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1 /*
2  * Copyright (c) 1996, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
3  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
4  *
5  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
6  * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
7  * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
8  * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
9  * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
10  *
11  * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
12  * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
13  * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
14  * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
15  * accompanied this code).
16  *
17  * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
18  * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
19  * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
20  *
21  * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
22  * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
23  * questions.
24  */
25 
26 package java.security.acl;
27 
28 import java.util.Enumeration;
29 import java.security.Principal;
30 
31 /**
32  * This interface is used to represent a group of principals. (A principal
33  * represents an entity such as an individual user or a company). <p>
34  *
35  * Note that Group extends Principal. Thus, either a Principal or a Group can
36  * be passed as an argument to methods containing a Principal parameter. For
37  * example, you can add either a Principal or a Group to a Group object by
38  * calling the object's {@code addMember} method, passing it the
39  * Principal or Group.
40  *
41  * @author      Satish Dharmaraj
42  */
43 public interface Group extends Principal {
44 
45     /**
46      * Adds the specified member to the group.
47      *
48      * @param user the principal to add to this group.
49      *
50      * @return true if the member was successfully added,
51      * false if the principal was already a member.
52      */
addMember(Principal user)53     public boolean addMember(Principal user);
54 
55     /**
56      * Removes the specified member from the group.
57      *
58      * @param user the principal to remove from this group.
59      *
60      * @return true if the principal was removed, or
61      * false if the principal was not a member.
62      */
removeMember(Principal user)63     public boolean removeMember(Principal user);
64 
65     /**
66      * Returns true if the passed principal is a member of the group.
67      * This method does a recursive search, so if a principal belongs to a
68      * group which is a member of this group, true is returned.
69      *
70      * @param member the principal whose membership is to be checked.
71      *
72      * @return true if the principal is a member of this group,
73      * false otherwise.
74      */
isMember(Principal member)75     public boolean isMember(Principal member);
76 
77 
78     /**
79      * Returns an enumeration of the members in the group.
80      * The returned objects can be instances of either Principal
81      * or Group (which is a subclass of Principal).
82      *
83      * @return an enumeration of the group members.
84      */
members()85     public Enumeration<? extends Principal> members();
86 
87 }
88