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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.

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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.

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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. – Omnifarious Oct 12 '10 at 19:17
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). – Kaleb Pederson Oct 12 '10 at 20:08
Oh... and ACL implementations vary across the board. getfacl works on Linux and (at least some) Solaris, but I've been on other systems that use a completely different implementation. – Kaleb Pederson Oct 12 '10 at 20:15
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. – Omnifarious Oct 12 '10 at 20:18
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