[unix-history] / usr.sbin / chown / chown.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)chown.8	6.6 (Berkeley) 6/17/91
.\"
.Dd June 17, 1991
.Dt CHOWN 8
.Os BSD 4
.Sh NAME
.Nm chown
.Nd change file owner and group
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm chown
.Op Fl Rf
.Ar owner Op Ar :group
.Ar file ...
.Nm chown
.Op Fl Rf
.Ar :group
.Ar file ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Chown
sets the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified files.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl R
Change the user ID and/or the group ID for the file hierarchies rooted
in the files instead of just the files themselves.
.It Fl f
Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify
the exit status to reflect such failures.
.El
.Pp
The
.Ar owner
and
.Ar group
operands are both optional, however, one must be specified.
If the
.Ar group
operand is specified, it must be preceded by a colon (``:'') character.
.Pp
The
.Ar 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
.Ar group
may be either a numeric group ID or a group name.
If a group name is also a numeric group ID, the operand is used as a
group name.
.Pp
The ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user for
obvious security reasons.
.Pp
The owner and group of symbolic links are themselves changed instead
of the file to which the link points.
.Pp
The
.Nm chown
utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
Previous versions of the
.Nm 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.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr chgrp 1 ,
.Xr find 1 ,
.Xr chown 2
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm chown
command is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compliant.
Commit	Line	Data
15637ed4 RG	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	5	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	6	.\" are met:
	7	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	8	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	9	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	10	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	11	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	12	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	13	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	14	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	15	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	16	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	17	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	18	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	19	.\"
	20	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	21	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	22	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	23	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	24	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	25	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	26	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	27	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	28	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	29	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	30	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	31	.\"
	32	.\" @(#)chown.8 6.6 (Berkeley) 6/17/91
	33	.\"
	34	.Dd June 17, 1991
	35	.Dt CHOWN 8
	36	.Os BSD 4
	37	.Sh NAME
	38	.Nm chown
	39	.Nd change file owner and group
	40	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	41	.Nm chown
	42	.Op Fl Rf
	43	.Ar owner Op Ar :group
	44	.Ar file ...
	45	.Nm chown
	46	.Op Fl Rf
	47	.Ar :group
	48	.Ar file ...
	49	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	50	.Nm Chown
	51	sets the user ID and/or the group ID of the specified files.
	52	.Pp
	53	The options are as follows:
	54	.Bl -tag -width Ds
	55	.It Fl R
	56	Change the user ID and/or the group ID for the file hierarchies rooted
	57	in the files instead of just the files themselves.
	58	.It Fl f
	59	Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify
	60	the exit status to reflect such failures.
	61	.El
	62	.Pp
	63	The
	64	.Ar owner
65	and
66	.Ar group
67	operands are both optional, however, one must be specified.
68	If the
69	.Ar group
70	operand is specified, it must be preceded by a colon (``:'') character.
71	.Pp
72	The
73	.Ar owner
74	may be either a numeric user ID or a user name.
75	If a user name is also a numeric user ID, the operand is used as a
76	user name.
77	The
78	.Ar group
79	may be either a numeric group ID or a group name.
80	If a group name is also a numeric group ID, the operand is used as a
81	group name.
82	.Pp
83	The ownership of a file may only be altered by a super-user for
84	obvious security reasons.
85	.Pp
86	The owner and group of symbolic links are themselves changed instead
87	of the file to which the link points.
88	.Pp
89	The
90	.Nm chown
91	utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
92	.Sh COMPATIBILITY
93	Previous versions of the
94	.Nm chown
95	utility used the dot (``.'') character to distinguish the group name.
96	This has been changed to be a colon (``:'') character so that user and
97	group names may contain the dot character.
98	.Sh SEE ALSO
99	.Xr chgrp 1 ,
100	.Xr find 1 ,
101	.Xr chown 2
102	.Sh STANDARDS
103	The
104	.Nm chown
105	command is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compliant.