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Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:50:12 -0800
From: Rick Hillegas <Richard.Hillegas@Sun.COM>
Subject: Re: [jira] Commented: (DERBY-2109) System privileges
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David Van Couvering wrote:
>
>
> Rick Hillegas (JIRA) wrote:
>>
>> 2) Unfamiliar api. Oracle, DB2, Postgres, and MySQL all handle system 
>> privileges in different ways. Picking one of these models would still 
>> result in an api that's unfamiliar to many people. That said, these 
>> databases do tend to use GRANT/REVOKE for system privileges, albeit 
>> each in its own peculiar fashion. I agree that GRANT/REVOKE is an 
>> easier model to learn than Java Security. I think however, that the 
>> complexity of Java Security is borne by the derby-dev developer, not 
>> by the customer. Creating a policy file is very easy and our user 
>> documentation gives simple examples which the naive user can just 
>> crib. With adequate user documentation, I think this approach would 
>> be straightforward for the customer.
>
> I must respectfully disagree that "creating a policy file is very 
> easy."  I think it's a royal PITA - the syntax is complex, 
> nonintuitive and unforgiving.
>
> Can we provide a GRANT/REVOKE interface on top of an implementation 
> that  uses JAAS?
>
Hi David,

Can you describe what you have in mind in greater detail? In our earlier 
discussions, we wanted to avoid using GRANT/REVOKE to manage system 
privileges. This is because this solution seemed to imply creating a 
master database in which to store the system-wide privileges. Are you 
suggesting:

1) That we use GRANT/REVOKE to edit the policy file and provide some 
VTIs for inspecting it?

2) That we provide a master database and GRANT/REVOKE in addition to the 
JAAS solution?

3) Something else?

Thanks,
-Rick