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Draft: Clarify error message when trying to register to an instance with the GitLab.com account

Marcin Sedlak-Jakubowski requested to merge 415478-msj-sign-in-error into master

What does this MR do and why?

WHY

A GitLab instance can allow authenticating with external providers, including Google, Github, or GitLab.com: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/integration/omniauth.html

When these are disabled, there are two UX problems:

  1. You can still see the providers' buttons on the Sign in page.

  2. Clicking GitLab.com results in an error message built from omniauth_callbacks_controller.rb. The repetition of "GitLab" can be confusing to users (example), not knowing which instance it refers to:

    Signing in using your GitLab.com account without a pre-existing GitLab account is not allowed. Create a GitLab account first, and then connect it to your GitLab.com account.

    With other providers, it's clear:

    Signing in using your Github account without a pre-existing GitLab account is not allowed. Create a GitLab account first, and then connect it to your Github account.

MVC 1 from #415478: Edit strings in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/app/controllers/omniauth_callbacks_controller.rb#L199-205 to be clearer in case of using GitLab.com but that also work with other providers:

  • "Signing in using your %{label} account without a pre-existing GitLab account is not allowed."
  • "Create a GitLab account first, and then connect it to your %{label} account."

Mentions in the following docs should also be updated to match:

Screenshots or screen recordings

Screenshots are required for UI changes, and strongly recommended for all other merge requests.

Signing in with GitLab.com:

Before After
image

How to set up and validate locally

Numbered steps to set up and validate the change are strongly suggested.

These are steps that I think should work, according to the documentation, but they don't work for me.

Click to expand

To configure your GDK:

  1. On GitLab.com, create an application. Save the app ID and secret somewhere. For Redirect URI, I used my GDK's address: http://127.0.0.1:3000/, maybe I should have used something else.

  2. In gitlab/config/gitlab.yml, find the omniauth: section (for me, line 622) and configure the following lines like below (docs):

    omniauth:
  allow_single_sign_on: ["gitlab", "github"]

  auto_link_ldap_user: true

  # Locks down those users until they have been cleared by the admin (default: true).
  block_auto_created_users: false

  3. Under providers: (for me, line 673), uncomment the gitlab block, and add your app ID and secret and the scope you assigned it when creating the application:

          - { name: 'gitlab',
          app_id: 'YOUR_APP_ID',
          app_secret: 'YOUR_APP_SECRET',
          args: { scope: 'read_user',
          client_options: { site: "http://127.0.0.1:3000/" } } }

  4. Do something to disable what you did above, but still have the button appear. I don't know what it is, but the GNOME instance did it: https://gitlab.gnome.org/users/sign_up.

  5. Save the file.

  6. In GDK folder, edit or create gdk.yml so it has the overwrite_changes: false setting under gdk:

    gdk:
  overwrite_changes: false

    ⚠ This doesn't work for me and gitlab.yml is reset after the next step 🤔

  7. Reconfigure GDK: gdk reconfigure.

  8. Go to your GDK URL: http://127.0.0.1:3000/ or http://gdk.test:3000.

  9. If you're signed in, sign out.

  10. On the sign in page, select Register.

  11. On the sign-up page, there should now be a GitLab.com icon following the regular sign-in form. Select the icon.

MR acceptance checklist

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Related to #415478

Edited by Marcin Sedlak-Jakubowski

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