How to Modify ACL Entries on a File

1. Modify ACL entries on a file by using the setfacl command.

   $ setfacl -m acl-entry-list filename ...

   -m	Modifies the existing ACL entry.
   acl-entry-list	Specifies the list of one or more ACL entries to modify on the file or directory. You can also modify default ACL entries on a directory. Table 15–8 and Table 15–9 show the valid ACL entries.
   filename ...	Specifies one or more files or directories, separated by a space.

2. Verify that the ACL entries were modified on the file by using the getfacl command.

   $ getfacl filename

Examples—Modifying ACL Entries on a File

In the following example, the permissions for the user george are modified to read and write.

$ setfacl -m user:george:6 ch3.doc
$ getfacl ch3.doc
# file: ch3.doc
# owner: nathan
# group: staff
user::rw-				
user::george:rw-				#effective:r--
group::r-	              #effective:r--
mask:r--
other:r-

In the following example, the default permissions for the group staff are modified to read and the default ACL mask permissions are modified to read and write on the book directory.

$ setfacl -m default:group:staff:4,default:mask:6 book