chown(1)

NAME

     chown - change file ownership

SYNOPSIS

     chown [-fhR] owner [ : group] file...

DESCRIPTION

     The chown utility will set the user ID of the file named  by
     each  file  to  the user ID specified by owner, and, option-
     ally, will set the group ID to that specified by group.

     If chown is invoked by other than the super-user,  the  set-
     user-ID  bit is cleared.

     Only the owner of a file (or the super-user) may change  the
     owner of that file.

     The   operating   system   has   a   configuration    option
     {_POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED},  to  restrict  ownership changes.
     When this option is in effect  the  owner  of  the  file  is
     prevented  from changing the owner ID of the file.  Only the
     super-user can arbitrarily change owner IDs whether  or  not
     this  option is in effect. To set this configuration option,
     include the following line in /etc/system:

     set rstchown = 1

     To disable  this  option,  include  the  following  line  in
     /etc/system:

     set rstchown = 0

     {_POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED} is enabled by  default.  See  sys-
     tem(4) and fpathconf(2).

OPTIONS

     The following options are supported:

     -f    Do not report errors.

     -h    If the file is a symbolic link, change  the  owner  of
           the  symbolic  link. Without this option, the owner of
           the file referenced by the symbolic link is changed.

     -R    Recursive. chown descends through the  directory,  and
           any  subdirectories,  setting  the  ownership ID as it
           proceeds. When a symbolic  link  is  encountered,  the
           owner  of  the  target  file is changed (unless the -h
           option is specified), but no recursion takes place.

OPERANDS

     The following operands are supported:

     owner[:group]
           A user ID and optional group  ID  to  be  assigned  to
           file. The owner portion of this operand must be a user
           name from the user database  or  a  numeric  user  ID.
           Either  specifies  a  user ID to be given to each file
           named by file. If a numeric owner exists in  the  user
           database as a user name, the user ID number associated
           with that user name will be used as the user ID. Simi-
           larly,  if  the  group  portion  of  this  operand  is
           present, it must be a group name from the group  data-
           base  or  a numeric group ID. Either specifies a group
           ID to be given  to  each  file.  If  a  numeric  group
           operand  exists in the group database as a group name,
           the group ID number associated with  that  group  name
           will be used as the group ID.

     file  A path name of a file whose user ID is to be modified.

USAGE

     See largefile(5) for the  description  of  the  behavior  of
     chown  when  encountering  files  greater than or equal to 2
     Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).

EXAMPLES

     Example 1: Changing ownership of all files in the hierarchy

     To change ownership of all files in the hierarchy, including
     symbolic links, but not the targets of the links:

     example% chown -R -h owner[:group] file...

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that affect the execution of chown: LANG, LC_ALL,
     LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

     The following exit values are returned:

     0     The utility executed successfully  and  all  requested
           changes were made.

     >0    An error occurred.

FILES

     /etc/passwd
           system password file

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | Enabled (see NOTES)         |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Standard                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     chgrp(1), chmod(1), chown(2), fpathconf(2), passwd(4),  sys-
     tem(4),   attributes(5),   environ(5),  largefile(5),  stan-
     dards(5)

NOTES

     chown is CSI-enabled except for the owner and group names.