diff --git a/lib/db/mysql.php b/lib/db/mysql.php
index 7def4d56012..8db8532e1aa 100644
--- a/lib/db/mysql.php
+++ b/lib/db/mysql.php
@@ -807,6 +807,20 @@ function main_upgrade($oldversion=0) {
         set_field('blocks', 'version', 2004081200, 'name', 'course_list');
     }
 
+    if ($oldversion < 2004081500) {  // Adding new "auth" field to user table to allow more flexibility
+        table_column('user', '', 'auth', 'varchar', '20', '', 'manual', 'not null', 'id');
+
+        execute_sql("UPDATE {$CFG->prefix}user SET auth = 'manual'");  // Set everyone to 'manual' to be sure
+
+        if ($admins = get_admins()) {   // Set all the NON-admins to whatever the current auth module is
+            $adminlist = array();
+            foreach ($admins as $user) {
+                $adminlist[] = $user->id; 
+            }
+            $adminlist = implode(',', $adminlist);
+            execute_sql("UPDATE {$CFG->prefix}user SET auth = '$CFG->auth' WHERE id NOT IN ($adminlist)");
+        }
+    }
 
     return $result;
 
diff --git a/lib/db/mysql.sql b/lib/db/mysql.sql
index c9a0c01777f..e04ace5a40b 100644
--- a/lib/db/mysql.sql
+++ b/lib/db/mysql.sql
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_scale` (
 
 CREATE TABLE `prefix_user` (
   `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
+  `auth` varchar(20) NOT NULL default 'manual',
   `confirmed` tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '0',
   `deleted` tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '0',
   `username` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
diff --git a/lib/db/postgres7.php b/lib/db/postgres7.php
index 96999eae1b2..1ad354a2a32 100644
--- a/lib/db/postgres7.php
+++ b/lib/db/postgres7.php
@@ -549,6 +549,20 @@ function main_upgrade($oldversion=0) {
         set_field('blocks', 'version', 2004081200, 'name', 'course_list');
     }
 
+    if ($oldversion < 2004081500) {  // Adding new "auth" field to user table to allow more flexibility
+        table_column('user', '', 'auth', 'varchar', '20', '', 'manual', 'not null', 'id');
+
+        execute_sql("UPDATE {$CFG->prefix}user SET auth = 'manual'");  // Set everyone to 'manual' to be sure
+
+        if ($admins = get_admins()) {   // Set all the NON-admins to whatever the current auth module is
+            $adminlist = array();
+            foreach ($admins as $user) {
+                $adminlist[] = $user->id; 
+            }
+            $adminlist = implode(',', $adminlist);
+            execute_sql("UPDATE {$CFG->prefix}user SET auth = '$CFG->auth' WHERE id NOT IN ($adminlist)");
+        }
+    }
 
     return $result;
 
diff --git a/lib/db/postgres7.sql b/lib/db/postgres7.sql
index 204481bacba..8ab5470b2c4 100644
--- a/lib/db/postgres7.sql
+++ b/lib/db/postgres7.sql
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ CREATE INDEX prefix_cache_text_md5key_idx ON prefix_cache_text (md5key);
 
 CREATE TABLE prefix_user (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+   auth varchar(20) NOT NULL default 'manual',
    confirmed integer NOT NULL default '0',
    deleted integer NOT NULL default '0',
    username varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
diff --git a/lib/moodlelib.php b/lib/moodlelib.php
index f5acccee087..5691e40044d 100644
--- a/lib/moodlelib.php
+++ b/lib/moodlelib.php
@@ -716,6 +716,7 @@ function create_user_record($username, $password) {
         }
     }
 
+    $newuser->auth = $CFG->auth;
     $newuser->username = $username;
     $newuser->password = md5($password);
     $newuser->lang = $CFG->lang;
diff --git a/login/index.php b/login/index.php
index 2f3427a0416..6a4df7f3d7c 100644
--- a/login/index.php
+++ b/login/index.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
     // Check if the guest user exists.  If not, create one.
     if (! record_exists("user", "username", "guest")) {
+        $guest->auth        = "manual"; 
         $guest->username    = "guest"; 
         $guest->password    = md5("guest");
         $guest->firstname   = addslashes(get_string("guestuser"));
diff --git a/login/signup.php b/login/signup.php
index cec9336f4b3..6385bd35af7 100644
--- a/login/signup.php
+++ b/login/signup.php
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
             $user->lang = current_language();
             $user->firstaccess = time();
             $user->secret = random_string(15);
+            $user->auth = $CFG->auth;
             if (!empty($CFG->auth_user_create) and function_exists('auth_user_create') ){
                 if (! auth_user_exists($user->username)) {
                     if (! auth_user_create($user,$plainpass)) {
diff --git a/version.php b/version.php
index 8659ab660ee..90cac225c87 100644
--- a/version.php
+++ b/version.php
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 // database to determine whether upgrades should
 // be performed (see lib/db/*.php)
 
-$version = 2004081200;   // The current version is a date (YYYYMMDDXX)
+$version = 2004081500;   // The current version is a date (YYYYMMDDXX)
 
-$release = "1.4 development";   // User-friendly version number
+$release = "1.4 alpha";   // User-friendly version number
 
 ?>