How do I get the name of a file's owner in Java on OSX?

Question

I just need to know the owner\'s name of a file on Mac using Java -- how can I go about getting it? Thanks!

Answer 1

That't not possible until Java 7. With Java 7, you could use Files#getOwner() for this.

Path          path     = Paths.get("/path/to/file.ext");
UserPrincipal owner    = Files.getOwner(path);
String        username = owner.getName();

Prior to Java 7, your best bet is running a command or JNI in combination with some platform native code.

See also:

• Java 7 NIO Tutorial - Managing Metadata