2016
CHOWN is the Linux CHange OWNer Command. This allows the owner of a file or directory to be changed between users.
# ls -lart tmpfile [ls is used to diplay the file/directory properties] -rw-r--r-- 1 himanshu family 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile # chown root tmpfile # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 root family 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile
Through the chown command, the group (that a file belongs to) can also be changed. # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 himanshu family 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile # chown :friends tmpfile # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 himanshu friends 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile
# ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 root family 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile # chown himanshu:friends tmpfile # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 himanshu friends 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile
Using chown “–from” flag, you can change the owner of a file, only if that file is already owned by a particular owner.
# ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 root friends 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile # chown --from=guest himanshu tmpfile # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 root friends 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile # chown --from=root himanshu tmpfile # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 himanshu friends 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile
This is possible by using the ‘–reference’ flag. # ls -l file -rwxr-xr-x 1 himanshu family 8968 2012-04-09 07:10 file # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 root friends 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile # chown --reference=file tmpfile # ls -l tmpfile -rw-r--r-- 1 himanshu family 0 2012-05-22 20:03 tmpfile
In the above example, we first checked the owner/group of the reference-file ‘file’ and then checked the owner/group of the target-file ‘tmpfile’. Both were different. Then we used the chown command with the ‘–reference’ option to apply the owner/group settings from the reference file to the target file. The command was successful and the owner/group settings of ‘tmpfile’ were made similar to the ‘file’
Use the verbose option -v, which will display whether the ownership of the file was changed or retained as shown below. # chown -v -R guest:friends linux changed ownership of `linux/redhat/rh7' to guest:friends changed ownership of `linux/redhat' retained to guest:friends ownership of `linux/redhat_sym' retained as guest:friends ownership of `linux/ubuntu_sym' retained as guest:friends changed ownership of `linux/linuxKernel' to guest:friends changed ownership of `linux/ubuntu/ub10' to guest:friends ownership of `linux/ubuntu' retained as guest:friends ownership of `linux' retained as guest:friends