Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :)

[MiroTalk]

By default, when entering a room, the username for OIDC-authenticated users is set to their full email address.

If you prefer to display the user's name instead of their email (which is often more appropriate for meetings), update the config.js file by setting the following:

oidc: {
    // ...
    peer_name: {
        force: true,
        email: false, // --> set to false
        name: true, // --> display the user's name from OIDC instead of their email
    },
    // ...
}

Note: Using the full email as a username is not always ideal and, until now, MiroTalk limited it to 30 characters.

This limit has now been increased to 254 characters to fully support long email addresses and 32 chars for username.

[avatar1024]

I've installed another instance of the app on a totally difference server and the issue is there too. The issue is that somehow username = email address and display name = username. But also display name is not even editable when trying to join the room. I think the most natural default behaviour should be display name = full name.

@mirotalk-57bab571 Thank you for you're reply, I've just seen it as I was typing this. Does the change you suggest have to be done in the config.js file or can it be done in the env file? Also is it possible to make the name editable (say for some meeting I might want to add info next to my name, e.g. pronoun, company name, etc.)?

[MiroTalk]

@avatar1024 said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

@mirotalk-57bab571 Thank you for you're reply, I've just seen it as I was typing this. Does the change you suggest have to be done in the config.js file or can it be done in the env file?

Don't worry

These changes must be made in the config.js file.

But also display name is not even editable when trying to join the room.

If you prefer to let users manually enter their username before joining a room—even when OIDC is enabled—set force to false in the oidc.peer_name configuration:

oidc: {
    // ...
    peer_name: {
        force: false, // Allow manual username entry
        email: false,
        name: true,
    },
    // ...
}

This allows users to input their name instead of automatically using the one provided by the OIDC provider.

Remember: You also need to restart the MiroTalk SFU instance for the changes to take effect.

[avatar1024]

@MiroTalk said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

If you prefer to let users manually enter their username before joining a room—even when OIDC is enabled—set force to false in the oidc.peer_name configuration

@mirotalk-57bab571 Snap again! I've just added that question (again) to my previous message which you have magically answered before having even seen it Thank you, all very clear!!

@staff given some changes can only be done through the config.js file, do you think it would make sense to still expose this file in the file manager?

[MiroTalk]

@avatar1024 said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

do you think it would make sense to still expose this file in the file manager?

I recently created MiroTalk Admin, tailored specifically for MiroTalk projects (SFU/P2P/C2C/BRO/WEB).

The Dashboard UI allows you to easily edit both the .env file and the config.js file as needed.

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/miroslavpejic85/mirotalk-admin

[avatar1024]

@MiroTalk Looks great! Actually I had just seen this earlier today in your discord channel! I didn't think it'd come handy that quickly for my use case though

I guess this will have to be packaged somehow so it integrates with the MiroTalk apps on Cloudron?

[MiroTalk]

@avatar1024 said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

Looks great! Actually I had just seen this earlier today in your discord channel! I didn't think it'd come handy that quickly for my use case though

Thank you!

You can also use MiroTalk Admin directly from your local PC by adding your server’s SSH credentials to the .env file.
Then, simply edit the backend/config.index.js file (see the APP_CONFIG section) to configure it for MiroTalk SFU, or other variants.

I've been using it myself for several days to manage and update my demo instances — and so far, it's working great!

[avatar1024]

@MiroTalk said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

I've been using it myself for several days to manage and update my demo instances

Amazing! Just to make sure, do you mean your demo instances also hosted on Cloudron? I'm asking because I fear the apps are more isolated using Cloudron than if installed directly as docker containers. For e.g. we don't easily access the config.index.js file on Cloudron (app packages are read only and get overridden with each updates AFAIK).

Maybe that's one for @staff to look into?

[MiroTalk]

@avatar1024 said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

Amazing! Just to make sure, do you mean your demo instances also hosted on Cloudron?

No, our official live demo is hosted on a Hetzner VPS.

I also have a self-hosted version of Cloudron. From what I can see, using the File Manager, you can edit both the .env and config.js files to tailor the setup to your needs.

[avatar1024]

@MiroTalk said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

From what I can see, using the File Manager, you can edit both the .env and config.js files to tailor the setup to your needs.

You can see the config-lagacy.js because your instance was upgraded from a previous version. The file is there just so you can see your old config and migrate them using the env file, but the config-lagacy.js file itself is not used by the app. On a fresh install of the app this file is not there. Just as a test/try I have manually created a config.js file in that directory and added the lines you mentioned:

oidc: {
    // ...
    peer_name: {
        force: true,
        email: false, // --> set to false
        name: true, // --> display the user's name from OIDC instead of their email
    },
    // ...
}

...but this has no effect.

