 Example usage of chown command | |
| Original author(s) | Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | AT&T Bell Laboratories |
| Initial release | November 3, 1971 |
| Operating system | Unix and Unix-like, IBM i |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Command |
The command chown /ˈtʃoʊn/, an abbreviation of change owner, is used on Unix and Unix-like operating systems to change the owner of file system files and directories. Unprivileged (regular) users who wish to change the group membership of a file that they own may use chgrp.
The ownership of any file in the system may only be altered by a super-user. A user cannot give away ownership of a file, even when the user owns it. Similarly, only a member of a group can change a file's group ID to that group.[1]
The version of chown bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie and Jim Meyering.[2]
The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.[3] The chown command has also been ported to the IBM i operating system.[4]
- ^ BSD Man page for chown, March 31, 1994
- ^ – Linux User Manual – User Commands
- ^ "Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities". unxutils.sourceforge.net.
- ^ IBM. "IBM System i Version 7.2 Programming Qshell" (PDF). IBM. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2020-09-05.