[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #14308: wp_insert_user in 3.0 is not backwards compatible

[WordPress Trac]

#14308: wp_insert_user in 3.0 is not backwards compatible
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 Reporter:  ahupp         |       Owner:           
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new      
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  3.1      
Component:  Users         |     Version:  3.0      
 Severity:  normal        |    Keywords:  has-patch
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Comment(by coffee2code):

 Also see the related #14290.

 There I'm fixing a downstream manifestation of this change introduced in
 3.0 (`register_new_user()` in wp-login.php was expecting an int instead of
 a possible WP_Error).

 We have to decide if we want to support the older (int) return value (as
 patched in this ticket) or allow the functions to potentially return
 WP_Error and change things accordingly within core.  As filosofo pointed
 out, it's already out there, so people are likely building stuff with
 `wp_insert_user()` and `wp_create_user()` now possibly returning WP_Error.

 I favor keeping the new behavior and having everything return a WP_Error
 rather than 0 if something is wrong.  This creates consistency with the
 return values between `wp_create_user()`, `wp_insert_user()`, and
 `wp_update_user()`.  We already broke backwards compatibility with the 3.0
 change to `wp_insert_user()` (which I don't believe anyone is suggesting
 should be reverted), so there isn't much more harm in doing the same for
 the other two related functions (as long as we make sure it is properly
 handled throughout the code).

 Bear in mind too that the WP_Error object is passing along the error
 message.  We'll lose (and prevent outside code from recognizing)
 potentially beneficial information by simply swallowing it and returning
 0.

 I fear the consensus may be to break 3.0 compatibility to resume pre-3.0
 compatibility for 2 of the 3 related functions.  In which case some may
 want to roll with something equivalent to:

 {{{
 function is_valid_user( $user ) {
   return ( !is_wp_error( $user ) && $user );
 }
 }}}

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/14308#comment:2>
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