Magento2 : Layout block what is the difference between acl="" and aclResource"" attribute

Question

I've been trying to figure out the difference between acl and aclResource both attributes available for <block> directive.

I know that aclResource is useful to render the block based on specific acl resource_id example :

<block name="my_block" aclResource="Some_Module::default">

see example in magento

I see that the same attribute is also used in blocks inside ui_components like following :

<uiComponent name="notification_area" aclResource="Magento_AdminNotification::show_list"/>

see example in magento

Now by looking at the XSD file of layout for block handle I see acl and aclResource for the block type

 <xs:complexType name="blockType" mixed="true">
 <xs:annotation>
 <xs:documentation>
 ....
 </xs:sequence>
 <xs:attribute type="elementNameType" name="name" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="blockClassType" name="class" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="elementAliasType" name="as" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="template" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="elementPositionType" name="before" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="elementPositionType" name="after" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="elementOutputType" name="output" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="acl" use="optional"/> <!-- here -->
 <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="aclResource" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="ifconfig" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="group" use="optional" />
 <xs:attribute type="xs:boolean" name="cacheable" default="true" use="optional"/>
 <xs:attribute type="xs:int" name="ttl" use="optional"/>
 </xs:complexType>

by searching in magento core for usages of acl=" in blocks but only in customer_form.xml which is a form ui component.

<form xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Ui:etc/ui_configuration.xsd">
 <htmlContent name="orders_content">
 <block acl="Magento_Sales::actions_view" class="Magento\Sales\Block\Adminhtml\CustomerOrdersTab" name="orders" />
 </htmlContent>
 <htmlContent name="cart_content">
 <block acl="Magento_Cart::manage" class="Magento\Sales\Block\Adminhtml\ShoppingCartsTab" name="cart"/>
 </htmlContent>
</form>

All that said, my question(s) is : does acl and aclResource do the same ? is there any rule or best practice to use one above the other ? is acl deprecated ?

Answer 1

Finally, minutes after posting the question I found out that :

• the acl attribute is deprecated and had same role as aclResource see : vendor/magento/framework/View/Layout/Reader/Block.php

...
 const ATTRIBUTE_ACL = 'aclResource';
...
 /**
 * @deprecated 101.0.0
 * @var string
 */
 private $deprecatedAttributeAcl = 'acl';
...
 /**
 * Replaces old ACL attribute key to new.
 *
 * @param array|Element $data
 *
 * @return array|Element
 */
 private function replaceDeprecatedAclKey($data)
 {
 if (isset($data[$this->deprecatedAttributeAcl])) {
 $data[self::ATTRIBUTE_ACL] = (string)$data[$this->deprecatedAttributeAcl];
 }
 return $data;
 }

So in conclusion only aclResouce should be used in block to stay future proof.