givePermissionTo() throws exception on missing permission without fallback option

[shakin-shahria]

Description

Hi,
I ran into an issue using givePermissionTo(). If I try to assign a permission that doesn’t exist in the database, it throws this error:
Spatie\Permission\Exceptions\PermissionDoesNotExist: There is no permission named xyzfor guardweb.
This becomes a problem when assigning dynamic permissions (e.g., from a form or seed data) — I have to wrap every call in a try-catch, which makes the code messy.

Steps To Reproduce

1.A givePermissionIfExistsTo() method, or
2.A config option to skip missing permissions
Would love to hear your thoughts on this or if there's a better way to handle it.
Thanks for the great package!

Example Application

No response

Version of spatie/laravel-permission package:

6.11.0

Version of laravel/framework package:

10.42

PHP version:

8.2

Database engine and version:

MySQL 8.0

OS: Windows/Mac/Linux version:

Windows 11

[drbyte]

Right.
When accepting inputs of dynamic permissions, why would you want to grant a permission that doesn't exist?
You need to create the permission before assigning it, or validate the submitted input to be sure it matches available options.

[DrPowerSlam]

Why not just use the findOrCreate method on the permission before you give it to a user?

So something like:

public function givePermission(Request $request) //Some controller method
{
    $permissionName = $request->permissionName;
    $userId = $request->userId;
    $permission = Permission::findOrCreate($permissionName);
    $user = User::query()->findOrFail($userId);

    $user->givePermissionTo($permission);
}

I don't see any reason to update the configuration of the package for something that is so easily solved in user-code.

I think it would generally be a worse developer experience if you can assign a permission that doesn't exist, and then it just silently doesn't happen.