diff --git a/bin/sde-reown b/bin/sde-reown
index fb79384..a52b38b 100755
--- a/bin/sde-reown
+++ b/bin/sde-reown
@@ -21,13 +21,13 @@
 cd "$SDEROOT"
 
 UG=$( stat -c %U:%G . )
-UGD=$( stat -c %U:%G download/ )
+UGD=$( [ -d download/ ] && stat -c %U:%G download/ )
 
 export LANG=C
 
 (
 # accept luser downloads but staying hard-link friendly
-chown -v $UGD $( find download/ -type d 2> /dev/null )
-chown -Rv $UG $( ls -1d * .git 2> /dev/null |
+find download/ -type d -exec chown -v "$UGD" '{}' \; 2> /dev/null
+chown -Rv "$UG" $( ls -1d * .git 2> /dev/null |
 		grep -v -e '^src.' -e '^build$' -e '^download$' )
 ) | grep -v "' retained "