# Roles based authentication **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 27, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/roles-based-authentication/100153 "2006-07-27T13:10:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sabin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/roles-based-authentication/100153/1 "2006-07-27T13:10:16Z")
hi! im trying to implement a role based authentication in my project, but im writing too many conditions, and i think thats not the right way to proceed. i have search in google, but there are a lot of plugins and “tutorials”, and they are always not similar, so i dont understand them. please could someone help me? maybe with a easy authentication or with a good/nice tutorial? thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sabin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/roles-based-authentication/100153/2 "2006-07-27T14:23:11Z")
someone there who can help me?? :S ---
**Author:** ![sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sabin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/roles-based-authentication/100153/3 "2006-07-27T15:32:43Z")
sabin wrote: > someone there who can help me?? > > :S Try the Rails Recipes book ([http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/fr\_rr/](http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/fr_rr/)) there’s a great explanation in there of how to do authentication, from simple to advanced. ---
**Author:** ![sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sabin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/roles-based-authentication/100153/4 "2006-07-27T16:07:20Z")
tor, 27,.07.2006 kl. 13.10 +0200, skrev sabin: > im trying to implement a role based authentication in my project, but im > writing too many conditions, and i think thats not the right way to > proceed. I’ve been writing a Roles/ACL auth system based on auth\_generator, you might want to check it out. [http://penso.info/code/auth\_generator](http://penso.info/code/auth_generator) It’s GPL so you’ll have to release any enhancements. I replaced the ACL system in auth\_generator with the ACL stuff from here: [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/LoginGeneratorACLSystem](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/LoginGeneratorACLSystem) Then I added the possibility to base permissions on the object\_id, real fancy combination if I need to be humble. 😉 It sucks, though. 🙂 I’ve got thousands and thousands of objects in the database, so adding permissions based on every object\_id is only causing the browser to not log in the user. With 8 methods in a ModelController you’ll have eight permission strings to add in the cookie, per object. I can think of three ways to go on. 1. Permission hash in a separate table 2. Permission as strings instead of objects 3. Drop ACL Having a permission hash means storing the hash in the cookie, then look up in the database whether the current action is allowed for this object and this user. Strings means storing permissions one permission object per action and a string with relevant object\_ids or “any” for free usage of the given action on any object. Dropping ACL is tempting and challenging as we’d need to store a lot more business logic on the database level. I really think dropping ACL is the best way. Simplicity is your friend. – Runar Ingebrigtsen propell, mopo as [http://runar.mopo.no](http://runar.mopo.no) | +47 971 77 229 | Boks 808, 8001 Bodø, NORWAY ---
**Author:** ![sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sabin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sabin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/roles-based-authentication/100153/5 "2006-07-27T16:17:46Z")
Runar Ingebrigtsen wrote: > tor, 27,.07.2006 kl. 13.10 +0200, skrev sabin: > > > im trying to implement a role based authentication in my project, but im > > writing too many conditions, and i think thats not the right way to > > proceed. What if there were an outboard system that handled both authentication and fine-grained authorization? And a Rails application could simply access it transparently, with either a generator or a plugin?