OpenID

Caution

This plugin has not been maintained for many years and is not recommended for use. It is provided here for historical reference only. If you are still interested in using your personal domain to login, take a look at https://wordpress.org/plugins/indieauth/.

Contributors: willnorris, factoryjoe, pfefferle
Tags: openid, authentication, login, comments
Requires at least: 2.8
Tested up to: 6.0
Stable tag: 3.6.1
Requires PHP: 5.6
License: Apache-2.0
License URI: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Allows WordPress to provide and consumer OpenIDs for authentication of users and comments.

Description

OpenID is an open standard that allows users to authenticate to websites without having to create a new password. This plugin allows users to login to their local WordPress account using an OpenID, as well as enabling commenters to leave authenticated comments with OpenID. The plugin also includes an OpenID provider, enabling users to login to OpenID-enabled sites using their own personal WordPress account. XRDS-Simple is required for the OpenID Provider and some features of the OpenID Consumer.

Developer documentation, which includes all of the public methods and hooks for integrating with and extending the plugin, can be found here.

Installation

This plugin follows the standard WordPress installation method:

1. Upload the openid folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Configure the plugin through the 'OpenID' section of the 'Options' menu

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I get blank screens when I activate the plugin?

In some cases the plugin may have problems if not enough memory has been allocated to PHP. Try ensuring that the PHP memory_limit is at least 8MB (limits of 64MB are not uncommon).

Why don't https OpenIDs work?

SSL certificate problems creep up when working with some OpenID providers (namely MyOpenID). This is typically due to an outdated CA cert bundle being used by libcurl. An explanation of the problem and a couple of solutions can be found here.

Why do I get the error "Invalid openid.mode ''"?

There are actually a couple of reasons that can cause this, but it seems one of the more common causes is a conflict with certain mod_security rules. See this blog post for instructions on how to resolve this issue.

How do I use SSL for OpenID transactions?

First, be aware that this only works in WordPress 2.6 and up. Make sure you've turned on SSL in WordPress by defining either of the following globals as "true" in your wp-config.php file:

• FORCE_SSL_LOGIN
• FORCE_SSL_ADMIN

Then, also define the following global as "true" in your wp-config.php file:

• OPENID_SSL

Be aware that you will almost certainly have trouble with this if you are not using a certificate purchased from a well-known certificate authority.

How do I get help if I have a problem?

Please direct support questions to the "Plugins and Hacks" section of the WordPress.org Support Forum. Just make sure and include the tag 'openid' so that I'll see your post. Additionally, you can file a bug report at http://code.google.com/p/diso/issues/list.

Screenshots

1. Commentors can use their OpenID when leaving a comment
2. Users can login with their OpenID in place of a traditional username and password
3. Users authorized to use the OpenID Provider can delegate to a different provider
4. Users can add additional OpenIDs which they can use to login to WordPress
5. Users authorized to use the OpenID Provider can monitor which sites they've logged in to

Changelog

Project maintined on github at diso/wordpress-openid.

version 3.6.1 (June 2022)

• fixed PHP 8 issue (props to mscherer)
• updated code to match the WordPress Coding Standard

version 3.6.0 (Mai 2022)

• fixed issue with ActivityPub plugin
• updated to latest OpenID library
• added CI/CD toolings

version 3.5.0 (Feb 12, 2019)

• fixed PHP warnings and deprecation messages

version 3.4.4 (Jan 12, 2018)

• fixed bug with latest OpenID library

version 3.4.3 (Jan 12, 2018)

• update to latest OpenID library

version 3.4.2 (Nov 20, 2016)

• update to latest OpenID library
• fixed error response if nonce doesn't match #46

version 3.4.1 (Jan 31, 2016)

• update to latest OpenID library. Full changelog on github.
• fix comment bug https://wordpress.org/support/topic/false-error-please-fill-the-required-fields-name-email-commenting?replies=5
• fix XRDS-simple bug diso/wordpress-xrds-simple#4

version 3.4.0 (Jul 22, 2015)

