diff --git a/usr.sbin/chown/chgrp.1 b/usr.sbin/chown/chgrp.1
index c6e486b7436b..9abff113096e 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/chown/chgrp.1
+++ b/usr.sbin/chown/chgrp.1
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
 .Oc
 .Op Fl f
+.Op Fl h
 .Ar group
 .Ar files ...
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
@@ -77,15 +78,11 @@ in the files instead of just the files themselves.
 .It Fl f
 The force option ignores errors, except for usage errors and doesn't
 query about strange modes (unless the user does not have proper permissions).
+.It Fl h
+If the file is a symbolic link, the group ID of the link itself is changed
+rather than the file that is pointed to.
 .El
 .Pp
-Symbolic links don't have groups, so unless the 
-.Fl H
-or
-.Fl L
-option is set,
-.Nm chgrp
-on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect.
 The
 .Fl H ,
 .Fl L
@@ -113,11 +110,7 @@ The
 .Nm chgrp
 utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
 .Sh COMPATIBILITY
-Previous versions of the
-.Nm chgrp
-utility changed the group of symbolic links specified on the command
-line.
-In this system, symbolic links do not have groups.
+In previous versions of this system, symbolic links did not have groups.
 .Sh FILES
 .Bl -tag -width /etc/group -compact
 .It Pa /etc/group
diff --git a/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8 b/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8
index a2cb5c21d3f3..7546a4e944ea 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8
+++ b/usr.sbin/chown/chown.8
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
 .\"     @(#)chown.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 3/31/94
-.\"	$Id$
+.\"	$Id: chown.8,v 1.4 1997/02/22 16:04:35 peter Exp $
 .\"
 .Dd March 31, 1994
 .Dt CHOWN 8
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
 .Oc
 .Op Fl f
+.Op Fl h
 .Ar owner Op Ar :group
 .Ar file ...
 .Nm chown
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@
 .Op Fl H | Fl L | Fl P
 .Oc
 .Op Fl f
+.Op Fl h
 .Ar :group
 .Ar file ...
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
@@ -80,15 +82,11 @@ in the files instead of just the files themselves.
 .It Fl f
 Don't report any failure to change file owner or group, nor modify
 the exit status to reflect such failures.
+.It Fl h
+If the file is a symbolic link, change the user ID and/or the group ID
+of the link itself rather than the file that the link points to.
 .El
 .Pp
-Symbolic links don't have owners, so unless the
-.Fl H
-or 
-.Fl L 
-option is set,
-.Nm chown
-on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect.
 The
 .Fl H ,
 .Fl L
@@ -133,11 +131,8 @@ utility used the dot (``.'') character to distinguish the group name.
 This has been changed to be a colon (``:'') character so that user and
 group names may contain the dot character.
 .Pp
-Previous versions of the
-.Nm chown
-utility changed the owner of symbolic links specified on the command
-line.
-In this system, symbolic links do not have owners.
+On previous versions of this system, symbolic links did not have
+owners.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr chgrp 1 ,
 .Xr find 1 ,
diff --git a/usr.sbin/chown/chown.c b/usr.sbin/chown/chown.c
index 9e01164ba6c0..2a24547f1055 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/chown/chown.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/chown/chown.c
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ void	usage __P((void));
 
 uid_t uid;
 gid_t gid;
-int Rflag, ischown, fflag;
+int Rflag, ischown, fflag, hflag;
 char *gname, *myname;
 
 int
@@ -102,13 +102,6 @@ main(argc, argv)
 			fflag = 1;
 			break;
 		case 'h':
-			/*
-			 * In System V (and probably POSIX.2) the -h option
-			 * causes chown/chgrp to change the owner/group of
-			 * the symbolic link.  4.4BSD's symbolic links don't
-			 * have owners/groups, so it's an undocumented noop.
-			 * Do syntax checking, though.
-			 */
 			hflag = 1;
 			break;
 		case '?':
@@ -175,13 +168,23 @@ main(argc, argv)
 			 * don't point to anything and ones that we found
 			 * doing a physical walk.
 			 */
-			continue;
+			if (hflag)
+				break;
+			else
+				continue;
 		default:
 			break;
 		}
-		if (chown(p->fts_accpath, uid, gid) && !fflag) {
-			chownerr(p->fts_path);
-			rval = 1;
+		if (hflag) {
+			if (lchown(p->fts_accpath, uid, gid) && !fflag) {
+				chownerr(p->fts_path);
+				rval = 1;
+			}
+		} else {
+			if (chown(p->fts_accpath, uid, gid) && !fflag) {
+				chownerr(p->fts_path);
+				rval = 1;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	if (errno)
@@ -266,7 +269,7 @@ void
 usage()
 {
 	(void)fprintf(stderr,
-	    "usage: %s [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-f] %s file ...\n",
+	    "usage: %s [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-f] [-h] %s file ...\n",
 	    myname, ischown ? "[owner][:group]" : "group");
 	exit(1);
 }