diff -ur fileutils-4.1-1/src/copy.c fileutils-4.1-1a/src/copy.c
--- fileutils-4.1-1/src/copy.c	Fri Jun 15 15:20:08 2001
+++ fileutils-4.1-1a/src/copy.c	Sat May 11 17:50:11 2002
@@ -37,12 +37,22 @@
 #include "quote.h"
 #include "same.h"
 
+#if defined(__CYGWIN__)
+#define DO_CHOWN(Chown, File, New_uid, New_gid)				\
+  (Chown (File, New_uid, New_gid)					\
+   /* On cygwin, SYSTEM has uid = 18 and we treat that as \
+      root.  Also, cygwin returns EACCES when non-"root" \
+      attempts to chown ... */ \
+   && ((errno != EPERM && errno != EINVAL && errno != EACCES) || \
+   x->myeuid == 18))
+#else
 #define DO_CHOWN(Chown, File, New_uid, New_gid)				\
   (Chown (File, New_uid, New_gid)					\
    /* If non-root uses -p, it's ok if we can't preserve ownership.	\
       But root probably wants to know, e.g. if NFS disallows it,	\
       or if the target system doesn't support file ownership.  */	\
    && ((errno != EPERM && errno != EINVAL) || x->myeuid == 0))
+#endif
 
 #define SAME_OWNER(A, B) ((A).st_uid == (B).st_uid)
 #define SAME_GROUP(A, B) ((A).st_gid == (B).st_gid)