I want to describe an issue with importing permission sets.

Customers typically test applications in a test database and then import the corrected permission sets into the production system.

If the code names of the permission sets do not change, they are updated in terms of content.

However, the updating only applies to existing objects and the addition of new attributes. Removed attributes, such as a "Modify", remain and are not removed by the import. Deleted permissions (e.g., a specific report) also remain.

This is because the import does not perform a complete deletion of the existing permission rights, and only the records that are found again are "updated".

The suggestion is to provide an option during the import: update or overwrite

It is important that the permission set itself is not completely deleted when overwriting, only the access rights contained under it! otherwise the links to other permission sets (Included permission sets) and also the assignment to a user could be lost.