[Opensim-users] OSSL function threat level restrictions - PARCEL_GROUP_MEMBER flag

[Fleep Tuque]

Hi all,

Just wanted to share a bit of information for anyone else who may be
implementing OSSL functions and attempting to restrict certain threat
levels with the various permission flags in the opensim.ini configuration.
 This message is particularly related to the PARCEL_GROUP_MEMBER flag.

For more background information on this topic, see the following links:
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OSSL
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OSSL_Implemented
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OSSL_Enabling_Functions
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Threat_level

We are developing a HUD for a local school district that will animate
student avatars to perform different kinds of classroom behaviors.  An
overview of the project is at
http://ucsim.uc.edu/blog/opensim/oak-hills-school-district/ for those who
may be curious.

In order to perform certain classroom misbehaviors like throwing a paperwad
or using a cell phone in class, we wanted to take advantage of
the osForceAttachToOtherAvatarFromInventory function to attach a paperwad
or cell phone object to the avatar as the animation/sound effects play.

This particular function is listed in the Severe threat level category, so
we also wanted to try to restrict its use to just the students avatars in
the project group and to a particular parcel of land where the project
classroom sits.  We did this (or attempted anyway) by using the following
configuration in our opensim.ini under the [XEngine] section:

AllowOSFunctions = true

OSFunctionThreatLevel = Moderate

Allow_osForceAttachToOtherAvatarFromInventory = PARCEL_GROUP_MEMBER,
PARCEL_OWNER, ESTATE_MANAGER, ESTATE_OWNER

Now my understanding was that the PARCEL_GROUP_MEMBER flag would allow a
user to use this function if:
a) the parcel of land where the script was run was owned by (deeded to) a
particular group,
b) that user was also a member of that particular group,
c) the object containing the script was also set to the group.

However in our initial tests, it seemed as if the script was failing.  We
double checked that the land was deeded to the group, that the user was
invited to and a member of the same group, and both the HUD and the test
attachment object were also set to the same group.  But when the user tried
to trigger the script, it failed to work and resulted in the following
error:

ohsd_hud_v1.2.5 a: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception
has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.Exception: OSSL
Runtime Error: osForceAttachToOtherAvatarFromInventory permission denied.
Script creator is not in the list of users allowed to execute this function
and prim owner also has no permission.

We double checked all of the configurations and permissions again, and
discovered two things that eventually led to the function working as we
intended.

First, at least with the Imprudence viewer, it appears that when a user is
invited to a group and accepts the invitation, the user is added to the
group but that group is NOT set to be the active group by default (as
happens, I believe, in Second Life).  So the user must go in and activate
the group manually.

Second, even after the group is activated, the function still would not run
for the user until the user logged off and logged back in - then everything
worked as expected.

I don't know what part of this is related to the groups module, the viewer
we're using (Imprudence in this case), or the way we've configured the
function settings and the objects and scripts themselves, but it took some
trial and error to discover that it isn't enough to just invite a user to
the group for them to be able to use OSSL functions restricted by the
PARCEL_GROUP_MEMBER flag.  End users have to accept the group invitation,
activate the group manually, and then relog before it would work.

Hope that helps someone else who might run into this and I'm trying to
figure out where best to document this on the wiki for future reference.

- Chris/Fleep


Chris M. Collins (SL/OS: Fleep Tuque)
Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research (UCSIM)
UCIT Instructional & Research Computing
University of Cincinnati
406A Zimmer Hall
315 College Drive
PO BOX 210088
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088
chris.collins at uc.edu
(513) 556-3018

http://ucsim.uc.edu
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