[dev] Horde_Group Refactoring for Horde4

[Ben Klang]

Hello all,

In IRC recently a few of the developers have been discussing the refactoring of the Horde_Group library for Horde4.  There is already a wiki page in progress (http://wiki.horde.org/HordeGroupAPI) to that effect.  One item discussed is the complexity from having the ability to nest groups.  This enables a structure like

ParentA
  -> Child1
  -> Child2
ParentB
  -> Child3
  -> Child4

This structure can be seen in Horde's administration screens.

However what is not clear is how those groups relate.  This brings up difficult-to-answer questions like:
* Is a member of the group Child1 automatically a member of ParentA?
* If permissions are granted to ParentA, do they automatically apply to Child1 and Child2?

If you answer "yes" to both questions above then an Administrator does not have a convenient way to view all of the group memberships or security settings in effect for a given user.  It also complicates things like sending notification messages to a group (like in the ticketing system or the wiki) because there is no immediate way to view all of the users in the group.  The more recursion we allow, the more abstract this becomes and the harder to manage.

Certainly these issues can be addressed, but my question is: do we really need this complexity?  Horde apps do not make use of this feature today in any meaningful way.  My vote would be to eliminate the complexity (both in code and UI) and provide a simpler, flat group model.

If you *are* using nested groups for some purpose, (especially in an application which does not reside in the Horde repository) please let me know, and let me know how this change might affect you.

/BAK/
-- 
Ben Klang
Alkaloid Networks LLC
ben at alkaloid.net
404.475.4850
http://projects.alkaloid.net

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