Here's what I delivered yesterday at the MKE-JUG after testing Joomla 1.6 from SVN and reading up on it, as well as phpGACL. phpGACL is the PHP class that makes the whole user access permissions system possible. It's been in the core package since Mambo (c. 2003) but not in its entirety since Joomla 1.5. In Joomla 1.5, phpGACL is all there but not fully used by the core. The Joomla core development team's plan is to change that for the 1.6 release.

I wonder if any ACL-related extensions other than RokACL and jXtended Control use phpGACL? Those two extensions represent the progression toward the core ACL enhancements going into 1.6. (FYI, phpGACL is well documented, and the documentation is lay-accessible with an extended "crew of the Millenium Falcon" analogy to explain how it works.)

Some third-party extensions--Remository and Joomla Flash Uploader--use phpGACL in a limited way, essentially creating their own internal access controls. These file repository/management extensions have a lot of front-end controls that need to be carefully distributed as privileges to designated users for security and simple workflow needs. To accomplish this, both extensions allow you to define custom front-end user groups, assign individual users to them, and then assign certain access rights to these groups.

During our discussion of at the February JUG meeting, John Fischer said he has tested 1.6 as it is now, and it automatically discovers third-party extensions you have installed, adding their actions and read/write features to the core access control system. Very nice!

Major questions and unknowns about 1.6:

• It does not include the XML-RPC plugin present in 1.5? Why not?
• It looks like front-end access to the new access controls is not in the mix. Having that would be, in many ways, a dangerous convenience. How easy will it be for third-party extensions to offer some front-end access control?
• How is 1.6 going to affect existing third-party extensions with custom access and user profile/member management functions? A large number of extensions already deliver additional access, membership subscription, workflow, and user profile controls or customization. E.g., the various social network extensions for Joomla. There is some discussion of this now at Joomunity.

Progress on Joomla 1.6 depends on you! Ask what you can do for your J!1.6 core dev team on Twitter at @willebil, @AndrewEddie, and @xyzulu.

Update: Andrew Eddie briefs the troops (July 2009).

Lifting The Lid on Joomla 1.6 from Andrew Smith on Vimeo.