id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
2353	auth doesn't allow direct use of login() (without prior authenticate call)	Rhett Garber	Adrian Holovaty	"It would appear that I cannot call login without calling authenticate() because the 'backend' member variable does not exist until you call authenticate.
This seems rather unfriendly at least, but also limiting for no good reason. What if I want to handle authentication myself?

I'm not sure if this is the only place that matters:
{{{
django.contrib.auth.__init__ line 53:

request.session[BACKEND_SESSION_KEY] = user.backend
}}}
My usage of this is a signup page. I create the user, and I just want to directly log them in my calling login(request, user) on my newly created user object. I would rather not have an extra authenticate() call."	defect	closed	Contrib apps		normal	invalid			Unreviewed	0	0	0	0	0	0