Installer glitch?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Kindred and I have had this discussion before, it's my feeling he's been on the inside too long to be able to view the software realistically from the outside.  That's not intended as a criticism, just an observation.  I've dealt with enough forums to have a pretty good idea how users at various levels of proficiency, or lack thereof, approach the software.  There may well be a good reason for tinkering with the installer, but I think the way it was done will be confusing to some new users.  The installer is often the first contact they have with SMF, and randomly filling the database input fields with gibberish seems a bad idea to me.  I've never seen any software or website do this.  There must be a better way to accomplish whatever this change was intended to do.

[Kindred]

Several other platforms do this...
And no, i am not "on the inside too long" I have helped nearly as many sites as you do, and support a bunch of sites, smf, wordpress and joomla.  So I actually do know what I am taking about.

Seriously,  as m4z says,  if they know what the prefix means,  they can/will change it. If they don't know,  then it won't matter what is used, and the random prefix is more secure for them.  Seriously,  you addres gagging into your own trap here. You've been doing it so long one way that you can't conceive that there is a reason for the change.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Obviously, I don't know the reason for the change, it's been a while since I had access to team boards.  I think the database name will be more problematic than prefix, that can be random, but the name must be what the user set up in cpanel.  I don't know what they will think when they see the field filled with random text that changes when refreshed.  I can't suggest an alternate solution as I don't know why it was done, it just seems a bad way to do it.

[Kindred]

... and we are telling you that your perception (that this is a bad way to do it) is incorrect.

The idea was thought, reviewed, and discussed. This is actually a standard practice and has been since 2016.

Its minor... not a huge security bump, but every little bit helps.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Well, I'm once again outranked and outnumbered.  It's not easy being a cranky old guy.