ACLr8 For Mac

Access Control List (ACL) files contain the permissions informations attached to specific items: the unexpected presence of an ACL file can generate errors within the Disk Utility application, which in turn, increases the processing time when trying to repair disk permissions.

ACLr8 is a Python based command line application designed to identify the files that produce ACL errors, and quickly remove all associated ACL files.

Even though it will run via the Apple Terminal app, working with the ACLr8 Python script is not at all complicated: simply unarchive the downloaded package, and double click the resulting file.

The script will automatically launch the Terminal app and start the ACL cleaning process. However, you might need to provide the passkey for your Mac’s admin account. ACLr8 will then start looking for files that have unexpected ACLs, without needing any other user interaction.

Of course, you have the option to stop the scanning process any time you like by pressing the Control + C keyboard combination: it might take a long time. When done, ACLr8 will let you know how many files with unexpected ACL have been found and if the process has been finished successfully.

Usually, the “ACL found but not expected” errors do not interfere with your Mac’s performance, but might lengthen the time required to repair disk permissions. That is why running the ACLr8 command line utility periodically is a good idea.

The best part is that, even though ACLr8 is a command line utility, the script is very user friendly: all you have to do is launch the utility, provide the admin password, and let the app do the rest.