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ACL(3)                     Library Functions Manual                     ACL(3)

NAME
     acl - introduction to the POSIX.1e/NFSv4 ACL security API

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/acl.h>

DESCRIPTION
     FreeBSD permits file systems to export Access Control Lists via the VFS,
     and provides a library for userland access to and manipulation of these
     ACLs.  FreeBSD supports POSIX.1e and NFSv4 ACLs, but not all file systems
     provide support for ACLs, and some may require that ACL support be
     explicitly enabled by the administrator.  The library calls include
     routines to allocate, duplicate, retrieve, set, and validate ACLs
     associated with file objects.  As well as the POSIX.1e routines, there
     are a number of non-portable extensions defined that allow for ACL
     semantics alternative to POSIX.1e, such as NFSv4.  Where routines are
     non-standard, they are suffixed with _np to indicate that they are not
     portable.

     POSIX.1e describes a set of ACL manipulation routines to manage the
     contents of ACLs, as well as their relationships with files; almost all
     of these support routines are implemented in FreeBSD.

     Available functions, sorted by behavior, include:

     acl_add_flag_np()
             This function is described in acl_add_flag_np(3), and may be used
             to add flags to a flagset.

     acl_add_perm()
             This function is described in acl_add_perm(3), and may be used to
             add permissions to a permission set.

     acl_calc_mask()
             This function is described in acl_calc_mask(3), and may be used
             to calculate and set the permissions associated with the ACL_MASK
             entry.

     acl_clear_flags_np()
             This function is described in acl_clear_flags_np(3), and may be
             used to clear all flags from a flagset.

     acl_clear_perms()
             This function is described in acl_clear_perms(3), and may be used
             to clear all permissions from a permission set.

     acl_copy_entry()
             This function is described in acl_copy_entry(3), and may be used
             to copy the contents of an ACL entry.

     acl_create_entry(), acl_create_entry_np()
             These functions are described in acl_create_entry(3), and may be
             used to create an empty entry in an ACL.

     acl_delete_def_file(), acl_delete_def_link_np(), acl_delete_fd_np(),
             acl_delete_file_np(), acl_delete_link_np()
             These functions are described in acl_delete(3), and may be used
             to delete ACLs from file system objects.

     acl_delete_entry(), acl_delete_entry_np(),
             This functions are described in acl_delete_entry(3), and may be
             used to delete an entry from an ACL.

     acl_delete_flag_np()
             This function is described in acl_delete_flag_np(3), and may be
             used to delete flags from a flagset.

     acl_delete_perm()
             This function is described in acl_delete_perm(3), and may be used
             to delete permissions from a permset.

     acl_dup()
             This function is described in acl_dup(3), and may be used to
             duplicate an ACL structure.

     acl_free()
             This function is described in acl_free(3), and may be used to
             free userland working ACL storage.

     acl_from_text()
             This function is described in acl_from_text(3), and may be used
             to convert a text-form ACL into working ACL state, if the ACL has
             POSIX.1e or NFSv4 semantics.

     acl_get_brand_np()
             This function is described in acl_get_brand_np(3) and may be used
             to determine whether the ACL has POSIX.1e or NFSv4 semantics.

     acl_get_entry()
             This function is described in acl_get_entry(3), and may be used
             to retrieve a designated ACL entry from an ACL.

     acl_get_fd(), acl_get_fd_np(), acl_get_file(), acl_get_link_np()
             These functions are described in acl_get(3), and may be used to
             retrieve ACLs from file system objects.

     acl_get_entry_type_np()
             This function is described in acl_get_entry_type_np(3), and may
             be used to retrieve an ACL type from an ACL entry.

     acl_get_flagset_np()
             This function is described in acl_get_flagset_np(3), and may be
             used to retrieve a flagset from an ACL entry.

     acl_get_permset()
             This function is described in acl_get_permset(3), and may be used
             to retrieve a permset from an ACL entry.

     acl_get_qualifier()
             This function is described in acl_get_qualifier(3), and may be
             used to retrieve the qualifier from an ACL entry.

