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What is ACL?

Morod

Morod

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 1, 2008
1,820
1,053
On The Nickel, over there....
Hi everyone,
I recently ran my Verify Disk Permissions, and I'm still pretty new at this. The only entry that came back was "ACL found but not expected on "Library"."
Should I be concerned about this?
Thanks, as always, for any help/advice given.
Morod
 
Morod said:
Hi everyone,
I recently ran my Verify Disk Permissions, and I'm still pretty new at this. The only entry that came back was "ACL found but not expected on "Library"."
Should I be concerned about this?
Thanks, as always, for any help/advice given.
Morod
Click to expand...

I don't know what "ACL" is in this context, but did you repair permissions? Usually the computer can automatically fix any problems.

That said, most MR members agree that repairing permissions isn't as important as it used to be. If you're not experiencing any problems you should be fine.
 
Thank you!

Sorry for not including more info in my original post.
Yes, I am running Leopard 10.5 OS.
Yes, I did repair Permissions after verifying.
The reason I ran it is because my Al iMac locked up yesterday while using Safari. It locked up hard as Force Quit did nothing. I could move my mouse cursor, but clicking the mouse button did nothing. Tried navigating with my keyboard. I was able to Force Quit Safari and Finder then, but it didn't help things. So then I pressed and help the power button on back to shut the iMac down. It rebooted fine and everything worked as it should.
So that's why I ran Permissions.
Again, thank you!
Morod
 
Morod i had the exact same ACL error as you when repairing permissions. im not sure what an ACL is exactly but i know its just a minor error that has no real impact on speed or stability. some Leopard users just leave it and forget about it.

but im a perfectionist so i had to fix mine. i ended up downloading the 10.5.1 combo update and this fixed it but then after 10.5.2 it came back again. then i found out a simple Unix command fixes it. so try entering this into Terminal which is in the Utilities folder.

Code: 
sudo chmod -R -N /Library
 
Thank you, richthomas,
I see your posts here often and respect your advice, but I am going to leave well enough alone.
I'm still very new to Apple and, especially, Terminal. In my mind I equate Terminal to Windows Registry, which I never messed with either.
Too easy for me to destroy things, I guess.
Thanks again!
Morod
 
Morod said:
Thank you, richthomas,
I see your posts here often and respect your advice, but I am going to leave well enough alone.
I'm still very new to Apple and, especially, Terminal. In my mind I equate Terminal to Windows Registry, which I never messed with either.
Too easy for me to destroy things, I guess.
Thanks again!
Morod
Click to expand...

ok then that fine but it wont wreck anything and ive tested the command and it works.

you should only be worried about terminal commands when you dont know or havent been told what it does.

Terminal is just a GUI to access OS X's Unix core and is nothing like the Registry in Windows. the OS X equivalent of the Registry is the System folder and the invisible unix files which your shouldnt touch.
 
richthomas said:
Terminal is just a GUI to access OS X's Unix core and is nothing like the Registry in Windows. the OS X equivalent of the Registry is the System folder and the invisible unix files which your shouldnt touch.
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert, but I have to disagree, the Terminal isn't a GUI (Graphic User Interface), it's a CLI (Command Line Interface).
If you use the 'sudo' command and you don't know what you are doing you may mess up your mac similar to what you can do with the windows registry.

I suggest to use the 'man' command before any other command to learn about it.
Type "man sudo", by this you will see what that particular command does before using it.
________
pot news
 
Last edited:
ACL = Access Control List. Dictates write privileges to shared locations.

The error you've seen, 'ACL found on Library but not expected' is a known reporting error (read: bug) and isn't a problem.
 
McGiord said:
I'm not an expert, but I have to disagree, the Terminal isn't a GUI (Graphic User Interface), it's a CLI (Command Line Interface).
If you use the 'sudo' command and you don't know what you are doing you may mess up your mac similar to what you can do with the windows registry.

I suggest to use the 'man' command before any other command to learn about it.
Type "man sudo", by this you will see what that particular command does before using it.
Click to expand...

oh ok yeh i know the terminal is a CLI but i was going to write "Terminal is a GUI to access the CLI of the Unix core of OS X" but i simplified it a bit more.
 
