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AclEntry.java API Doc Java SE 5 API 4465 Fri Aug 26 14:57:16 BST 2005 java.security.acl

AclEntry

public interface AclEntry implements Cloneable

This is the interface used for representing one entry in an Access Control List (ACL).

An ACL can be thought of as a data structure with multiple ACL entry objects. Each ACL entry object contains a set of permissions associated with a particular principal. (A principal represents an entity such as an individual user or a group). Additionally, each ACL entry is specified as being either positive or negative. If positive, the permissions are to be granted to the associated principal. If negative, the permissions are to be denied. Each principal can have at most one positive ACL entry and one negative entry; that is, multiple positive or negative ACL entries are not allowed for any principal. Note: ACL entries are by default positive. An entry becomes a negative entry only if the {@link #setNegativePermissions() setNegativePermissions} method is called on it.

see: java.security.acl.Acl
author: Satish Dharmaraj

Fields Summary
Constructors Summary
Methods Summary
public boolean addPermission(Permission permission)
Adds the specified permission to this ACL entry. Note: An entry can have multiple permissions.
param
permission the permission to be associated with the principal in this entry.
return
true if the permission was added, false if the permission was already part of this entry's permission set.
public boolean checkPermission(Permission permission)
Checks if the specified permission is part of the permission set in this entry.
param
permission the permission to be checked for.
return
true if the permission is part of the permission set in this entry, false otherwise.
public java.lang.Object clone()
Clones this ACL entry.
return
a clone of this ACL entry.
public java.security.Principal getPrincipal()
Returns the principal for which permissions are granted or denied by this ACL entry. Returns null if there is no principal set for this entry yet.
return
the principal associated with this entry.
see
#setPrincipal
public boolean isNegative()
Returns true if this is a negative ACL entry (one denying the associated principal the set of permissions in the entry), false otherwise.
return
true if this is a negative ACL entry, false if it's not.
public java.util.Enumeration permissions()
Returns an enumeration of the permissions in this ACL entry.
return
an enumeration of the permissions in this ACL entry.
public boolean removePermission(Permission permission)
Removes the specified permission from this ACL entry.
param
permission the permission to be removed from this entry.
return
true if the permission is removed, false if the permission was not part of this entry's permission set.
public void setNegativePermissions()
Sets this ACL entry to be a negative one. That is, the associated principal (e.g., a user or a group) will be denied the permission set specified in the entry. Note: ACL entries are by default positive. An entry becomes a negative entry only if this setNegativePermissions method is called on it.
public boolean setPrincipal(java.security.Principal user)
Specifies the principal for which permissions are granted or denied by this ACL entry. If a principal was already set for this ACL entry, false is returned, otherwise true is returned.
param
user the principal to be set for this entry.
return
true if the principal is set, false if there was already a principal set for this entry.
see
#getPrincipal
public java.lang.String toString()
Returns a string representation of the contents of this ACL entry.
return
a string representation of the contents.