System Administration Guide: Security Services

Authorization Naming Conventions

An authorization has a name that is used internally and in files. For example, solaris.admin.usermgr.pswd is the name of an authorization. An authorization has a short description, which appears in the graphical user interfaces (GUIs). For example, Change Passwords is the description of the solaris.admin.usermgr.pswd authorization.

By convention, authorization names consist of the reverse order of the Internet name of the supplier, the subject area, any subareas, and the function. The parts of the authorization name are separated by dots. An example would be com.xyzcorp.device.access. Exceptions to this convention are the authorizations from Sun Microsystems, Inc., which use the prefix solaris instead of an Internet name. The naming convention enables administrators to apply authorizations in a hierarchical fashion. A wildcard (*) can represent any strings to the right of a dot.