"Encrypted password" is actually "Hash" of the password. Does it need to be renamed?

[Ashwintrn]

Currently, the column designated for the hashed value of the password is named "encrypted_password". While I understand the historical context, I've noticed that this term could potentially be a bit misleading for some users.
For clarity and user experience, It would be helpful to rename this column to something like "password_hash" or another relatable name. If suitable/possible we can just give an alias_name in the codebase. This adjustment could help avoid confusion and create a more intuitive environment for users interacting with the database directly. Much Appreciate your work. TIA.

[rnestler]

I also was confused / amused by the encrypted_password name. Note that in the code it mentions that it is named like this for legacy reasons:

devise/lib/devise/models/database_authenticatable.rb

Lines 62 to 68 in a259ff3

	# Generates a hashed password based on the given value.
	# For legacy reasons, we use `encrypted_password` to store
	# the hashed password.
	def password=(new_password)
	@password = new_password
	self.encrypted_password = password_digest(@password) if @password.present?
	end

How would one implement a rename of the field in a backwards compatible manner? I imagine something like this:

1. Add password_hash alias to database_authenticatable: This allows to use password_hash in most places in the code, without needing to change anything else.
2. Rename the encrypted_password field in the DB to password_hash, the generated migrations, providing an update path when upgrading the gem and add a deprecated alias encrypted_password to the new password_hash

Or maybe allow to use either password_hash or encrypted_password as the DB field name as an intermediate step?