[Catalyst] superuser "switch-user" session function?

[Peter Karman]

will at serensoft.com wrote on 07/08/2010 12:27 PM:
> Hmm: Become-user?
> 
> Is there a clean way to provide a means for sys-admins to "become user"
> to track down issues? It's much easier to diagnose when seeing what the
> user's seeing directly, when we look at it through our own eyes -- as
> opposed to relying on vague user-style descriptions ("unrecognized date
> format" vs "doesn't work").


I have implemented this feature in my app. I don't know how "clean" it
is, but my controller looked something like this:

package MyApp::Controller::Admin::Sudo;


use strict;


use warnings;


use Carp;


use Data::Dump qw( dump );


use base qw( Catalyst::Controller );





sub switch_user : Local {


    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;





    my $newusername = $c->req->params->{username};






    if ( !$newusername ) {


        $c->error404;


        return;


    }





    if ( uc( $c->req->method ) ne 'POST' ) {


        $c->error404;


        return;


    }





    if ( exists $c->session->{sudo_switched_from} ) {


        $c->error( "already switched user from "


                . $c->session->{sudo_switched_from} );


        $c->stash( error_msg =>


                'You must restore your original user first.' );

        return;


    }





    my $oldusername = $c->user->id;





    $c->log->info("user $oldusername sudo to user $newusername");





    my $model = $c->model('Account');




    my $groups = $model->get_groups_for( $newusername );


    # logout as current user


    $auth->logout($c);





    # login as newuser


    $auth->login( $c, $newusername, $groups );





    $c->session->{sudo_switched_from} = $oldusername;





    # redirect to user home page


    $c->res->redirect( $c->uri_for('/my') );





}





sub restore_original_user : Local {


    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;





    my $orig_user = $c->session->{sudo_switched_from};





    if ( !$orig_user ) {


        $c->error404;


        return;


    }





    my $current_user = $c->user->id;







    my $model = $c->model('Account');



    my $groups = $model->get_groups_for( $orig_user );

    # logout as current user
    $auth->logout($c);

    # login as original user
    $auth->login( $c, $orig_user, $groups );

    # redirect to myMSI
    $c->res->redirect( $c->uri_for('/my') );

}



-- 
Peter Karman  .  http://peknet.com/  .  peter at peknet.com