[dev] Horde_Group Refactoring for Horde4

[Ben Klang]

>> 
>> 
>> 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.
> 
> I would vote to make groups flat, but if possible, to allow groups to be members of other groups. Not children in a tree, but flat members. That way questions are always based on whether or not the group being originally checked contains the user, or a group that contains the user.

While I can see an argument for allowing groups to be members of groups (primarily: convenience) it does raise a few technical questions:

1) We would need to add checks to avoid cyclical memberships.

2) Do we continue traversing the group tree indefinitely?  What if Group A is a member of B which is a member of C which is a member of D....

3) I still want to be able to see at a glance all members of a certain group.  This takes the guesswork out of applying security settings.  I want to be able to look in one place and know for sure to which users this group security setting applies.  We would need to accommodate this in the UI somehow to display "implied" (for lack of a better workd) group members.

/BAK/
-- 
Ben Klang
Core Developer
The Horde Project
bklang at horde.org
http://www.horde.org