---
name: "acl_delete"
section: "3"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/acl_delete"
---

# acl\_delete(3)

delete an ACL from a file

## NAME

**acl\_delete\_def\_file**, **acl\_delete\_def\_link\_np**, **acl\_delete\_fd\_np**, **acl\_delete\_file\_np**, **acl\_delete\_link\_np** – delete an ACL from a file

## LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<sys/types.h\>**

**#include \<sys/acl.h\>**

*int*\

**acl\_delete\_def\_file**(*const char \*path\_p*);

*int*\

**acl\_delete\_def\_link\_np**(*const char \*path\_p*);

*int*\

**acl\_delete\_fd\_np**(*int filedes*, *acl\_type\_t type*);

*int*\

**acl\_delete\_file\_np**(*const char \*path\_p*, *acl\_type\_t type*);

*int*\

**acl\_delete\_link\_np**(*const char \*path\_p*, *acl\_type\_t type*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **acl\_delete\_def\_file**(), **acl\_delete\_def\_link\_np**(), **acl\_delete\_fd\_np**(), **acl\_delete\_file\_np**(), and **acl\_delete\_link\_np**() each allow the deletion of an ACL from a file. The **acl\_delete\_def\_file**() function is a POSIX.1e call that deletes the default ACL from a file (normally a directory) by name; the remainder of the calls are non-portable extensions that permit the deletion of arbitrary ACL types from a file/directory either by path name or file descriptor. The **\_file**() variations follow a symlink if it occurs in the last segment of the path name; the **\_link**() variations operate on the symlink itself.

## IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

FreeBSD's support for POSIX.1e interfaces and features is still under development at this time.

## RETURN VALUES

The **acl\_delete\_def\_file()** function returns the value 0 if successful; otherwise the value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.

## ERRORS

If any of the following conditions occur, these functions shall return -1 and set *errno* to the corresponding value:

- \[EACCES\]

  Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix, or the object exists and the process does not have appropriate access rights.

- \[EBADF\]

  The *fd* argument is not a valid file descriptor.

- \[EINVAL\]

  The ACL type passed is invalid for this file object.

- \[ENAMETOOLONG\]

  A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters, or an entire path name exceeded 1023 characters.

- \[ENOENT\]

  The named object does not exist, or the *path\_p* argument points to an empty string.

- \[ENOMEM\]

  Insufficient memory available to fulfill request.

- \[ENOTDIR\]

  A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

  Argument *path\_p* must be a directory, and is not.

- \[EOPNOTSUPP\]

  The file system does not support ACL deletion.

- \[EPERM\]

  The process does not have appropriate privilege to perform the operation to delete an ACL.

- \[EROFS\]

  The file system is read-only.

## SEE ALSO

[acl(3)](/acl/3.md), [acl\_get(3)](/acl_get/3.md), [acl\_set(3)](/acl_set/3.md), [posix1e(3)](/posix1e/3.md)

## STANDARDS

POSIX.1e is described in IEEE POSIX.1e draft 17. Discussion of the draft continues on the cross-platform POSIX.1e implementation mailing list. To join this list, see the FreeBSD POSIX.1e implementation page for more information.

## HISTORY

POSIX.1e support was introduced in FreeBSD 4.0, and development continues.

## AUTHORS

Robert N M Watson