chown(1) — Reliant UNIX 5.44c4

chown(1)                                                           chown(1)

NAME
     chown - change file owner

SYNOPSIS
     chown [-R] [-h] [--] newowner[:newgroup] file ...

DESCRIPTION
     chown assigns a new owner and, where necessary, a new group to a file
     or a directory. The group is only changed if newgroup is specified
     explicitly.

     The system administrator has an unrestricted right to change the owner
     of any file.

     By contrast, normal users without system administrator privileges may
     only change the owner ID of their own files. If the operating system
     option RSTCHOWN is in effect, even the owner of a file is prevented
     from changing the ownership of that file. In such a case, an error
     message chown: file: Not owner (see ERROR MESSAGES) is displayed.

     If chown is invoked by a user other than the system administrator, the
     set-user-ID bit of the file mode, 4000, is cleared.

OPTIONS
     -R   (recursive) chown recursively descends through the specified
          directories, changing the file owner as it proceeds and travers-
          ing any symbolic links that it encounters.

     -h   If file is a symbolic link, chown changes the owner of the sym-
          bolic link. Without this option, the owner of the file referenced
          by the symbolic link is changed.

     --   If newowner begins with a dash (-), the end of the command-line
          options must be marked with --.

     newowner
          Login name or user ID of the new owner. Must be one that is
          entered in the /etc/passwd file.

     newgroup
          New group name or new group number. newgroup must be entered in
          the /etc/group file.

     file Name of the file that is to have a new owner. Directories and
          multiple file names are also allowed.










Page 1                       Reliant UNIX 5.44                Printed 11/98

chown(1)                                                           chown(1)

ERROR MESSAGES

     chown: file: Not owner

     You are not permitted to change the owner of the named file, as you
     are not working as the system administrator or the RSTCHOWN variable
     is set on your system.

     chown: unknown user id newowner

     The login name you specified for newowner is not entered in the
     /etc/passwd file.

LOCALE
     The LCMESSAGES environment variable governs the language in which mes-
     sage texts are displayed. If LCMESSAGES is undefined or is defined as
     the null string, it defaults to the value of LANG. If LANG is likewise
     undefined or null, the system acts as if it were not internationalized.

     The LCALL environment variable governs the entire locale. LCALL
     takes precedence over all the other environment variables which affect
     internationalization.

EXAMPLES
     As system administrator you want to change the owner of a file; the
     owner of the file text1, currently user cathy, is to be changed to
     mark, while the owner of the file text2 is to be changed to fred. To
     do this, you enter:

     # ls -l text1 text2
     -rw-------   1 cathy    ag          2426   Feb 17 15:48 text1
     -rw-------   1 cathy    ag          1587   Feb 17 15:49 text2

     # chown mark text1

     # ls -l text1
     -rw-------   1 mark     ag          2426   Feb 17 15:48 text1
     # chown fred:usrother text2
     # ls -l text2
     -rw-------   1 fred     usrother    1587   Feb 17 15:49 text2

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

     >0   An error occurred.








Page 2                       Reliant UNIX 5.44                Printed 11/98

chown(1)                                                           chown(1)

FILES
     /etc/passwd
          The /etc/passwd file contains information on all existing users.

          Only the system administrator is allowed to add new users.

     /etc/group
          The /etc/group file contains all user groups created.

          Only the system administrator can create new user groups and
          enter new group members.

SEE ALSO
     chgrp(1), chmod(1), chown(2), passwd(4).








































Page 3                       Reliant UNIX 5.44                Printed 11/98

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