up vote 6 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

I see that some of the files in my directories under Linux have a . at the end of the permissions listing. what does the dot mean at the end of -rw-r--r--. How do you set it with chmod ?

link|improve this question
feedback

migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 8 '11 at 10:43

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

3 Answers

up vote 11 down vote

According to ls.c (line 3642), . means an SELinux ACL. (+ means a general ACL.)

link|improve this answer
1  
+1 for being a programmer – ta.speot.is Jan 8 '11 at 10:59
@taspeotis: The OP originally posted this on SO, so it seems it got programmers' attention too. :-P – Chris Jester-Young Jan 8 '11 at 15:36
feedback
up vote 5 down vote

It means the file has an access list with SELinux. Check out this topic, it tells you how to allow you to edit/change the file http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1315684

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

Most likely this is due to an Access Control List (ACL) although I've only seen them shown as a + as in rw-rw-rw-+. Perhaps the . means a lack of an ACL on that file.

You can try typing getfacl . in the current directory to see what access controls those files might have.

link|improve this answer
1  
Nope, the dot doesn't mean lack of ACLs - see other answers – Linker3000 Jan 8 '11 at 10:55
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard