nodeSolidServer / nodeSolidServer/node-solid-server

No "Register" button when WebID is disabled

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JavaScript
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Description

This may fall into the category of "it's a feature, not a bug". But here goes...

We're using node-solid-server primarily as an LDP server for some research software we're developing, but are using the directory structure created for a single-user Solid deployment; specifically, the /public directory. Initially, I installed and tested with WebID enabled, performed the initial user registration, had software do the authentication dance, and all was fine.

But other software doesn't do authentication, so we tried setting up a new server with WebID disabled so we could use the basic LDP capabilities. Having done this, we found that there was no "Register" button on the server front page, and without registering a user, some of the directory structures (/public, etc.) appear not be be created.

Our workaround is to start with WebID enabled, perform the initial user registration, then edit the config.json file to disable webID, and this seems to work for us (so far).

This behaviour was slightly surprising for us, and it did take us a little while to figure out what was happening. If this is considered to be the desired behaviour, I'd suggest that a note in the documentation describing how to use the server as a plain LDP platform might be helpful.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the server front page with WebID disabled and compare it with the initial registration flow when WebID is enabled; review config.json and the /public setup described in the report. Done means either registration and required directory creation work with WebID disabled, or the supported plain-LDP behavior and setup are documented.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, nodejs
Domain
authentication, backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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