FAQ

This document is a collection of frequently asked questions about django-user-accounts.

What is the difference between django-user-accounts and django.contrib.auth?

django-user-accounts is designed to supplement django.contrib.auth. This app provides improved views for log in, password reset, log out and adds sign up functionality. We try not to duplicate code when Django provides a good implementation. For example, we did not re-implement password reset, but simply provide an improved view which calls into the secure Django password reset code. django.contrib.auth is still providing many of supporting elements such as User model, default authentication backends, helper functions and authorization.

django-user-accounts takes your Django project from having simple log in, log out and password reset to a full blown account management system that you will end up building anyways.

Why can email addresses get out of sync?

django-user-accounts stores email addresses in two locations. The default User model contains an email field and django-user-accounts provides an EmailAddress model. This latter is provided to support multiple email addresses per user.

If you use a custom user model you can prevent the double storage. This is because you can choose not to do any email address storage.

If you don’t use a custom user model then make sure you take extra precaution. When editing email addresses either in the shell or admin make sure you update in both places. Only the primary email address is stored on the User model.