How to keep rsync from chown'ing transferred files?

Solution 1:

You are probably running rsync like this:

rsync -a dir/ remote:/dir/

The -a option according to the documentation is equivalent to: -rlptgoD

      -a, --archive    archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)

You probably want to remove the -o and -g options:

      -o, --owner                 preserve owner (super-user only)
      -g, --group                 preserve group

So instead your rsync command should look something like this:

rsync -rlptD dir/ remote:/dir/

Or as @glglgl points out:

rsync -a --no-o --no-g dir/ remote:/dir/

The remaining options in use are:

      -r, --recursive             recurse into directories
      -l, --links                 copy symlinks as symlinks
      -p, --perms                 preserve permissions
      -t, --times                 preserve modification times
      -D                          same as --devices --specials
          --devices               preserve device files (super-user only)
          --specials              preserve special files

Solution 2:

Don't pass -o or any of the other options that implies it.

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Solution 3:

Don't use the -a option, as it will include the -p option that keeps the permissions. For this situation, the -r should be enough.

For more infos, see man rsync.