There are some key terms used to describe users' abilities in Moodle and how they are defined, which are as follows:
Role: A role is a set or collection of permissions on different capabilities. There are default roles like teacher and student, which have predefined sets of permissions.
Capability: A capability is a specific behavior in Moodle, such as Start new discussions (
mod/forum:startdiscussion), which can have a permission set within a role such as Allow or Not set/Inherit:
Permission: Permission is associated with a capability. There are four possible values: allow, prevent, prohibit, or not set.
Not set: This means that that there is not a specific setting for this user role, and Moodle will determine if it is allowed, if set in a higher context.
Allow: The permission is explicitly granted for the capability.
Prevent: The permission is removed for the capability, even if allowed in a higher context. However, it can be overridden at a specific context...