diff --git a/EVENTS.txt b/EVENTS.txt
index c52f0e3128..201ce7dfe5 100644
--- a/EVENTS.txt
+++ b/EVENTS.txt
@@ -483,3 +483,9 @@ CheckPassword: Check a username/password
 AutoRegister: Register a new user with the given nickname. Should insert a new User and Profile into the database.
 - $nickname: The nickname to register
 
+ChangePassword: Handle a password change request
+- $nickname: user's nickname
+- $oldpassword: the user's old password
+- $newpassword: the desired new password
+- &$errormsg: set this to an error message if the password could not be changed. If the password was changed, leave this as false
+
diff --git a/actions/passwordsettings.php b/actions/passwordsettings.php
index cd4beac3f2..87eb45a7d0 100644
--- a/actions/passwordsettings.php
+++ b/actions/passwordsettings.php
@@ -164,23 +164,32 @@ class PasswordsettingsAction extends AccountSettingsAction
                 $this->showForm(_('Incorrect old password'));
                 return;
             }
+        }else{
+            $oldpassword = null;
         }
 
-        $original = clone($user);
+        $errormsg = false;
+        if(! Event::handle('ChangePassword', array($user->nickname, $oldpassword, $newpassword, &$errormsg))){
+            //no handler changed the password, so change the password internally
+            $original = clone($user);
 
-        $user->password = common_munge_password($newpassword, $user->id);
+            $user->password = common_munge_password($newpassword, $user->id);
 
-        $val = $user->validate();
-        if ($val !== true) {
-            $this->showForm(_('Error saving user; invalid.'));
-            return;
+            $val = $user->validate();
+            if ($val !== true) {
+                $this->showForm(_('Error saving user; invalid.'));
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if (!$user->update($original)) {
+                $this->serverError(_('Can\'t save new password.'));
+                return;
+            }
         }
 
-        if (!$user->update($original)) {
-            $this->serverError(_('Can\'t save new password.'));
-            return;
-        }
-
-        $this->showForm(_('Password saved.'), true);
+        if($errormsg === false)
+            $this->showForm(_('Password saved.'), true);
+        else
+            $this->showForm($errormsg);
     }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/Ldap/LdapPlugin.php b/plugins/Ldap/LdapPlugin.php
index cabd3c8282..755562f54b 100644
--- a/plugins/Ldap/LdapPlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/Ldap/LdapPlugin.php
@@ -86,10 +86,20 @@ class LdapPlugin extends Plugin
                     }
                 }
             }
-            //error_log(print_r($registration_data,1));
+            //set the database saved password to a random string.
+            $registration_data['password']=common_good_rand(16);
             $user = User::register($registration_data);
             //prevent other handlers from running, as we have registered the user
             return false;
         }
     }
+
+    function onChangePassword($nickname,$oldpassword,$newpassword,&$errormsg)
+    {
+        //TODO implement this
+        $errormsg = _('Sorry, changing LDAP passwords is not supported at this time');
+
+        //return false, indicating that the event has been handled
+        return false;
+    }
 }