$ mkdir d $ cd d $ whoami > root $ touch a b $ sleep 1 Without write access, the ctime cannot be changed. $ su bin $ touch a > touch: cannot touch `a': Permission denied With write access, the ctime can be set to the current time, but not to any other time: $ su $ nfs4acl --set 'bin:rw::allow' a $ su bin $ touch a $ [ b -ot a ] || echo 'b should be older than a' $ touch -r b a > touch: setting times of `a': Operation not permitted With set_attributes access, the ctime can be set to an arbitrary time: $ su $ nfs4acl --set 'bin:rwt::allow' a $ su bin $ touch -r b a $ [ b -ot a -o a -ot b ] && echo 'a should be as old as b' $ su $ cd .. $ rm -rf d