@webchick: rolled your changes into the most recent patch on the issue above. also enabled editing of the "protected roles". your review and thoughts would be appreciated. the migration really simplified form validation and submission logic as well as creating a common UI that users already know from the content types page. im marking this issue as a duplicate but please revert if this isnt the best way to move forward.
@webchick: if theres no complaint im going to roll this new functionality into the UI redesign of the roles page #393406: "Edit" links on roles admin page are confusing to users: "Edit permissions" should be the primary link → .I dont link multiissue patches but they are very interrelated. Im going to mimic the content types page for the design and operation which leaves the ease of extension for contrib modules on the "edit link" and still lets us mitigate the permissions link on this page while adding your new functionality. ill have a patch for review on the other issue today or tomorrow morning.