Acl...

Well I know that the ACL found and not expected messages are said to be harmless, but verifying or repairing disk permissions still takes 5 minutes for me instead of 1, and all the ACL messages pop up at once, with nothing else showing up or being fixed. Are these messages causing nothing else to be repaired, or does nothing need repairing. I have had this problem ever since I installed Leopard on my MacBook Pro.

I have been having similar problems with safari, it doesn't cause finder to freeze but unexpectedly quits safari at least once every few hours.

There are so many ACL messages that it covers at least 10 pages, and it is mostly in the languages like below are a few:

ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Documents".

Replace "English.lproj" with Japanese.lproj, German.lproj, French.lproj, Spanish.lproj, Italian.lproj, Dutch.lproj, da.lproj, fi.lproj, ko.lproj, no.lproj, and so many more :( (excluding all the commas)

Is this what you all mean by ACL? Because this is worrying me. I am using Firefox now more often, and no other applications are forcequiting or laggy except safari and disk utility as was said.
 
Repairinf Permissions is slow because Disk Utility has not been optimised for Leopard yet its still version 11.0.

to fix your ACL errors i would download and install the 10.5.2 combo update from Apple.com or you can just leave it as it wont impair the performance of your Mac.
 
I'm not too sure if the combo 10.5.2 update will eliminate the ACL errors because I'm currently on 10.5.2 and I'm still seeing the same errors.

It has led me to believe the inherent problem with the ACL errors is due to upgrade of OS from Tiger to Leopard, as seemingly this is the most plausible explanation. To be more specific, the cause may be due to Leopard upgrade using the "Archive and Install" method that keeps previously installed apps and data in place. Although that said, it is solely my personal suspicion and unless I do an erase and install, I will not be able to verify my claim.

If what I suspect is correct, then any native Leopard-installed mac from the factory should not see the ACL errors.

Can any members with leopard-installed macs from the factory confirm any presence of the ACL errors in their system?
 
Hi,
I bought my 24" AL iMac in January, 2008 from the local Apple Store. Its build date is the last week of December, 2007.
The salesperson told me this machine had Leopard installed natively and was not upgraded from Tiger.
I have ACL errors (I'm the original poster of this thread, :)). So while your hypothesis is a good one, I don't think it's a factual one, at least based on the information I have.
Let's hope 10.5.3 corrects this, although the ACL errors haven't caused me any harm that I know of.
Morod
 
richthomas said:
Morod i had the exact same ACL error as you when repairing permissions. im not sure what an ACL is exactly but i know its just a minor error that has no real impact on speed or stability. some Leopard users just leave it and forget about it.

but im a perfectionist so i had to fix mine. i ended up downloading the 10.5.1 combo update and this fixed it but then after 10.5.2 it came back again. then i found out a simple Unix command fixes it. so try entering this into Terminal which is in the Utilities folder.

Code: 
sudo chmod -R -N /Library
Click to expand...

ACLs or Access Control Lists are part of files in Unix. When you issue the command:

chmod -R -N /Library

you are modifying all Library files (recursively) that contain ACLs and removing (-N) that code from the files.

You should NOT be mucking with the Unix system files and libraries unless you know exactly what you are doing. It may work now, but give you problems later. I am a Solaris (unix) system administrator so I know what I'm talking about. ACLs are actually for Security and limits who and what can access those files that contain ACLs.

If you see errors running First Aid in Disk Utility, just ignore them as they don't indicate a problem. They are transparent. Eventually Disk Utility will be upgraded just to ignore ACLs and not report them.
 
richthomas said:
Repairinf Permissions is slow because Disk Utility has not been optimised for Leopard yet its still version 11.0.

to fix your ACL errors i would download and install the 10.5.2 combo update from Apple.com or you can just leave it as it wont impair the performance of your Mac.
Click to expand...

