/*
 * Copyright 2002,2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
 * 
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 * 
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 * 
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */


package org.apache.catalina;


import java.security.Principal;


/**
 * <p>Abstract representation of a security role, suitable for use in
 * environments like JAAS that want to deal with <code>Principals</code>.</p>
 *
 * @author Craig R. McClanahan
 * @version $Revision$ $Date$
 * @since 4.1
 */

public interface Role extends Principal {


    // ------------------------------------------------------------- Properties


    /**
     * Return the description of this role.
     */
    public String getDescription();


    /**
     * Set the description of this role.
     *
     * @param description The new description
     */
    public void setDescription(String description);


    /**
     * Return the role name of this role, which must be unique
     * within the scope of a {@link UserDatabase}.
     */
    public String getRolename();


    /**
     * Set the role name of this role, which must be unique
     * within the scope of a {@link UserDatabase}.
     *
     * @param rolename The new role name
     */
    public void setRolename(String rolename);


    /**
     * Return the {@link UserDatabase} within which this Role is defined.
     */
    public UserDatabase getUserDatabase();


}