[Zope] Setting default permissions from Python code

[Janne Pietarila]

We are currently developing a learning environment by making
our own Zope product. The product has several courses and different
users have different Zope roles on each course (tutor, student, expert).
That is, a user X may have a role 'student' on course C1, but only
role 'tutor' on course C2.

We implemented security as described in Zope Developer's Guide
(http://www.zope.org/Documentation/ZDG/Security.dtml), however,
when we use setPermissionDefault() for class ClassSecurityInfo,
there are no any visible changes in manage_access interface.

It looks like default permissions set in Python code don't affect Zope at
all.

We checked how permissions are handled in the CMF (Content Management
Framework) product. Here is a code snippet from setupPermissions():

<-- cut <---

    def setupPermissions(self, p):
        # Set up some suggested role to permission mappings.

        mp = p.manage_permission
        mp('Set own password',        ['Member','Manager',],    1)
        mp('Set own properties',      ['Member','Manager',],    1)
        mp('Add portal content',      ['Owner','Member','Manager',], 1)

        ...etc..

---> cut --->

So we added some manage_permission() calls to our own code after which
everything worked just like we want.

Is this currently the only way to manage default permissions? From
(http://www.zope.org/Documentation/ZDG/Security.dtml you get an
impression that you should only use setPermissionDefault().


-- 
Ilkka Kekkonen
ilkka.kekkonen@uiah.fi

Janne Pietarila
janne.pietarila@uiah.fi