Take the 2-minute tour ×

I have a directory with the following default ACLs:


However, none of the files/directories in that directory have that default permission (because it was added after they were created).

How can I copy the default ACLs of a parent directory to every folder and file in it?

share|improve this question
add comment

1 Answer

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Use getfacl to get the default permissions from the directory and then pipe the result into setfacl to apply it. Something like this should work:

getfacl -d <directory> | setfacl -R --set-file=- <directory>
share|improve this answer
Thanks, Tom! That worked incredibly well! –  hopeseekr Jul 1 '11 at 12:29
add comment

Your Answer


