Extension:Realnames

This extension is professionally maintained by the WikiTeq team.

WikiTeq provides official support for MediaWiki LTS releases only. It may work with other MediaWiki releases.

MediaWiki extensions manual

Realnames Release status: beta
Implementation	Parser extension
Description	Displays a user's real name everywhere
Author(s)	ofbeaton
Maintainer(s)	WikiTeq team
Latest version	0.8.0 (2021-06-27)
Compatibility policy	For every MediaWiki release that is a Long Term Support release there is a corresponding branch in the extension.
MediaWiki	1.31 - 1.35, 1.39
PHP	7.0+
Database changes	No
License	BSD 2-clause "Simplified" License
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review Release notes
Parameters $wgRealnamesLinkStyle $wgRealnamesBareStyle $wgRealnamesBlank $wgRealnamesStyles $wgRealnamesReplacements $wgRealnamesSmart $wgRealnamesNamespaces
Hooks used BeforePageDisplay SkinTemplateNavigation::Universal
Quarterly downloads	14 (Ranked 122nd)
Translate the Realnames extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

This Realnames extension attempts to add realname to all username links.

Modifies a page's html content right before display to keep the approach generic and simple. This means it works for most links and does not need special consideration with new hooks. Compatibility with other extensions should 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 is on realname display, it can customized to change the display of username links to anything desired (add an image? another class?). This can be 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 the usual algorithmically chosen usernames.

The default configuration prioritises realnames first with the username in parenthesis. Since usernames are still needed for wiki links, wiki actions, and realnames can sometimes collide; displaying both is recommended. This is optional, see the configuration options bellow.

There is currently no way to preserve User: prefixes on links or text.

Installation

• Download and move the extracted Realnames folder to your extensions/ directory.
  Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/Realnames
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'Realnames' );
  

• Configure as required.
•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Configuration

See AdvancedConfiguration for finer control, including custom styles.

Parameter	Values	Example	Description
$wgRealnamesLinkStyle	"standard"	mw305	Provided for convenience, this is the default MediaWiki behavior
	"append"	mw305 [Martha Stewart]
	"replace"	Martha Stewart
	"reverse"	Martha Stewart [mw305]
	"dash"	mw305 – Martha Stewart
	"dash-reverse"	Martha Stewart – mw305
	"paren-append"	mw305 (Martha Stewart)
	"paren-reverse"	Martha Stewart (mw305)	Default

See also

• Extension:URNames
• Extension:ShowRealUsernames