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25 
26 package java.security.acl;
27 
28 import java.util.Enumeration;
29 import java.security.Principal;
30 
31 /**
32  * This interface is used to represent a group of principals. (A principal
33  * represents an entity such as an individual user or a company). <p>
34  *
35  * Note that Group extends Principal. Thus, either a Principal or a Group can
36  * be passed as an argument to methods containing a Principal parameter. For
37  * example, you can add either a Principal or a Group to a Group object by
38  * calling the object's {@code addMember} method, passing it the
39  * Principal or Group.
40  *
41  * @author      Satish Dharmaraj
42  */
43 public interface Group extends Principal {
44 
45     /**
46      * Adds the specified member to the group.
47      *
48      * @param user the principal to add to this group.
49      *
50      * @return true if the member was successfully added,
51      * false if the principal was already a member.
52      */
addMember(Principal user)53     public boolean addMember(Principal user);
54 
55     /**
56      * Removes the specified member from the group.
57      *
58      * @param user the principal to remove from this group.
59      *
60      * @return true if the principal was removed, or
61      * false if the principal was not a member.
62      */
removeMember(Principal user)63     public boolean removeMember(Principal user);
64 
65     /**
66      * Returns true if the passed principal is a member of the group.
67      * This method does a recursive search, so if a principal belongs to a
68      * group which is a member of this group, true is returned.
69      *
70      * @param member the principal whose membership is to be checked.
71      *
72      * @return true if the principal is a member of this group,
73      * false otherwise.
74      */
isMember(Principal member)75     public boolean isMember(Principal member);
76 
77 
78     /**
79      * Returns an enumeration of the members in the group.
80      * The returned objects can be instances of either Principal
81      * or Group (which is a subclass of Principal).
82      *
83      * @return an enumeration of the group members.
84      */
members()85     public Enumeration<? extends Principal> members();
86 
87 }
88