• update to latest OpenID library (includes lots of bug fixes, particularly with PHP 5.3). Full changelog on github.
• fixed various PHP warnings/errors.
• various improvements and bugfixes (props @rodrigoprimo).
• attempt to use email as username before url for open id new user (props @yincrash).
• chinese and german (props Stephan Richter) translations.
• added WebFinger support

Full changelog on github.

version 3.3.4 (Nov 16, 2012)

• update to latest OpenID library (includes lots of bug fixes, particularly with PHP 5.3). Full changelog on github.
• various bug fixes. Full changelog on github.

version 3.3.3 (Aug 24, 2010)

• add/update danish, japanese, and spanish translations
• update to latest version of php-openid library
• fix a few PHP and WordPress warnings and notices

version 3.3.2 (Nov 06, 2009)

• add localizations for czech, danish, french, spanish, and vietnamese. Some are more up to date than others. More are welcome, see http://code.google.com/p/diso/issues/detail?id=26
• remove stylesheet for recent comments widget, since it breaks the style for OpenID comments
• various fixes with administration panels

version 3.3.1 (Sep 28, 2009)

• tiny bug in get_user_openids causing it to always return empty array

version 3.3 (Sep 28, 2009)

• minimum required version has been bumped to WordPress 2.8
• fix support for WordPress MU
• new, less obtrusive UI for comment form. Should also work with all themes in some form (with or without js).
• many administrative options have been moved to their respective locations on core WordPress Settings pages
• drop support for experimental EAUT and IDIB protocols
• drop support for installing the plugin in mu-plugins folder
• always include 'index.php' on OpenID endpoint URLs. Without that, some deployments were having problems.
• fix bug relating to trackbacks and pingbacks
• fix bug (#121) relating to unregistered options (props tom.tdw for the patch)
• lots of minor bug fixes

version 3.2.3 (Jul 20, 2009)

• fix XSS vulnerability. (props Stuart Metcalfe)

version 3.2.2 (Mar 19, 2009)

• fix problems when using non-index.php permalinks with non-apache web servers
• ensure that show_on_front option is not empty
• function name typo (props gunemalli)
• fix deprecated pass-by-reference call in php-openid library (props jschuur)
• fix UI bug on registration form with IE browsers (props oledole)
• UI tweaks to better match WP 2.7
• update a few strings for localization and POT file

version 3.2.1 (Feb 13, 2009)

• patch php-openid library to fix XRDS handling (thanks Mike Jones for helping find this)
• add default values for some openid vars -- necessary for OP-initiated login
• fix bug with OpenID server where OpenID request was sometimes lost
• add filter for openid_trust_root

version 3.2 (Jan 20, 2009)

• add uninstall hook for WordPress 2.7 -- this will remove all traces of the plugin from the database
• UI fixes for WordPress 2.7
• add settings link to plugins page
• silence XML parsing errors with PHP4
• ensure wp_scripts is set
• ensure openid comment processing occurs after akismet
• add ellipses to truncated OpenIDs (fixes #94)
• fix bug where Yahoo! OpenIDs weren't matching profile URL (fixes #98)
• don't return empty SREG values
• Add support for consuming Attribute Exchange
• use a single return_to URL for all OpenID actions
• cleaner OpenID service URLs when permalinks configured to do so (all path, no query string)
• fixed issue where OpenID Server would sometimes break depending on a users permalink structure (fixed #101)
• fixed issue where OpenID consumer would sometimes break if mod_encoding was enabled in Apache (used for WebDAV) (fixed #96)
• don't redirect when performing discovery on OpenID trust root

version 3.1.4 (Nov 04, 2008)

• allow OP extensions to include XRDS Types in login service
• run OpenID comment processor after Akismet, and skip if Akismet marks comment as spam

version 3.1.3 (Oct 27, 2008)

• fix error message if /dev/urandom is not readable

version 3.1.2 (Oct 26, 2008)

