Does chown add an owner or replace the previous one?

Question

I'd like to pick and choose which directories to give a user access to. Will chown allow me to add an owner without replacing the previous one? I don't really want to make groups, because I have a pretty complex system of organization for things (it works, I swear!).

Thanks
-Sean

Answer 1

No, it is not possible to add an owner, only to change an owner. To do what you want to do, you need groups and chmod.

Answer 2

Sorry, chown changes the owner. If you want multiple owners then you have to create a group.

Sucky as it may be, Windows does have better ACLs than Unix. Hopefully someone is working on that.

Answer 3

chown will replace the ownership of the directory you set it to. The previous one will be replaced.

Answer 4

There is a manual available, open a console and use the command:

man chown

Also this command which stands for "change group"

man chgrp

There is a huge resource online called "The Linux Documentation Project" here http://www.tldp.org/

Answer 5

chown = change owner. One owner per file.