ownership

chown [OPTION...] OWNER[:GROUP] FILE...
chown [OPTION...] :GROUP FILE...
chown [OPTION...] --reference=RFILE FILE...

-c, --changes
    Like --verbose but report only when a change is made.

-f, --silent, --quiet
    Suppress most error messages.

-v, --verbose
    Output a diagnostic for every file processed.

-R, --recursive
    Operate on files and directories recursively.

--from=:
    Change the owner and/or group of each FILE only if its current owner and/or group match those specified.

--dereference
    Affect the referent of each symbolic link (this is the default).

--no-dereference
    Do not affect the referent of each symbolic link (useful only on systems that can change the ownership of a symlink).

--reference=
    Use RFILE's owner and group rather than specifying OWNER:GROUP values.

The term ownership in Linux refers to the fundamental concept of associating files and directories with a specific user and a specific group. This association dictates who can read, write, and execute a file based on permissions. While there is no single Linux command named ownership, this critical aspect of the filesystem is managed and viewed using several commands.

The primary commands for manipulating ownership are chown(1) (change owner) and chgrp(1) (change group). File ownership can be viewed using the ls -l command. For the purpose of analyzing how ownership is handled in Linux, this analysis focuses on the chown command as the most comprehensive tool for altering both user and group ownership.

It is crucial to understand that ownership is a concept, not a direct command in Linux. The commands mentioned, particularly chown and chgrp, are the tools used to implement changes to this concept. Changing file ownership often requires superuser privileges (root or sudo) because it directly affects system security and access control. Using chown -R (recursive) on system directories incorrectly can lead to severe system instability or security vulnerabilities.

To change the owner of myfile.txt to john:
sudo chown john myfile.txt

To change the owner to john and the group to developers for mydir and its contents recursively:
sudo chown -R john:developers mydir/

To change only the group of anotherfile.txt to users:
sudo chown :users anotherfile.txt

The chown command has been a fundamental part of Unix-like operating systems since their early days. It's an integral component of the file permission system, designed to allow administrators and users (under certain conditions) to manage file access rights. Its functionality has remained largely consistent over decades, underscoring its essential role in system administration.

chown(1), chgrp(1), ls(1), chmod(1), id(1), stat(1)