[MiroTalk]

@avatar1024 said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

You can see the config-lagacy.js because your instance was upgraded from a previous version. The file is there just so you can see your old config and migrate them using the env file, but the config-lagacy.js file itself is not used by the app.

OK, I think I understand the issue now. Cloudron retains the upstream config.js file as the default. To make changes, you're expected to use only the .env file. However, not all configuration options are currently supported there. For instance, setting the displayed username when OIDC is enabled can only be configured in config.js for now.

To address the issue with the OIDC display name, I need to make it configurable via the .env file.

[avatar1024]

@MiroTalk said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

OK, I think I understand the issue now. Cloudron retains the upstream config.js file as the default. To make changes, you're expected to use only the .env file. However, not all configuration options are currently supported there. For instance, setting the displayed username when OIDC is enabled can only be configured in config.js for now.

Exactly!

@MiroTalk said in Email as default username since update to new config set-up is NOT great :

To address the issue with the OIDC display name, I need to make it configurable via the .env file.

If you could that's great. Otherwise perhaps @staff can allow changes to config.js file again. I think they understood that in your new approach to configuration (since MiroTalk SFU 1.8.0), changes by users should only be made via the .env file, and that editing the config.js would never be needed.

[MiroTalk]

Coming in MiroTalk SFU v1.8.57
You’ll be able to configure the OIDC username behavior directly from your .env file. Simply add or update the following entries:

OIDC_FORCE_USERNAME=false
OIDC_EMAIL_AS_USERNAME=false
OIDC_NAME_AS_USERNAME=true

These settings give you full control over how usernames are derived from the OIDC provider, but allowing you to edit before join room.

Cheers,
Miroslav

[avatar1024]

@MiroTalk Amazing, thank you so much for your engagement here and for such a swift fix!

Cheers

Gauthier

[MiroTalk]

@avatar1024 You're very welcome!
I just fixed the typo—see my previous message.

Time to get some sleep now, it's pretty late here
Thanks again for using MiroTalk, and have a great night!

[avatar1024]

@staff Thanks for pushing the update that quickly. In addition (maybe next time you push an update) I would suggest making the suggested changes in the .env file so that by default (i.e. on the fresh install of the package) the OIDC behaviour is to use name instead of email as display name and allow display name editing.

[avatar1024]

Unfortunately something isn't working...

I have made the changes so my env file looks like that (first 5 lines are there by default):

All config options at https://github.com/miroslavpejic85/mirotalksfu/blob/main/.env.template

PRESENTERS=admin@cloudron.local
EMAIL_SEND_TO=admin@cloudron.local
STATS_ENABLED=false

OIDC_FORCE_USERNAME=false
OIDC_EMAIL_AS_USERNAME=false
OIDC_NAME_AS_USERNAME=true

I have restarted the app, cleared browser's cache, but I still have the same behaviour.

Either something in the changes @mirotalk-57bab571 made didn't work, or another thing I noticed is that in Cloudron package the file is called env and not .env. When I rename env to .env and restart the app, a new env file is automatically created, and it still doesn't work. @staff?

[james]

Hello @avatar1024
I am taking a look right now.
The file name /app/data/env is correct. If that file is missing, it will be created again.
Since you moved the file from env to .env the file was missing and got created again.

I am now trying to reproduce your issue with the latest version.

[james]

I can confirm this seems to have no impact.
Added the following lines to /app/data/env

OIDC_FORCE_USERNAME=false
OIDC_EMAIL_AS_USERNAME=false
OIDC_NAME_AS_USERNAME=true

Cloudron writes this to /run/mirotalksfu/env and /run/mirotalksfu/env is symlinked to /app/code/.env.
So everything in that /app/data/env => /run/mirotalksfu/env => /app/code/.env is loaded, otherwise all the other settings would be missing.

But now when checking the /app/code/app/src/config.js I see:

peer_name: {
                force: process.env.OIDC_USERNAME_FORCE !== 'false', // Require identity provider authentication
                email: process.env.OIDC_USERNAME_AS_EMAIL !== 'false', // Request email claim
                name: process.env.OIDC_USERNAME_AS_NAME === 'true', // Don't require full name
            }

So from that I can conclude the env vars should be:

OIDC_USERNAME_FORCE=false
OIDC_USERNAME_AS_EMAIL=false
OIDC_USERNAME_AS_NAME=true

This now had the desired effect.

I assume what @mirotalk-57bab571 wrote https://forum.cloudron.io/post/107999 was simply a typo or first draft of that variable names.

---

Solution

Use the following variables in /app/data/env

OIDC_USERNAME_FORCE=false
OIDC_USERNAME_AS_EMAIL=false
OIDC_USERNAME_AS_NAME=true

[avatar1024]

@james Brilliant, thank you looking into this, for explaining the logic and for finding the fix!

Gauthier