Overview
One outcome of a recent investigation into misleading permission set configuration ( FOLIO-2565 - Getting issue details... STATUS ) is the proposal of new guidelines for permission sets. This document serves as a place to capture that proposal and elicit feedback from others and facilitate discussion.
Naming Conventions
- Name the permission sets appropriately, e.g. avoid inclusion of POST/PUT/DELETE permissions in "
*.view" permission sets.Good:
{ "permissionName": "ui-erm-usage.view-create-edit", "displayName": "eUsage: Can view, create and edit usage data providers and COUNTER reports", "id": "ade748af-66b5-4584-a319-3cac20899241", "description": "Can view, create and edit usage data providers and COUNTER reports", "tags": [], "subPermissions": [ "module.erm-usage.enabled", "usagedataproviders.collection.get", "usagedataproviders.item.get", "usagedataproviders.item.post", "usagedataproviders.item.put", "counterreports.collection.get", "counterreports.item.get", "counterreports.item.post", "counterreports.item.put", "aggregatorsettings.collection.get", "aggregatorsettings.item.get" ], "childOf": [], "grantedTo": [ "fba0106d-e2ad-494e-8958-ce5b447ab2aa" ], "mutable": false, "visible": true, "dummy": false }Bad:
{ "permissionName": "ui-receiving.basic.view", "displayName": "Receiving: Basic view", "id": "5542bb26-9eff-4699-a7c5-6e6a049979d7", "tags": [], "subPermissions": [ "module.receiving.enabled", "orders.item.get", "orders.pieces.item.post", "orders.pieces.item.put", "orders.po-lines.collection.get", "orders.titles.collection.get", "orders.titles.item.get", "ui-receiving.third-party-services" ], "childOf": [ "ui-receiving.view" ], "grantedTo": [], "mutable": false, "visible": false, "dummy": false }
- Permission sets for modulePermissions should use the "modperms" prefix. These also should not be visible as they aren't intended to be assigned to users.
Example:
"permissionName": "modperms.circulation.loans.anonymize", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.override-renewal-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.renew-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.item.move.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.renew-by-id.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.item.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.override-check-out-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.item.put", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.instances.item.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.check-out-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.orders.item.post", "permissionName": "modperms.orders.item.put",
- TBD
Backend Modules
- Avoid inclusion of other modules permissions in your permission sets. For example, mod-foo's permission set foo.all shouldn't include mod-bar's bar.item.get permission. Here it's the module that needs the permission, not the user.
- Do: include the other module's permission(s) in your modulePermissions (or non-visible modulePermission sets - see above)
- Don't: include other modules permissions in your visible permission sets that will be assigned to users.
UI Modules
- Define separate permission sets for settings if other other module permissions are needed (e.g.
configuration.entries.collection.get).- Example: "
ui-users.settings.customfields.edit" probably needsconfiguration.entries.collection.get, but "ui-users.view" probably doesn't. If needed, additional permission sets should be created with appropriate names.
- Example: "
Using *.all Permissions
- Only include *.all permissions when absolutely sure it's necessary/appropriate. Instead use just the permissions actually needed.
Example of a permission set that probably abuses *.all permissions
{ "permissionName": "ui-checkin.all", "displayName": "Check in: All permissions", "id": "094310c8-cd71-4b76-a10d-2921ccd10654", "description": "Entire set of permissions needed to use Checkin", "tags": [], "subPermissions": [ "circulation.all", "circulation-storage.all", "configuration.all", "users.collection.get", "usergroups.collection.get", "module.checkin.enabled", "inventory.items.collection.get", "inventory-storage.service-points.collection.get" ], "childOf": [], "grantedTo": [ "fba0106d-e2ad-494e-8958-ce5b447ab2aa" ], "mutable": false, "visible": true, "dummy": false }
Other Considerations
- Sensitive information should NEVER be stored in mod-configuration. SMTP credentials, RMAPI credentials, etc. should be stored behind their own endpoints which are protected with distinct permissions.
- We might want to take a look at ways to make the permissions of this module more granular, perhaps something could be done using desiredPermissions / X-Okapi-Permissions? Though I'm not sure this is really doable or even worth it. I think I'm in favor of just moving away from mod-configuration altogether (see below)
- We should consider moving away from using mod-configuration in general. The cross-app nature of this module makes it difficult to deal with other things like sample/reference data... what if you want some reference data loaded into mod-configuration, but not all of it?
- See FOLIO-2583 - Getting issue details... STATUS
- One use case where it probably makes sense to continue to have centralized configuration is for things that are truly shared across multiple apps, e.g. the tenant settings
- How do we handle "migration" of permission sets as teams clean things up?
- One idea is to do something like add a field to the module descriptor that allows you to specify that this permission set "replaces" one named XYZ. This would result the swapping and cleanup of permissions.
- A spike is likely forthcoming for this.