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The command-line program to modify user permissions for files in Windows is called icacls, where ACL is for access control list, and i'm guessing the S indicates plural. What does IC stand for?

Felix Dombek
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I had thought CACLS was "Change Access Control ListS", but Wikipedia's article on Cacls: section on icalcs says "Integrity Control Access Control List".

What can I say, except "Trust the 'pedia"?

TOOGAM
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    What a stupid name though ... why not `icacwc`, Integrity Control Access Control World Control. – Felix Dombek Mar 21 '16 at 03:12
  • @Felix Please, please, please, PLEASE!!! I'm lucky enough if I can understand what Microsoft's decisions were. **Please** do not ask me to justify them or explain what they were thinking. Such a terribly lost cause is unworthy of being given to the worst of criminals. – TOOGAM Mar 21 '16 at 03:15
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I think it stands for Inherited Change Access Control List System (or Security or maybe Service?), though it's anyone's guess since MS seems to have buried that little tidbit of information deep in the bowels of technet.

It's essentially just a new and improved iteration of CACLS that was introduced with Windows Vista.

See Windows IT Pro Description of iCACLs

Tenacious J
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  • The Wikipedia page (cited by my answer) identifies the introduction as being Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. – TOOGAM Mar 21 '16 at 10:21
  • I think Wikipedia got this one wrong. While integrity is referenced in ICACls' functions (namely 1 - /setintegritylevel), the major change with ICACLS was its ability to preserve canonical orders within ACLs. The ability to process inherited rights from one level of access to the next enhances security 10 fold. This strongly suggests that the I refers to 'inheritance' and the C either 'change' or 'control', though MS never clarified the acronym from what I've found. Given their general lack of originality, the 'i' probably stands for 'improved', and this is all much ado about nothing. – Tenacious J Mar 22 '16 at 06:13