CHOWN(8)                OpenBSD System Manager's Manual               CHOWN(8)

NAME
     chown - change file owner and group

SYNOPSIS
     chown [-fh] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] owner[:group] file ...
     chown [-fh] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...

DESCRIPTION
     chown sets the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified files.

     The options are as follows:

     -f      Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modi-
             fy the exit status to reflect such failures.

     -H      If the -R option is specified, symbolic links on the command line
             are followed.  (Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal
             are not followed.)

     -h      Change the user ID and/or the group ID on symbolic links.  The -R
             and -h options are mutually exclusive.

     -L      If the -R option is specified, all symbolic links are followed.

     -P      If the -R option is specified, no symbolic links are followed.

     -R      Change the user ID and/or the group ID for the file hierarchies
             rooted in the files instead of just the files themselves.

     The -H, -L, and -P options are ignored unless the -R option is specified.
     In addition, these options override each other and the command's actions
     are determined by the last one specified.

     The owner and group operands are both optional; however, one must be
     specified.  If the group operand is specified, it must be preceded by a
     colon (`:') character.

     The owner may be either a numeric user ID or a user name.  If a user name
     is also a numeric user ID, the operand is used as a user name.  The group
     may be either a numeric group ID or a group name.  If a group name is al-
     so a numeric group ID, the operand is used as a group name.

     By default, chown clears the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits on the
     file to prevent accidental or mischievous creation of set-user-ID and
     set-group-ID programs.  This behaviour can be overridden by setting the
     sysctl(8) variable fs.posix.setuid to zero.

     Only the superuser is permitted to change the owner of a file.

     The chown utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO
     chgrp(1), find(1), chown(2), fts(3), symlink(7)

STANDARDS
     The chown utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'')
     specification.

     The flag [-f] is an extension to that specification.

     Previous versions of the chown utility used the dot (`.') character to
     distinguish the group name.  This has been changed to be a colon (`:')
     character so that user and group names may contain the dot character.

OpenBSD 4.7                    February 8, 2009                              1
