This article provides a comprehensive understanding of the Linux ‘chown’ command, including its history, usage, parameters, common use cases, and tricks. Also, it gives points to note and a conclusion emphasizing the importance of understanding ‘chown’.
Instructions
This article provides a thorough understanding of the Linux ‘chown’ command. It covers the command’s history, usage, application, common and other supported parameters, most common use cases, tricky skills, important points to note, and a conclusion summarizing the importance of understanding ‘chown’.
History
The ‘chown’ command is an integral part of any Unix-like operating system, existing since the early days of Unix. It stands for “change owner”, used to alter the owner and group of files and directories.
When and why to use it
‘chown’ is used to alter the owner and group of files and directories in Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It’s most useful when you need to grant ownership of a file or directory to a different user or group.
How to use it
The basic way to use ‘chown’ is to invoke the command, followed by the new owner and the file or directory you want to change.
$ chown newowner filename.txtThe commonly used parameters
There are several parameters you can use with ‘chown’:
-RThis stands for 'recursive', which makes 'chown' change the owner of directories and their contents recursively.
$ chown -R newowner directorynamefThis stands for 'force', which suppresses most error messages.
$ chown -f newowner filename.txtOther supported parameters
‘chown’ supports numerous parameters, such as -c (changes), -v (verbose), -h (no-dereference), and --reference (use RFILE's owner and group rather than the specifying OWNER:GROUP values). Each parameter provides a specific function to the 'chown' command.
Most common use cases
One of the most common use cases of ‘chown’ is changing the owner and group of a file to root.
$ chown root:root filename.txtThe tricky skills
An interesting capability of ‘chown’ is the ability to change both the owner and the group at the same time by using the syntax owner:group.
$ chown owner:group filename.txtWhat needs to be noted
Be careful when changing ownership, especially when using the -R (recursive) option. If misused, you could inadvertently give unintended users access to sensitive files or directories.
Conclusion
Understanding and effectively using the ‘chown’ command is a key skill for any Linux user. While there are other ways to change ownership in a graphical user interface, knowing how to use ‘chown’ gives you more control and might be faster for large amounts of files.
