Overview

chown updates the owner and group of files and directories.

Syntax

chown [options] owner[:group] file...

Arguments

• owner: New user owner.
• group: Optional group assignment.
• file: Targets to change.

Options Table

Examples

chown ops:ops /var/log/app.log
chown -R deploy:deploy /srv/app

Real-world Usage

Use chown during deployment to guarantee that the service user owns its runtime directories.

Common Mistakes

• Running recursive changes on / or large mount points.
• Changing ownership without updating group permissions.

Performance Notes

Recursive chown on large trees is expensive. Use the smallest possible scope.

Security Considerations

Limit ownership changes to trusted accounts. Avoid giving write access to service users unnecessarily.

Related Commands

chmod, chgrp, stat

Practice Exercises

1. Change the owner of /var/www to deploy and group to www-data.
2. Use --from to update only files owned by a specific user.