Disable admin email check for VIP Support users

[WPprodigy]

Problem

When we login to sites with our VIP Support user, it often seems to be the first time a user with manage_options is logging into the site. So we get the prompt to confirm that admin email address.

In reality, we shouldn't be getting this prompt, and confirming would end up putting it off for another 6 months until a real admin has a chance to confirm. So instead, let's just skip this screen for the VIP Support user altogether.

Implementation

Returning 0 with this filter avoids the confirmation screen: https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress/blob/87a759b81c7a6d7e2ef6a361a55826e46f3c4e21/wp-login.php#L1267-L1270

Unfortunately, the global user object isn't set at this point. And passing $user along to the filter in core wouldn't be very straightforward given the other place the filter is used (before any user validation).

The filter on line 1235 though runs just before the filter usage we care about, and it does provide the $user object early on. So I'm using this to run our user checks before disabling the confirmation.

Testing

1) Make your user is not a support user, and set the admin email check to expire. Then log in, and note the confirmation. This is the normal flow for users.

wp shell
update_user_meta( 1, '_vip_support_user', false );
update_option( 'admin_email_lifespan', time() - 1 );

2) Make your user a support user, and set the check to expire again. Then login, and note there is no confirmation. This will be the flow for VIP Support users logging in.

wp shell
update_user_meta( 1, '_vip_support_user', time() );
update_option( 'admin_email_lifespan', time() - 1 );

3) Remove the support user meta and logout, then login again and note the confirmation is still there. Or, just log in with a different admin. This shows we are just skipping the prompt while still allowing the next real admin to see it.

wp shell
update_user_meta( 1, '_vip_support_user', time() );

[WPprodigy]

The broken build doesn't seem related.

[sjinks]

Moved here: Automattic/vip-go-mu-plugins#2918, closing