# Changing Ownership

This step is not optional as some of the binaries in `/tools` are set u+s. leaving the permissions as is could cause some commands, mount in particular, to fail later.

Currently, the `/tools` and `/cross-tools` directories are owned by the user clfs, a user that exists only on the host system. Although the `/tools` and `/cross-tools` directories can be deleted once the CLFS system has been finished, they can be retained to build additional CLFS systems. If the `/tools` and `/cross-tools` directories are kept as is, the files are owned by a user ID without a corresponding account. This is dangerous because a user account created later could get this same user ID and would own the `/tools` directory and all the files therein, thus exposing these files to possible malicious manipulation.

To avoid this issue, add the `clfs` user to the new CLFS system later when creating the `/etc/passwd` file, taking care to assign it the same user and group IDs as on the host system. Alternatively, assign the contents of the `/tools` and `/cross-tools` directories to user `root` by running the following commands:

    chown -Rv 0:0 /tools
    chown -Rv 0:0 /cross-tools

The commands use `0:0` instead of `root:root`, because `chown` is unable to resolve the name root until the `passwd` file has been created.