ChangeOwner

ChangeOwner is the operation of transferring ownership of a resource from one user or account to another. Ownership determines who has primary responsibility for a resource and who usually has the authority to grant access or modify it. The term is used across computing domains, including file systems, databases, project management systems, and software applications.

On file systems, an object's owner is part of its security attributes. Changing the owner typically requires elevated privileges, such as administrator or root rights, and may also require the target user to exist in the system. Many systems record the change in an audit log. The new owner often inherits default permissions or ACLs associated with the resource, although exact behavior depends on the platform.

In databases and application layers, ChangeOwner may apply to records, tasks, tickets, or other assets. Ownership changes are usually governed by access control rules and may invoke business workflows, notifications, or approval steps. Systems commonly enforce constraints (for example, the caller must have rights to reassign ownership) and log the event for accountability.

Because ownership affects access and responsibility, ChangeOwner should be performed with traceability and within governance policies. Best practices include requiring justification or approval, updating related permissions consistently, and recording the identity of the actor and timestamp.

Some platforms expose ChangeOwner as a native command or API, while others implement it as part of broader reallocation workflows. The exact semantics vary by system, but the core idea remains transferring responsibility and control of a resource to another user.