Is it possible to chown a file, based on numeric UID, to a user that does not yet exist?
Yes, you can chown to a numerical UID that does not have a corresponding user.
chown UID:GID fileName can be done either with numbers or username or groupname
ex: chown 1000:1000 dirname is valid
you may have to reset the directory permission with chmod 755 for example after doing it to get access on it
Hints
- You can check user id with
id someUsername - You can check group id with
gid someUsername - You can change permissions only on directories with
find someLocation -type d -exec chown 1000:1000 {} \;