-.TH CHOWN 8 ""
-.UC 4
-.SH NAME
-chown \- change owner
-.SH SYNOPSIS
-.B /etc/chown
-[
-.B \-f
-.B \-R
-]
-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 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 FILES
-/etc/passwd
-.SH "SEE ALSO"
-chgrp(1),
-chown(2),
-passwd(5), group(5)
+.\" @(#)chown.8 8.3 (Berkeley) %G%
+.\"
+.Dd
+.Dt CHOWN 8
+.Os BSD 4
+.Sh NAME
+.Nm chown
+.Nd change file owner and group
+.Sh SYNOPSIS
+.Nm chown
+.Oo
+.Fl R
+.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
+.Oc
+.Op Fl f
+.Ar owner Op Ar :group
+.Ar file ...
+.Nm chown
+.Oo
+.Fl R
+.Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
+.Oc
+.Op Fl f
+.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 H
+If the
+.Fl R
+option is specified, symbolic links on the command line are followed.
+(Symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal are not followed.)
+.It Fl L
+If the
+.Fl R
+option is specified, all symbolic links are followed.
+.It Fl P
+If the
+.Fl R
+option is specified, no symbolic links are followed.
+.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
+Symbolic links don't have owners, so unless the
+.Fl H
+or
+.Fl L
+option is set,
+.Nm chown
+on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect.
+The
+.Fl H ,
+.Fl L
+and
+.Fl P
+options are ignored unless the
+.Fl R
+option is specified.
+In addition, these options override each other and the
+command's actions are determined by the last one specified.
+.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
+.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.
+.Pp
+Previous versions of the
+.Nm chown
+utility changed the owner of symbolic links specified on the command
+line.
+In this system, symbolic links do not have owners.
+.Sh SEE ALSO
+.Xr chgrp 1 ,
+.Xr find 1 ,
+.Xr chown 2 ,
+.Xr fts 3 ,
+.Xr symlink 7
+.Sh STANDARDS
+The
+.Nm chown
+command is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compliant.
projects / unix-history / blobdiff