Cookies

VuFind uses cookies in a few places; this page describes the details to help users comply with privacy legislation. See also VUFIND-1127 for some related discussion.

The most prominent cookie used by VuFind keeps track of the user's PHP session, and its name is configured through config.ini's session_name setting, defaulting to VUFIND_SESSION in recent releases of the software. Exactly what information is associated with the session identifier will depend on VuFind's configuration. In addition to normal, typical uses of the PHP session (such as maintaining the status of the current logged-in user, and temporarily holding state information during certain kinds of transactions), the session ID is also stored in the search table of VuFind's database to keep track of a temporary search history (which expires along with the user's session, unless the user opts to save searches to an account).

A few other cookies may be used at times:

• loggedOut - This cookie may be set when a user logs out of VuFind, to help avoid a situation where a user would otherwise be automatically and instantly logged back in.
• language - This cookie tracks the user's currently selected language preference.
• ui - The currently-selected theme (for example, to allow toggle between “standard” and “mobile” interfaces).
• vfup* - Several cookies prefixed with “vfup” may be set to keep track of settings during VuFind's upgrade procedure. These are only used for work by VuFind's system administrator and will not affect “regular” users at all.
• vufind_cart / vufind_cart_src - These cookies track items that the user has placed in their “Book Bag.”