Extending components in CakePHP without having to change all the calls to the original component

cakephp component extension

// controllers/components/custom_acl.php
App::import('Component', 'Acl');
class CustomAclComponent extends AclComponent {
    public function example() {
        // override the function
    }

}

Then in your app_controller

// app_controller.php

class AppController extends Controller {
    public $components = array('CustomAcl');
	
    public function constructClasses() {
        parent::constructClasses();
        $this->Acl = $this->CustomAcl;
    }
}