Privileges in Oracle are divided into two classes: system and object. System privileges define what actions you are allowed to take within the database. Object privileges define what you are allowed to do to a specific object, such as a table, a view, or a sequence. This chapter discusses the system privileges available in Oracle8. Object privileges are described in Chapter 6.

In addition, Oracle recognizes certain roles that behave in a manner similar to system privileges, and this chapter discusses the six initial, or default, roles created with each database and the nine roles created by optional scripts during the standard database creation process.