User access controlled by subroutine attribute.

[rlb3]

Hello monks,

I think I just need someone to smack me on the head and tell me this is a bad idea so I can move on. What I've been thinking about is an Attribute::Handler that controls user access to a subroutine or method. It would look some thing like this:

    read_log('failed');
    slurp_shadow();

    sub read_log :access_list('rlb3','root') { ... }
    sub slurp_shadow :access_root { ... }

Is this as dumb an idea as I think or is there some hope?

Thanks,

[chromatic]

Perl Hacks has an example of that. I used a similar method to add access control to objects accessible through web services. It worked wonderfully.

[rlb3]

Thanks for replying.

It's funny, I was listening to your talk on PDX.pm that got me thinking about Attribute::Handler. And I agree that your access control to objects works but I'm having this nagging feeling that using it for user access will have weird problems for users. Like a user getting so far into a program before they get an access denied. That may not be a bad thing. I'm just not sure.

[ikegami]

You could check permissions up front, and check it again at the function level as a failsafe. That way, your users won't normally get "far into a program" before getting an error.