This is path for chown speedup (chown only if (newuid != olduid) and (newgid != oldgid)), in attach too:
--- a/src/chown-core.c
+++ b/src/chown-core.c
@@ -402,6 +402,12 @@ change_file_owner (FTS *fts, FTSENT *ent,
.
if (do_chown)
{
+ if ((uid == file_stats->st_uid) && (gid == file_stats->st_gid))
+ do_chown = false; // skip set permissions
+ }
+
+ if (do_chown)
+ {
if ( ! chopt->affect_symlink_referent)
{
ok = (lchownat (fts->fts_cwd_fd, file, uid, gid) == 0);