Override ownership and mode of files in Debian.
The dpkg-statoverride command is used in Debian Linux to override the ownership and mode of files. It tells dpkg to use a different owner or mode for a path when a package is installed.
dpkg-statoverride (options)
--add Add a new override.
--remove Remove an override.
--list List all current overrides.
--update Immediately update the file's ownership and mode if the file exists.
Change the permission attributes of a folder:
sudo dpkg-statoverride --update --add nagios nagios 751 /var/lib/nagios3
Force change the permission attributes of a folder:
sudo dpkg-statoverride --force --update --add root sasl 755 /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd
Remove a file's override from the database:
sudo dpkg-statoverride --remove /usr/bin/wall