Archive :: Tar ou software similar seria um método.
% touch foo
% tar cvf x foo
foo
% tar tvf x
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jdoe12 jdoe12 0 May 6 20:36 foo
% perl -MArchive::Tar -e '$t=Archive::Tar->new;$t->read("x");$t->chown("foo","root");$t->write("y")'
% tar tvf y
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root jdoe12 0 May 6 20:36 foo
%