More flexible permission system

baschny

Joined: 2003-01-04
Posts: 328

Posted: Sat, 2003-01-04 18:12

Hi!

I would like to suggest a more enhanced permission system.

First: "Groups". I would like to group people together in groups ("family", "friends", etc), where each user can be in one or more groups, and then allow a certain group to do stuff (view a certain album etc), instead of having to add the permission for every single user.

Second: Image-specific permissions. So that users (and groups) are allowed to view only certain images in an album. That way I can create an album for a trip (for example) and make it public, so everybody can see it, but still be able to "hide" certain private pictures from public, and only allow for example the family to see it.

Third: Permission inheritance: When I change the permission on an album, I would like the sub-albums also to adopt the new permissions, if I want to (just like on WinNT). So a sub-album can have its own permissions, else it just uses its parents albums permissions.

Maybe some of those are already implemented and I'm just too new to this to have noticed. :smile:

Anyway, the plans for 2.0 sound very good, keep on the good work!!

bharat

Joined: 2002-05-21
Posts: 7994

Posted: Sat, 2003-01-04 22:50

Quote:

First: "Groups". I would like to group people together in groups ("family", "friends", etc), where each user can be in one or more groups, and then allow a certain group to do stuff (view a certain album etc), instead of having to add the permission for every single user.

Already in G2.

Quote:

Second: Image-specific permissions. So that users (and groups) are allowed to view only certain images in an album. That way I can create an album for a trip (for example) and make it public, so everybody can see it, but still be able to "hide" certain private pictures from public, and only allow for example the family to see it.

Already in G2.

Quote:

Third: Permission inheritance: When I change the permission on an album, I would like the sub-albums also to adopt the new permissions, if I want to (just like on WinNT). So a sub-album can have its own permissions, else it just uses its parents albums permissions.

We probably won't implement permissions quite like that. Each item has its own complete set of permissions, independent of its parents. If we don't do that, then every time we want to look at an image, you have to check the permissions of its parents (and its parents parents, etc) in order to determine whether or not you can actually view it. That will be very slow. Then you also need to introduce negative permissions (ie "my parent says user x can view resizes, but I override that and say that he can't"). That's another complicating factor that will make juggling permissions much harder.

However, we will probably enhance the permissions interface so that when you make a change to an album, it applies that same change to all of the album's children, which will amount to roughly the same thing.

valiant

Joined: 2003-01-04
Posts: 32509

Posted: Tue, 2003-01-07 18:44

Groups would be the most important permission feature IMO.
And global settings for each group would be nice too.

You don't have to check for each album/picture its parents, you could check for parent permission settings only when creating a new album / changing permissions. afterwards you safe the permissions for the album only...

cheers - Andy

bharat

Joined: 2002-05-21
Posts: 7994

Posted: Wed, 2003-01-08 18:59

Quote:

Groups would be the most important permission feature IMO.
And global settings for each group would be nice too.

What kind of global settings? Can you give some examples?

Quote:

You don't have to check for each album/picture its parents, you could check for parent permission settings only when creating a new album / changing permissions. afterwards you safe the permissions for the album only...

I don't understand what you're proposing here. Can you explain this in a lot more detail?

baschny Joined: 2003-01-04 Posts: 328	Posted: Sat, 2003-01-04 18:12
	Hi! I would like to suggest a more enhanced permission system. First: "Groups". I would like to group people together in groups ("family", "friends", etc), where each user can be in one or more groups, and then allow a certain group to do stuff (view a certain album etc), instead of having to add the permission for every single user. Second: Image-specific permissions. So that users (and groups) are allowed to view only certain images in an album. That way I can create an album for a trip (for example) and make it public, so everybody can see it, but still be able to "hide" certain private pictures from public, and only allow for example the family to see it. Third: Permission inheritance: When I change the permission on an album, I would like the sub-albums also to adopt the new permissions, if I want to (just like on WinNT). So a sub-album can have its own permissions, else it just uses its parents albums permissions. Maybe some of those are already implemented and I'm just too new to this to have noticed. :smile: Anyway, the plans for 2.0 sound very good, keep on the good work!!
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bharat Joined: 2002-05-21 Posts: 7994	Posted: Sat, 2003-01-04 22:50
	Quote: First: "Groups". I would like to group people together in groups ("family", "friends", etc), where each user can be in one or more groups, and then allow a certain group to do stuff (view a certain album etc), instead of having to add the permission for every single user. Already in G2. Quote: Second: Image-specific permissions. So that users (and groups) are allowed to view only certain images in an album. That way I can create an album for a trip (for example) and make it public, so everybody can see it, but still be able to "hide" certain private pictures from public, and only allow for example the family to see it. Already in G2. Quote: Third: Permission inheritance: When I change the permission on an album, I would like the sub-albums also to adopt the new permissions, if I want to (just like on WinNT). So a sub-album can have its own permissions, else it just uses its parents albums permissions. We probably won't implement permissions quite like that. Each item has its own complete set of permissions, independent of its parents. If we don't do that, then every time we want to look at an image, you have to check the permissions of its parents (and its parents parents, etc) in order to determine whether or not you can actually view it. That will be very slow. Then you also need to introduce negative permissions (ie "my parent says user x can view resizes, but I override that and say that he can't"). That's another complicating factor that will make juggling permissions much harder. However, we will probably enhance the permissions interface so that when you make a change to an album, it applies that same change to all of the album's children, which will amount to roughly the same thing.

valiant Joined: 2003-01-04 Posts: 32509	Posted: Tue, 2003-01-07 18:44
	Groups would be the most important permission feature IMO. And global settings for each group would be nice too. You don't have to check for each album/picture its parents, you could check for parent permission settings only when creating a new album / changing permissions. afterwards you safe the permissions for the album only... cheers - Andy

bharat Joined: 2002-05-21 Posts: 7994	Posted: Wed, 2003-01-08 18:59
	Quote: Groups would be the most important permission feature IMO. And global settings for each group would be nice too. What kind of global settings? Can you give some examples? Quote: You don't have to check for each album/picture its parents, you could check for parent permission settings only when creating a new album / changing permissions. afterwards you safe the permissions for the album only... I don't understand what you're proposing here. Can you explain this in a lot more detail?

More flexible permission system

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