What does the + mean in the output of "ls -l"?

Question

ls -l

-rwxr-xr-x  1 root     root   885 2010-07-08 13:55 /etc/backup-number-of-files*
-rwxrwxr-x+ 1 levchuk  Users 1067 2010-08-30 14:37 /etc/backup-running-time*

Please notice the + on the 2nd line.

Solution

In my mind it's always been an indicator that additional permissions are available in the form of ACLs. You should then be able to use getfacl to see what those ACLs are.

Comments

[Omnifarious]

You know, I've worked with Unix systems for decades, and I was dimly aware there was an ACL system, but I've never ever seen it used and hadn't a clue how to use it myself.

[Kaleb Pederson]

I've never seen it documented in an ls man page which is why I said "In my mind." Default ACLs can be very useful as a way to work around complex grouping hierarchies, group membership limitations, and permission problems (as generally bestowed by poor SFTP clients).

[Omnifarious]

I believe there's a POSIX spec (that I've only glanced at briefly) for how they're supposed to work. I didn't realize that anybody implemented it. ;-) I generally disfavor ACLs as I think they lead to excessive complexity and it can become very hard to write code that has a predictable outcome when checking them. But I agree that they are a very nice tool to have if you absolutely need them.

[Tim Baverstock]

I always assumed the + meant I should use lsattr - never heard of getfacl.