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SYS-C0005 · Linux Users & Permissions

Linux ACLs (setfacl/getfacl) Explained

Draft one named-user ACL, and do not apply it to the root of the filesystem.

Updated 25 October 2026 · How-To

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

setfacl adds a named user or group. getfacl reads it. The builder drafts both. It does not change a file. -R and -d are choices for a tree and for new files, not the first line on /.

One path you administer. Do not use an ACL to hide a mode you cannot explain. The mode bits still matter for the owner. A backup tool that drops ACLs is a finding you write down.

192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.

Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Name the path and the user.
  2. Draft setfacl and getfacl.
  3. Leave -R off unless the ticket names a tree that is not /.
  4. Do not run it during the reading.
  5. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the command

Linux ACLs (setfacl/getfacl) Explained goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for Linux ACLs (setfacl/getfacl) Explained: One path. The user is named. -R is absent or the tree is not /. Nothing was run. And the path is yours.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The path is written. The user is written. / was refused. Nothing was run. And the path is yours. If one of those fails, stop.

# One named user.
# Do not setfacl -R /.
# Do not run during the reading.

Before you leave the host

Linux ACLs (setfacl/getfacl) Explained ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.

This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.

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