Django 1.5: Understanding of AbstractBaseUser and permissions

Question

I created an user app MyUser which is an extension of AbstractBaseUser. I was under the impression that the model MyUser will replace the standard Auth.User, as long as it is mentioned in settings.py

AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE = 'profile.MyUser'

My trouble is now that I can't set the permissions for users registered in the MyUser model. When I try to set the group memberships and permissions, I get the error User' instance expected, got <MyUser: username>.

How can I add users of my user model to the permissions and correct groups?

class MyUserManager(BaseUserManager):
    def create_user(self, username, email, phone, password=None, company=False):
        if not email:
            raise ValueError('Users must have an email address')
        if not username: username = email.split('@')[0]
        user = self.model(
            email=MyUserManager.normalize_email(email),
            username=username,phone=phone,)
        user.set_password(password)
        user.save(using=self._db)

        # add to user group and set permissions
        if company: 
            g = Group.objects.get(name='company')
            p = Permission.objects.get(codename='add_company')
        else: 
            g = Group.objects.get(name='user')
            p = Permission.objects.get(codename='add_user')
        g.user_set.add(user)
        user.user_permissions.add(p)
        return user

class MyUser(AbstractBaseUser):
    username = models.CharField(max_length=254, unique=True, blank=True, null=True)
    email = models.EmailField(max_length=254, unique=True, db_index=True)
    phone = models.CharField(_('Phone Number'), max_length=25, blank=True, null=True,)

    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
    is_admin = models.BooleanField(default=False)
    USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'
    REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['phone']

    objects = MyUserManager()

    def get_full_name(self):
        return self.email
    ...

Metaphysics

Answer 1

Just add PermissionsMixin to your model declaration! :)

class MyUser(AbstractBaseUser, PermissionsMixin):
    ...

Here is the relevant part of Django docs.

Downstage

How do I set the group level for the user? When I set it with g.user_set.add(user), I get TypeError: 'User' instance expected, got <MyUser: username> as error message again. – Metaphysics

Do it with user.groups.add(g). – Downstage

Answer 2

You've probably resolved your issue but for completeness did you mean to refer to setting AUTH_USER_MODEL vs AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE when creating a custom user model in Django 1.5.

ref: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.5/topics/auth/customizing/#substituting-a-custom-user-model

Fleda