     acl_get_tag_type()
             This function is described in acl_get_tag_type(3), and may be
             used to retrieve the tag type from an ACL entry.

     acl_init()
             This function is described in acl_init(3), and may be used to
             allocate a fresh (empty) ACL structure.

     acl_is_trivial_np()
             This function is described in acl_is_trivial_np(3), and may be
             used to find out whether ACL is trivial.

     acl_set_fd(), acl_set_fd_np(), acl_set_file(), acl_set_link_np()
             These functions are described in acl_set(3), and may be used to
             assign an ACL to a file system object.

     acl_set_entry_type_np()
             This function is described in acl_set_entry_type_np(3), and may
             be used to set the ACL type of an ACL entry.

     acl_set_flagset_np()
             This function is described in acl_set_flagset_np(3), and may be
             used to set the flags of an ACL entry from a flagset.

     acl_set_permset()
             This function is described in acl_set_permset(3), and may be used
             to set the permissions of an ACL entry from a permset.

     acl_set_qualifier()
             This function is described in acl_set_qualifier(3), and may be
             used to set the qualifier of an ACL.

     acl_set_tag_type()
             This function is described in acl_set_tag_type(3), and may be
             used to set the tag type of an ACL.

     acl_strip_np()
             This function is described in acl_strip_np(3), and may be used to
             remove extended entries from an ACL.

     acl_to_text(), acl_to_text_np()
             These functions are described in acl_to_text(3), and may be used
             to generate a text-form of a POSIX.1e or NFSv4 semantics ACL.

     acl_valid(), acl_valid_fd_np(), acl_valid_file_np(), acl_valid_link_np()
             These functions are described in acl_valid(3), and may be used to
             validate an ACL as correct POSIX.1e-semantics, or as appropriate
             for a particular file system object regardless of semantics.

     Documentation of the internal kernel interfaces backing these calls may
     be found in acl(9).  The syscalls between the internal interfaces and the
     public library routines may change over time, and as such are not
     documented.  They are not intended to be called directly without going
     through the library.

SEE ALSO
     getfacl(1), setfacl(1), acl_add_flag_np(3), acl_add_perm(3),
     acl_calc_mask(3), acl_clear_flags_np(3), acl_clear_perms(3),
     acl_copy_entry(3), acl_create_entry(3), acl_delete_entry(3),
     acl_delete_flag_np(3), acl_delete_perm(3), acl_dup(3), acl_free(3),
     acl_from_text(3), acl_get(3), acl_get_brand_np(3),
     acl_get_entry_type_np(3), acl_get_flagset_np(3), acl_get_permset(3),
     acl_get_qualifier(3), acl_get_tag_type(3), acl_init(3),
     acl_is_trivial_np(3), acl_set(3), acl_set_entry_type_np(3),
     acl_set_flagset_np(3), acl_set_permset(3), acl_set_qualifier(3),
     acl_set_tag_type(3), acl_strip_np(3), acl_to_text(3), acl_valid(3),
     posix1e(3), acl(9)

STANDARDS
     POSIX.1e assigns security labels to all objects, extending the security
     functionality described in POSIX.1.  These additional labels provide
     fine-grained discretionary access control, fine-grained capabilities, and
     labels necessary for mandatory access control.  POSIX.2c describes a set
     of userland utilities for manipulating these labels.

     POSIX.1e is described in IEEE POSIX.1e draft 17.  Discussion of the draft
     continues on the cross-platform POSIX.1e implementation mailing list.  To
     join this list, see the FreeBSD POSIX.1e implementation page for more
     information.

HISTORY
     Both NFSv4 and POSIX.1e ACL support were introduced in NetBSD 10.0.
     Support was ported from FreeBSD and is based on extended attributes for
     the UFS and UFS2 file systems.

     The getfacl(1) and setfacl(1) utilities describe the user tools that
     permit direct manipulation of complete file ACLs.

AUTHORS
     Robert N M Watson

NetBSD 10.99                   January 17, 2022                   NetBSD 10.99