I will try installing 10.5.2 and see if it fixes the ACL's but I doubt it.
So the unexpected quitting of safari must be due to something else :/
 
merl1n said:
You should NOT be mucking with the Unix system files and libraries unless you know exactly what you are doing. It may work now, but give you problems later. I am a Solaris (unix) system administrator so I know what I'm talking about. ACLs are actually for Security and limits who and what can access those files that contain ACLs. …
Click to expand...

orpheus1120 said:
I would advise against doing the sudo chmod -R -N /Library or similar commands at the terminal. There's no benefit at all doing so. …
Click to expand...

so what should one do after executing "sudo chmod -R -N" on a directory to prevent any future problems?
 
richthomas said:
so what should one do after executing "sudo chmod -R -N" on a directory to prevent any future problems?
Click to expand...

You are asking for a cure while I'm thinking of prevention.

So I'm not even gonna try the command. There is no benefit at all.

Did you use the command already?
 
Interesting thread and topic.

I have a MBP and 24 Al iMac i purchased only a few weeks apart from each other. They both have the same software. The MBP came with Tiger and I upgraded to Leopard after the 1st startup. The iMac came with Leopard.
When i run Disk Utility on both my iMac shows no errors, never has. When I run Disk Utility on my MBP i get pages of ACL errors.
I've never been too concerned with the errors b/c the MBP runs great but I have always wondered what they are from?

That is why I find this thread interesting.
Why my MBP would display these errors but the iMac does not. They differ in hardware but not software.

Maybe that will help shed light for those who have a better understand than I.


thx
 
Sounds like my hypothesis...

orpheus1120 said:
I'm not too sure if the combo 10.5.2 update will eliminate the ACL errors because I'm currently on 10.5.2 and I'm still seeing the same errors.

It has led me to believe the inherent problem with the ACL errors is due to upgrade of OS from Tiger to Leopard, as seemingly this is the most plausible explanation. To be more specific, the cause may be due to Leopard upgrade using the "Archive and Install" method that keeps previously installed apps and data in place. Although that said, it is solely my personal suspicion and unless I do an erase and install, I will not be able to verify my claim.

If what I suspect is correct, then any native Leopard-installed mac from the factory should not see the ACL errors.

Can any members with leopard-installed macs from the factory confirm any presence of the ACL errors in their system?
Click to expand...


But not true as proven by Morod. I have no idea why some have and some don't have the errors anymore.
 
orpheus1120 said:
You are asking for a cure while I'm thinking of prevention.

So I'm not even gonna try the command. There is no benefit at all.

Did you use the command already?
Click to expand...

oh ok.

yeh ive already done the command. just wondering if what i did with that command could be reversed. my Mac is working fine and the permissions of /Library seem to be fine.

orpheus1120 said:
I'm not too sure if the combo 10.5.2 update will eliminate the ACL errors because I'm currently on 10.5.2 and I'm still seeing the same errors. …
Click to expand...

downloading the 10.5.2 combo update from Apple downloads (bigger than the normal delta update you get from Software update) seems to fix the ACL errors. well at least it did for me when i installed the 10.5.1 combo update but then the 10.5.2 delta update gave me another ACL error.
 
i came looking for an explanation for "ACL" and found it. thanks. but i just started getting my first acl errors. my g5 (2x3ghz quad, v10.5.6) has been getting buggy and i've been trying to square it away. so i got the new version of diskwarrior to clean things up and after i ran it and then repaired permissions, i got the first acl error i've ever encountered – acl found but not expected on "applications".

no idea what it is but i am no longer concerned about the acl error, thanks again. but i would like to get the bugs worked out though, it still seems to be buggy. lots of the spinning beach ball from hell still going on. rats.
 
Acl

An Access Control List is an invention by DEC (Digital Equipment Corp). It is a more feature rich version of the World-Group-Owner permissions that Unix was created with. (The words may not be exact, but you get the idea.)
One of the things we noticed on DEC machines, back in the late 80's, is that if you got too many ACLs created, too deep, the machine could slow down to a crawl (and these were the main-frames of the day; 512Meg DRAM in 1989!). The solution was to clean up or remove the ACLs and only apply them to the top most levels of the directory trees... So, I would continue to clean off ACLs that are unexpected or unnecessary to lighten the load on the file system.
If you read the man pages enough, you can even learn how to add or remove ACLs from directories your self! Kind of fun--in a geek like way.;)
 
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