id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc
10201	Remove user-specific caps	Denis-de-Bernardy		"See IRC discussions from June 18th 2009

 * The current role system is rather complicated, But has a lot of flexibility
 * A lot of the flexibility isn't even used by most (ie. the ability to have a user with a Roll + a single capability)
 * The role system starts having trouble with a high number of users
   * To look up every user with a certain cap. it requires loading all the users, and then checking individually. 

The proposed changes are:

 * That we reduce the complex system to something much more simple:
   * Roles are retained: 1 role per meta entry, and since the meta API allows for multiple values for the same key, this would have the benefit of multiple roles, and direct lookups.
   * However:
     * Remove the ability for a user to be part of a Role, and have an extra capability added on top of that. 
 * This has the ability to significantly increase performance, As now:
   * Looking up users with a specific cap is easy:
     * Filter the role list for roles with that cap
     * SQL the usermeta table for users in those roles
     * Select those users (if needed, else return the ID's) 
 * An upgrade path is available which doesnt require extra tables, and reduces the ammount of serialization
   * The other option is a whole new set of tables.. which.. those who are sane (And there are some insane people in WP Dev..) realise that its not really needed. 
 * Fine grain control has never been possible from WP without a plugin, Nothing would change here, If a user wants fine grained control over permissions, They'd still have to run a plugin, Its just that that plugin may have to do more heavy lifting now -- since wordpress's API/role system would be simpler and not support the extra fangledangles."	enhancement	assigned	normal	Future Release	Role/Capability	2.8	normal		early	westi aaroncampbell apljdi WordPress@… Txanny mikeschinkel@… wp-t31os@… earthman100 dkikizas@… ashishsainiashfame@… jer@… ryan_b admin@… hello@…