Password validation on all attribute updates

[ephracis]

Whenever I try to update an attribute of the user, the password validations kick in and throws an error because no password is sent to the update.

I don't want to turn off validations and use save(false) everywhere but registration. And I want to use update_attributes(params[:user]) since it's very convenient.

Is there a way to only have the password validations kick in when the password is supposed to be validated (ie on registration and password change)?

Thanks!