<p>Capabilities allow the Symbian platform to control access by

applications to the functionalities provided by the platform APIs.

Access to capabilities is determined by the device configuration and

how the application has been signed. Capabilities can be divided into

four categories:</p>

<li><p><i>user capabilities</i>: <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/LocalServices" scope="external"><codeph>LocalServices</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/NetworkServices" scope="external"><codeph>NetworkServices</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/ReadUserData" scope="external"><codeph>ReadUserData</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/WriteUserData" scope="external"><codeph>WriteUserData</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/UserEnvironment" scope="external"><codeph>UserEnvironment</codeph></xref> and, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Location" scope="external"><codeph>Location</codeph></xref></p></li>

<li><p><i>system capabilities</i>: <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/PowerMgmt" scope="external"><codeph>PowerMgmt</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/ProtServ" scope="external"><codeph>ProtServ</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/ReadDeviceData" scope="external"><codeph>ReadDeviceData</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/SurroundingsDD" scope="external"><codeph>SurroundingsDD</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/SwEvent" scope="external"><codeph>SwEvent</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/TrustedUI" scope="external"><codeph>TrustedUI</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/WriteDeviceData" scope="external"><codeph>WriteDeviceData</codeph></xref></p></li>

<li><p><i>restricted capabilities</i>: <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/CommDD" scope="external"><codeph>CommDD</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/DiskAdmin" scope="external"><codeph>DiskAdmin</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/MultimediaDD" scope="external"><codeph>MultimediaDD</codeph></xref> and <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/NetworkControl" scope="external"><codeph>NetworkControl</codeph></xref></p></li>

<li><p><i>device manufacturer capabilitie</i>s: <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/AllFiles" scope="external"><codeph>AllFiles</codeph></xref>, <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/DRM" scope="external"><codeph>DRM</codeph></xref> and <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Trusted_Computing_Base_%28TCB%29" scope="external"><codeph>TCB</codeph></xref></p></li>

<p>Capabilities required by the application are defined in the <codeph>mmp</codeph> project definition file during the build process, and

cannot be changed during run time. For information on the parameters

you can use, see <b>Symbian Tools Guide &gt; Building &gt;

Symbian Build System (SBSv1) > Build tools reference > MMP file syntax

&gt; capability</b>. Carbide.c++ has a Capability Scanner tool which

can be accessed through the <b>Project &gt; Run Capability Scanner on

Project MMP</b> menu. The tool scans and checks the project for required

capabilities.</p>

<p>During the installation the <xref href="GUID-1293DE8C-E803-4ADF-9FA8-862519337331.dita">Software Installer</xref> application in the device checks whether the application has been

certified or signed. It then checks the capabilities requested by

the application. If the application has been certified, it checks

that the root certificate is allowed to grant the required capabilities.

If no problems are encountered, the installation can continue. For

information on certifications required by the capabilities, see <xref href="GUID-B9414AE8-820E-4CA5-A9C4-29560CD6F2EF.dita">Application signing</xref>.</p>

<p>The user can grant the <i>user capabilities</i> to a self-signed

application. For example, the following dialog is shown to the user

to grant the <codeph>LocalServices</codeph> capability:</p>

<fig id="GUID-5FCD68FB-BB79-48E0-B438-E8BFAD37331D"><title>Granting LocalServices capability during the installation</title><image href="GUID-08152DC3-2A5D-42AC-B722-3D49275FE548_d0e14692_href.png"/></fig>

than the loading process, otherwise the process is not allowed to

load the <codeph>dll</codeph>. Once loaded, a <codeph>dll</codeph> runs at the capability level of the loading process. A <codeph>dll</codeph> that has a higher capability set than the loading process cannot

leak capabilities to the process, but a process can leak capabilities

to the <codeph>dll</codeph>.</p>

<p>For more information, see <xref href="http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/TSS000454_-_DLL_capability_model_in_a_secure_platform" scope="external">DLL capability model in a secure platform</xref> (TSS000454) in

the Forum Nokia Knowledge Base.</p>