• ensure source of randomness is set properly
• prevent duplicate cleanup_openid cron jobs
• prevent SQL errors on activation
• suppress verbose error logging with XML parsing

version 3.1.1 (Oct 20, 2008)

• fix bug with OpenID Provider XRDS code that prevents ability to login to some sites (like plaxo.com)

version 3.1 (Oct 19, 2008)

• added hidden constant to set custom comments post page (OPENID_COMMENTS_POST_PAGE)
• additional option to skip name and email check for OpenID comments
• use preferred username (from SREG) if possible when creating new account
• truncate long URLs when used as display_name for comments
• numerous bug fixes, including bug with registration form

version 3.0 (Oct 02, 2008)

• includes OpenID Provider
• supports OpenID delegation
• add experimental support for Email Address to URL Transformation
• many new hooks for extension and integration
• major code refactoring

version 2.2.2 (Aug 06, 2008)

• fix bug with "unauthorized return_to URL" (only known problem with openid.pl)
• fix bug with comments containing non-latin characters
• respect CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE constant if present (also added CUSTOM_OPENID_IDENTITY_TABLE constant)
• add experimental support for Identity in the Browser

version 2.2.1 (Jul 25, 2008)

• fixed EAUT handling code
• fixed bug that broke comments containing double quotes (")

version 2.2.0 (Jul 23, 2008)

• use POST replay for comments (fixes compatibility with other comment plugins)
• only build openid object when needed (much better memory usage)
• support for Email Address to URL Transformation (see eaut.org)
• fixed bug when using suhosin (hardened php)
• use hooks for gathering user data (more extensible)
• fixed openid spoofing vulnerability (http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/702)
• lots code refactoring and UI cleanup

version 2.1.9 (May 20, 2008)

• fix javascript loading issues
• fix various bugs when creating new account with OpenID
• fix error message, and add new warning prompt when removing last OpenID for account

version 2.1.8 (Apr 02, 2008)

• fix UI issue with wp-login.php page in WP2.5
• fix bug printing supported curl protocols (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/159062)
• fix jquery bug while adding category in WP2.5 (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/164305)

version 2.1.7 (Mar 21, 2008)

• remove php5 dependency bug... AGAIN!
• also remove some other custom changes to php-openid I forgot were in there. This may actually re-introduce some edge-case bugs, but I'd rather expose them so that we can get the appropriate patches pushed upstream if they really are necessary.

version 2.1.6 (Mar 20, 2008)

• update php-openid library to latest. Now properly supports Yahoo's OpenID provider.

version 2.1.5 (Mar 20, 2008)

• add support for wordpress v2.5

version 2.1.4 (Feb 13, 2008)

• fix php5 dependency bug
• improve jQuery code to reduce problems with other js libraries

version 2.1.3 (Feb 06, 2008)

• address security bug mentioned here. Props Sam Alexander

version 2.1.2

• minor typo in profile data code

version 2.1.1

• minor bug where profile data is being overwritten

version 2.1

• added FAQ items for plugin updater and adding an OpenID field to a comment form
• better tracking of which users have OpenIDs linked to their local WP account
• better automatic username generation
• fixed bug where non-OpenID websites had problems (bug 729)
• upgrade to version 2.0 of JanRain OpenID library
• admin option to rebuild tables

version 2.0

• simplified admin interface by using reasonable defaults. Default behaviors include:
• "unobtrusive mode"
• always add openid to wp-login.php
• always use WP option 'home' for the trust root
• new features
• hook for trust engine, with very simple implementation included
• supports OpenID 2.0 (draft 12) as well as OpenID 1.1 and SReg 1.0
• normal collection of bug fixes

version 1.0.1

• added wordpress.org style readme.txt

version 1.0 (also known as r13)

Full SVN logs are available at http://dev.wp-plugins.org/log/openid/.

The original OpenID plugin for WordPress was a collaborative effort between Alan Castonguay and Hans Granqvist.

Will Norris forked the plugin and has since become the maintainer.