refactor: consolidate about-page access logic and enhance clarity of access checks

Author: BryanttV

lms/djangoapps/courseware/access.py

@@ -460,36 +460,21 @@ def _about_page_catalog_visibility_error() -> AccessResponse | CatalogVisibility
         """
         return _has_catalog_visibility(courselike, CATALOG_VISIBILITY_CATALOG_AND_ABOUT)
 
-    def legacy_can_see_about_page() -> AccessResponse | CatalogVisibilityError:
+    @function_trace("can_see_about_page")
+    def can_see_about_page() -> AccessResponse | CatalogVisibilityError:
         """
-        Legacy about-page access when AuthZ course authoring is disabled.
+        Entry point for about-page visibility checks.
 
         Grants access when any of the following is true:
           - the course catalog_visibility allows the about page, or
-          - the user has course staff access (including limited staff via role inheritance).
+          - the user has course staff access (including limited staff via role inheritance), or
+          - the user is authenticated, AuthZ course authoring is enabled for the course,
+            and the user has COURSES_VIEW_COURSE (including legacy Studio read access
+            as a fallback during RBAC migration).
 
         Learners, beta testers, and other course-team roles without staff access rely on
         catalog visibility only; they are not checked explicitly here.
 
-        Returns CatalogVisibilityError when all checks fail.
-        """
-        catalog_visibility_access = _about_page_catalog_visibility_access()
-        if catalog_visibility_access:
-            return catalog_visibility_access
-
-        if _has_staff_access_to_block(user, courselike, courselike.id):
-            return ACCESS_GRANTED
-
-        return _about_page_catalog_visibility_error()
-
-    def authz_can_see_about_page() -> AccessResponse | CatalogVisibilityError:
-        """
-        About-page access when AuthZ course authoring is enabled for the course.
-
-        Applies the same course-level and staff checks as legacy_can_see_about_page,
-        and additionally grants access to users with COURSES_VIEW_COURSE (including
-        legacy Studio read access as a fallback during RBAC migration).
-
         AuthZ must not replace catalog visibility or staff bypass; those checks run
         first so enrolled learners and beta testers are not blocked by authoring
         permissions they do not hold.
@@ -503,31 +488,18 @@ def authz_can_see_about_page() -> AccessResponse | CatalogVisibilityError:
         if _has_staff_access_to_block(user, courselike, courselike.id):
             return ACCESS_GRANTED
 
-        if user_has_course_permission(
-            user,
-            COURSES_VIEW_COURSE.identifier,
-            courselike.id,
-            LegacyAuthoringPermission.READ,
+        if (
+            user
+            and not user.is_anonymous
+            and core_toggles.enable_authz_course_authoring(courselike.id)
+            and user_has_course_permission(
+                user, COURSES_VIEW_COURSE.identifier, courselike.id, LegacyAuthoringPermission.READ
+            )
         ):
             return ACCESS_GRANTED
 
         return _about_page_catalog_visibility_error()
 
-    @function_trace("can_see_about_page")
-    def can_see_about_page() -> AccessResponse | CatalogVisibilityError:
-        """
-        Entry point for about-page visibility checks.
-
-        Routes authenticated users on courses with AuthZ course authoring enabled to
-        authz_can_see_about_page; all other callers use legacy_can_see_about_page.
-
-        Both paths grant access via catalog_visibility and course staff bypass. The AuthZ
-        path additionally allows users with COURSES_VIEW_COURSE.
-        """
-        if user and not user.is_anonymous and core_toggles.enable_authz_course_authoring(courselike.id):
-            return authz_can_see_about_page()
-        return legacy_can_see_about_page()
-
     checkers = {
         'load': can_load,
         'load_mobile': lambda: can_load() and _can_load_course_on_mobile(user, courselike),