# file task for chown... what am I doing wrong?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/file-task-for-chown-what-am-i-doing-wrong/12374>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 17, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/file-task-for-chown-what-am-i-doing-wrong/12374 "2013-02-17T00:38:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Scott\_Anderson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Scott\_Anderson](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Scott_Anderson)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/file-task-for-chown-what-am-i-doing-wrong/12374/1 "2013-02-17T00:38:07Z")

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I figured out part of my problem. The owner was being set on the top directory, but the recurse flag is being ignored so nothing underneath it was being touched.

-scott

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/file-task-for-chown-what-am-i-doing-wrong/12374/2 "2013-02-17T00:48:56Z")

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recurse is not recursing sounds like a bug to me. That stuff is  
pretty new, file a github ticket if you can include steps to reproduce  
it.