User privileges in HORDE apps

[Ari Kuorikoski]

Hi,

I was wondering that if there is a plan for a module that could handle
user and application level permissions for horde apps. Now we are using
Horde mainly with IMP module, but we would be very interested to start
developing and using the whups module.

I'm not quite sure if this is the right place to tell about my ideas but
here it goes anyway =) I was thinking something like this:

In horde database we have now horde_users table and there is user_uid
varchar(255) and user_pass varchar(32)  fields. Lets think that the
user_id should allways be stored in database no mater what login system is
in use. Then we could add a field to db telling which login mehtod to use
(DB|IMAP|FTP etc..). If the users login method <> DB try to login against
this method else compare the login/pw pair on those found in database.

This would allow to add users to horde that don't have the access to the 
mail or ftp server that is used for logging in otherwise.

Then we'd need a table for horde application perms. Lets call it 
horde_app_perms

It could look something like this:

horde_user_perms 

user_id		varchar(255)	
horde_app	varchar(25)	
horde_app_perm	int

now when accessing a horde app we could check if the user had right to 
use this app, or if (s)he happened to be a adminitsrator for that specific 
horde application or maybe the user can not even view the current app.

I think this would make horde much more scalable to write more
applications on it. What do you think, I just wanted to share this idea
with you.. 

-- 
Linux is like a wigwam. No windows, no gates, apache inside

	Ari Kuorikoski
	ari.kuorikoski at finebyte.com

	FinebyteCom Oy
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