files created with mkdir and open(file,"w+) are owned by nobody

I'm creating directories and files inside of a php program and they are owned by nobody. How can I assign an owner to them and who should the owner be? Where is documentation for these types of questions? Here is the code snipet: create a directory - I would also like to create it with 775 privledges, but I can't create a file in the directory unless it is 777: if(!file_exists(DIRECTORY)) { // create the directory $oldumask = umask(0); mkdir(DIRECTORY, 0777); // or even 775 is more secure umask($oldumask); if(!is_dir(DIRECTORY)) { $return_status[0] = false; $return_status[1] = "there was an error creating the directory."; return $return_status; } } create a file: $fd = fopen($file,"w+"); if(!$fd) { $return_status[0] = false; $return_status[1] = "3) A system configuration error has been detected. Your request cannot be processed."; return $return_status; } Thanks in advance for your help, Ryan