diff --git a/src/tools/acl.rs b/src/tools/acl.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..143188b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/acl.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,233 @@
+//! Implementation of the calls to handle POSIX access control lists
+
+// see C header file <sys/acl.h> for reference
+extern crate libc;
+
+use std::ffi::CString;
+use std::marker::PhantomData;
+use std::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt;
+use std::os::unix::io::RawFd;
+use std::path::Path;
+use std::ptr;
+
+use libc::{c_char, c_int, c_uint, c_void};
+use nix::errno::Errno;
+
+// acl_perm_t values
+pub type ACLPerm = c_uint;
+pub const ACL_READ: ACLPerm    = 0x04;
+pub const ACL_WRITE: ACLPerm = 0x02;
+pub const ACL_EXECUTE: ACLPerm  = 0x01;
+
+// acl_tag_t values
+pub type ACLTag = c_int;
+pub const ACL_UNDEFINED_TAG: ACLTag = 0x00;
+pub const ACL_USER_OBJ: ACLTag      = 0x01;
+pub const ACL_USER: ACLTag          = 0x02;
+pub const ACL_GROUP_OBJ: ACLTag     = 0x04;
+pub const ACL_GROUP: ACLTag         = 0x08;
+pub const ACL_MASK: ACLTag          = 0x10;
+pub const ACL_OTHER: ACLTag         = 0x20;
+
+// acl_type_t values
+pub type ACLType = c_uint;
+pub const ACL_TYPE_ACCESS: ACLType  = 0x8000;
+pub const ACL_TYPE_DEFAULT: ACLType = 0x4000;
+
+// acl entry constants
+pub const ACL_FIRST_ENTRY: c_int = 0;
+pub const ACL_NEXT_ENTRY: c_int  = 1;
+
+#[link(name = "acl")]
+extern "C" {
+    fn acl_get_file(path: *const c_char, acl_type: ACLType) -> *mut c_void;
+    fn acl_set_file(path: *const c_char, acl_type: ACLType, acl: *mut c_void) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_get_fd(fd: RawFd) -> *mut c_void;
+    fn acl_get_entry(acl: *const c_void, entry_id: c_int, entry: *mut *mut c_void) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_create_entry(acl: *mut *mut c_void, entry: *mut *mut c_void) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_get_tag_type(entry: *mut c_void, tag_type: *mut ACLTag) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_set_tag_type(entry: *mut c_void, tag_type: ACLTag) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_get_permset(entry: *mut c_void, permset: *mut *mut c_void) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_get_perm(permset: *mut c_void, perm: ACLPerm) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_get_qualifier(entry: *mut c_void) -> *mut c_void;
+    fn acl_set_qualifier(entry: *mut c_void, qualifier: *const c_void) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_init(count: c_int) -> *mut c_void;
+    fn acl_valid(ptr: *const c_void) -> c_int;
+    fn acl_free(ptr: *mut c_void) -> c_int;
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct ACL {
+    ptr: *mut c_void,
+}
+
+impl Drop for ACL {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        let ret = unsafe { acl_free(self.ptr) };
+        if ret != 0 {
+            panic!("invalid pointer encountered while dropping ACL - {}", Errno::last());
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl ACL {
+    pub fn init(count: usize) -> Result<ACL, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let ptr = unsafe { acl_init(count as i32 as c_int) };
+        if ptr.is_null() {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(ACL { ptr: ptr })
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_file<P: AsRef<Path>>(path: P, acl_type: ACLType) -> Result<ACL, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let path_cstr = CString::new(path.as_ref().as_os_str().as_bytes()).unwrap();
+        let ptr = unsafe { acl_get_file(path_cstr.as_ptr(), acl_type) };
+        if ptr.is_null() {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+ 
+        Ok(ACL { ptr: ptr })
+    }
+
+    pub fn set_file<P: AsRef<Path>>(&self, path: P, acl_type: ACLType) -> Result<(), nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let path_cstr = CString::new(path.as_ref().as_os_str().as_bytes()).unwrap();
+        let res = unsafe { acl_set_file(path_cstr.as_ptr(), acl_type, self.ptr) };
+        if res < 0 {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+ 
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_fd(fd: RawFd) -> Result<ACL, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let ptr = unsafe { acl_get_fd(fd) };
+        if ptr.is_null() {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(ACL { ptr: ptr })
+    }
+
+    pub fn create_entry<'a>(&'a mut self) -> Result<ACLEntry<'a>, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let mut ptr = ptr::null_mut() as *mut c_void;
+        let res = unsafe { acl_create_entry(&mut self.ptr, &mut ptr) };
+        if res < 0 {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(ACLEntry {
+            ptr: ptr,
+            _phantom: PhantomData,
+        })
+    }
+
+    pub fn is_valid(&self) -> bool {
+        let res = unsafe { acl_valid(self.ptr) };
+        if res == 0 {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        false
+    }
+
+    pub fn entries(self) -> ACLEntriesIterator {
+        ACLEntriesIterator {
+            acl: self,
+            current: ACL_FIRST_ENTRY,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct ACLEntry<'a> {
+    ptr: *mut c_void,
+    _phantom: PhantomData<&'a mut ()>,
+}
+
+impl<'a> ACLEntry<'a> {
+    pub fn get_tag_type(&self) -> Result<ACLTag, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let mut tag = ACL_UNDEFINED_TAG;
+        let res = unsafe { acl_get_tag_type(self.ptr, &mut tag as *mut ACLTag) };
+        if res < 0 {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(tag)
+    }
+
+    pub fn set_tag_type(&mut self, tag: ACLTag) -> Result<(), nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let res = unsafe { acl_set_tag_type(self.ptr, tag) };
+        if res < 0 {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_permissions(&self) -> Result<u64, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let mut permissions = 0;
+        let mut permset = ptr::null_mut() as *mut c_void;
+        let mut res = unsafe { acl_get_permset(self.ptr, &mut permset) };
+        if res < 0 {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        for &perm in &[ACL_READ, ACL_WRITE, ACL_EXECUTE] {
+            res = unsafe { acl_get_perm(permset, perm) };
+            if res < 0 { 
+                return Err(Errno::last());
+            } else if res > 0 { 
+                permissions |= perm as u64;
+            }
+        }
+
+        Ok(permissions)
+    }
+
+    pub fn get_qualifier(&self) -> Result<u64, nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let qualifier = unsafe { acl_get_qualifier(self.ptr) };
+        if qualifier.is_null() {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+        let result = unsafe { *(qualifier as *const u32) as u64 };
+        let ret = unsafe { acl_free(qualifier) };
+        if ret != 0 {
+            panic!("invalid pointer encountered while dropping ACL qualifier - {}", Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(result)
+    }
+
+    pub fn set_qualifier(&mut self, qualifier: u64) -> Result<(), nix::errno::Errno> {
+        let val = qualifier as u32;
+        let val_ptr: *const u32 = &val;
+        let res = unsafe { acl_set_qualifier(self.ptr, val_ptr as *const c_void) };
+        if res < 0 {
+            return Err(Errno::last());
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct ACLEntriesIterator {
+    acl: ACL,
+    current: c_int,
+}
+
+impl<'a> Iterator for &'a mut ACLEntriesIterator {
+    type Item = ACLEntry<'a>;
+
+    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
+        let mut entry_ptr = ptr::null_mut();
+        let res = unsafe { acl_get_entry(self.acl.ptr, self.current, &mut entry_ptr) };
+        self.current = ACL_NEXT_ENTRY;
+        if res == 1 {
+            return Some(ACLEntry { ptr: entry_ptr, _phantom: PhantomData });
+        }
+
+        None
+    }
+}