categories, sub-projects, and permissions: please explain

[gravyface]

Version: 1.0.5
OS: Ubuntu "Dapper Drake"
Apache 2.x
MySQL 5.x
PHP 5.x

First of all, I'd like to thank the Mantis team. I've been hunting high and low for a ticket/pm/task solution for a client and this looks to be able to meet their somewhat unique requirements.

I've read the README and skimmed through the manual (which seems to be geared towards development, not user or administration) but I have not seen anything that clearly defines categories and/or the project/sub-project hierarchy and when you would/wouldn't want to use categories or sub-projects. I also don't have a clear understanding of the role permissions and if inheritance applies to sub-items.

My requirements:
==============

I need to create a company/geographical location hierarchy; within each location, I need to have a maintenance log and work orders section.

I'm thinking of creating each company as the top-level project and create each site as sub-projects; this way I can create categories for both of these issue types.

the maintenance log will be read-only to clients and read/write for staff.
the work order ("issue") will be read/write for both staff ("developer" and "manager" roles) and clients (probably "reporter" or "updater").

e.g.

ACME Company ("project")
=================
- Boston, MA ("sub-project")

--work orders ("issue" category)
--- ACME Bob the Client ("reporter" can view/create/edit)
--- ACME Joe the Worker ("developer" can view/create/edit)

--maintenance log ("issue" category)
--- ACME Bob the Client ("reporter" can view)
--- ACME Joe the Worker ("developer" can view/create/edit)

- New York, NY
-- work orders
... etc. ...
-- maitenance log
... etc. ...

Rand Corporation
=================
- Detroit, MI
... etc ...


First question: will I be able to assign category permissions? The role permissions seem to only apply to the users assigned to the projects and I need a way to only allow clients to create issues within the "work order" category.

Secondly, is there any inheritance? If Bob the Client is assigned to ACME Company project, does his "reporter" rights apply to all sub-projects? If I only assigned him to the Boston sub-project (assuming this is possible), does his role permissions only apply to Boston?

Lastly, how does "public" and "private" work? If something is public, are roles ignored and all users can read/write or just read?

TIA

[gravyface]

Since I'm talking to myself here, I might as well answer myself:

First question: will I be able to assign category permissions? The role permissions seem to only apply to the users assigned to the projects and I need a way to only allow clients to create issues within the "work order" category.

It looks like you cannot add users to categories in 1.0.5; no distinct category security is possible.

Lastly, how does "public" and "private" work? If something is public, are roles ignored and all users can read/write or just read?

"public" and "private" only apply to viewing of projects -- private projects can only be viewed by administrators or users that have been assigned to it.
public projects are viewable by anyone.

Secondly, is there any inheritance? If Bob the Client is assigned to ACME Company project, does his "reporter" rights apply to all sub-projects? If I only assigned him to the Boston sub-project (assuming this is possible), does his role permissions only apply to Boston?

No. There doesn't appear to be inheritance; Bob will have to be assigned to all sub-projects as well. Secondly, role permissions only apply to a particular project and only if the user has been assigned to that project, with the exception of the administrator role.