BSD 4_3_Net_2 release

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

diff --git a/usr/src/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8 b/usr/src/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8
index 7d0e9a5..12f6810 100644 (file)
--- a/usr/src/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8
+++ b/usr/src/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8
@@ -1,44 +1,105 @@
-.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
-.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
-.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
+.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
+.\" All rights reserved.

 .\"
 .\"

-.\"    @(#)chown.8     6.3 (Berkeley) 4/21/88
+.\" 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.

 .\"
 .\"

-.TH CHOWN 8 "April 21, 1988"
-.UC 4
-.SH NAME
-chown \- change owner
-.SH SYNOPSIS
-.B chown
-[
-.B \-Rf
-]
-owner[.group] file ...
-.SH DESCRIPTION
-.I Chown
-changes the owner of the
-.I files
-to
-.IR owner .
-The owner may be either a decimal UID or
-a login name found in the password file.
-An optional group may also be specified.
-The group may be either a decimal GID or
-a group name found in the group-ID file.
-.PP
-Only the super-user can change owner,
-in order to simplify accounting procedures.
-No errors, except for usage errors, are reported when the
-.B \-f
-(force) option is given.
-.PP
-When the
-.B \-R
-option is given, 
-.I chown
-recursively descends its directory arguments
-setting the specified owner.
-When symbolic links are encountered, their ownership is changed,
-but they are not traversed.
-.SH "SEE ALSO"
-chgrp(1), chown(2)
+.\" 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.