Why is user stored in hex in database in Confluence 5?

[Eli Kim]

In Confluence 4, usernames were stored in plain text. However in Confluence 5, in the database all columns that specify usernames have been changed and appear to have hex characters.

What does the hex characters refer to? How can I retrieve back the username?

[Rodrigo Girardi Adami · Accepted solution]

Hi Eli,

I believe that you are referring to the new feature of changing usernames. What happen is that Confluence now has a new table called "user_mapping". This table will store the usernames and their hex code. When you change a username, it won't change the hex code, since this is what identifies the user, but will just change the username.

You can see the usernames in that table inside the database.

I hope this clarifies: http://blogs.atlassian.com/2013/09/rename-users-in-confluence-satisfying-over-450-customer-votes/

Regards,

Rodrigo