Prompt:
help me understand what "orthogonally" means in below context
But there's a corner case that can be somewhat confusing here, and it's one that I managed to crash into multiple times when I was implementing some code that works with this. Keys can be "possessed" by a process, and have permissions that are granted to the possessor orthogonally to any permissions granted to the user or group that owns the key.
Response:
Let me break this down in the context of system permissions and keys.
When something is done "orthogonally" in technical contexts, it means it operates independently or perpendicular to another aspect - like two systems or sets of rules that work completely separately from each other without affecting each other.
In this specific case about key permissions:
- There's one set of permissions based on who owns the key (user/group ownership)
- There's a separate set of permissions given to whoever currently possesses/holds the key
- These two sets of permissions operate completely independently of each other
To use an analogy: Think of a house key. There's:
- The legal owner of the house (ownership permissions)
- The current person holding the key (possession permissions)
These are "orthogonal" because:
- The owner's rights to the house exist regardless of who has the key
- The key-holder's ability to enter exists regardless of who owns the house
- One set of rights doesn't affect or interfere with the other
So in the code context, when they say permissions are granted "orthogonally," they mean the possessor's permissions exist and function completely independently from the owner's permissions - they're separate systems that don't influence each other.