (the displayname).
currently these are called "$NICK (IRC)". I would prefer "$NICK" though.

Is it possible and if so how can I do it?

in the config I can change it here.
https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-appservice-irc/blob/develop/config.sample.yaml#L300
this only applies to new virtual users. the existing users are still called "$NICK (IRC)"

many Thanks!

[Half-Shot]

This currently isn't done automagically, although it could be in the future.

[tohojo]

In the meantime, is there a way to perform this update manually? Can I just update the displayName property in the matrix_users table in the database? Or is it better to clear out the content of that table? Or will neither of those work?

[Half-Shot]

Those won't work. You'll need to script something to update each user by iterating over what's the in the DB and doing a profile update request to synapse.

[tohojo]

Will Hunt [e-mail] writes:

Those won't work. You'll need to script something to update each user
by iterating over what's the in the DB and doing a profile update
request to synapse.

Right, thought that might be the case. OK, so if I just rename the users
on Synapse will the bridge automatically update the database, or do I
need to update the DB manually as well?

[tohojo]

OK, got that to work. In case anyone else wants to do something similar, this is the Python script I used (to just reset everyone's display name to their IRC nick):

import requests
import sys
from urllib.parse import quote

TOKEN="<bridge as token>"
BRIDGE_HOST="<bridge hostname>"

def set_displayname(username):
    try:
        user, host = username.split(":")
        prefix, suffix = user.split("_", 1)
    except ValueError:
        print(f"Skipping {username}")
        return

    resp = requests.put(f"https://{BRIDGE_HOST}/_matrix/client/r0/profile/{quote(username)}/displayname?user_id={quote(username)}",
                        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"},
                        json={"displayname": suffix})
    if resp.ok:
        print(f"Set {username} displayname to {suffix}")
    else:
        print(f"Error setting displayname for {username}: {resp.json()['error']}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    for u in sys.argv[1:]:
        set_displayname(u)

To use, just run with the user names (Matrix IDs) of the users to reset. I got a list of those by issuing psql matrix_irc -c 'select user_id from matrix_users' > /tmp/userlist.txt - clean up the file (remove the header and the count at the bottom) and run the script with xargs python reset-matrix-users.py < userlist.txt

[expipiplus1]

Thanks for the excellent workaround, @tohojo!

Is there any danger to leaving display_name unmodified in the database?

[tohojo]

Joe Hermaszewski @.*> writes:

Thanks for the excellent workaround, @tohojo!

You're welcome!

Is there any danger to leaving display_name unmodified in the database?

None that I have noticed...