diff --git a/sbin/mknod/mknod.8 b/sbin/mknod/mknod.8
index 8994d091bb98..2232c9a5224b 100644
--- a/sbin/mknod/mknod.8
+++ b/sbin/mknod/mknod.8
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 .Ar name
 .Op Cm c | Cm b
 .Ar major minor
+.Op owner:group
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The
 .Nm mknod
@@ -90,6 +91,23 @@ The minor device number tells the kernel which subunit
 the node corresponds to on the device; for example,
 a subunit may be a filesystem partition
 or a tty line.
+.It Ar "owner \: group"
+The
+.Ar owner
+.Ar group
+operand pair is optional, however, if one is specified, they both must be
+specified.
+The
+.Ar owner
+may be either a numeric user ID or a user name.
+If a user name is also a numeric user ID, the operand is used as a
+user name.
+The
+.Ar group
+may be either a numeric group ID or a group name.
+Simular to the user name, 
+if a group name is also a numeric group ID, the operand is used as a
+group name.
 .El
 .Pp
 Major and minor device numbers can be given in any format acceptable to
@@ -99,10 +117,21 @@ so that a leading
 indicates a hexadecimal number, and a leading
 .Ql 0
 will cause the number to be interpreted as octal.
+.Sh COMPATIBILITY
+The
+.Xr chown 8
+like functionality is specific to
+.Fx
+and was added so that
+.Pa /dev/MAKEDEV
+wound not depend on
+.Pa /usr
+being mounted.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr mkfifo 1 ,
 .Xr mknod 2 ,
-.Xr MAKEDEV 8
+.Xr MAKEDEV 8 ,
+.Xr chown 8
 .Sh HISTORY
 A
 .Nm
diff --git a/sbin/mknod/mknod.c b/sbin/mknod/mknod.c
index 822d5f2cd149..98c0612a4295 100644
--- a/sbin/mknod/mknod.c
+++ b/sbin/mknod/mknod.c
@@ -56,26 +56,75 @@ static const char rcsid[] =
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <grp.h>
+#include <pwd.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 static void
 usage()
 {
-	(void)fprintf(stderr, "usage: mknod name [b | c] major minor\n");
+
+	(void)fprintf(stderr,
+	    "usage: mknod name [b | c] major minor [owner:group]\n");
 	exit(1);
 }
 
+static u_long
+id(name, type)
+	char *name, *type;
+{
+	u_long val;
+	char *ep;
+
+	/*
+	 * XXX
+	 * We know that uid_t's and gid_t's are unsigned longs.
+	 */
+	errno = 0;
+	val = strtoul(name, &ep, 10);
+	if (errno)
+		err(1, "%s", name);
+	if (*ep != '\0')
+		errx(1, "%s: illegal %s name", name, type);
+	return (val);
+}
+
+static gid_t
+a_gid(s)
+	char *s;
+{
+	struct group *gr;
+
+	if (*s == '\0')			/* Argument was "uid[:.]". */
+		errx(1, "group must be specified when the owner is");
+	return ((gr = getgrnam(s)) == NULL) ? id(s, "group") : gr->gr_gid;
+}
+
+static uid_t
+a_uid(s)
+	char *s;
+{
+	struct passwd *pw;
+
+	if (*s == '\0')			/* Argument was "[:.]gid". */
+		errx(1, "owner must be specified when the group is");
+	return ((pw = getpwnam(s)) == NULL) ? id(s, "user") : pw->pw_uid;
+}
+
 int
 main(argc, argv)
 	int argc;
 	char **argv;
 {
-	dev_t dev;
-	char *endp;
-	long mymajor, myminor;
-	mode_t mode;
 	int range_error;
+	uid_t uid;
+	gid_t gid;
+	mode_t mode;
+	dev_t dev;
+	char *cp, *endp;
+	long mymajor, myminor;
 
-	if (argc != 5)
+	if (argc != 5 && argc != 6)
 		usage();
 
 	mode = 0666;
@@ -101,7 +150,21 @@ main(argc, argv)
 	    minor(dev) != (u_int) myminor)
 		errx(1, "major or minor number too large");
 
+	uid = gid = -1;
+	if (6 == argc) {
+	    	/* have owner:group */
+		if ((cp = strchr(argv[5], ':')) != NULL) {
+			*cp++ = '\0';
+			gid = a_gid(cp);
+		} else
+		usage();
+		uid = a_uid(argv[5]);
+	}
+
 	if (mknod(argv[1], mode, dev) != 0)
 		err(1, "%s", argv[1]);
+	if (6 == argc)
+		if (chown(argv[1], uid, gid))
+			err(1, "setting ownership on %s", argv[1]);
 	exit(0);
 }