diff --git a/mesonbuild/mesonlib/universal.py b/mesonbuild/mesonlib/universal.py
index 3714ecdea..94dc0a98c 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/mesonlib/universal.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/mesonlib/universal.py
@@ -298,8 +298,8 @@ class FileMode:
                                       '[r-][w-][xsS-]' # Group perms
                                       '[r-][w-][xtT-]') # Others perms
 
-    def __init__(self, perms: T.Optional[str] = None, owner: T.Optional[str] = None,
-                 group: T.Optional[str] = None):
+    def __init__(self, perms: T.Optional[str] = None, owner: T.Union[str, int, None] = None,
+                 group: T.Union[str, int, None] = None):
         self.perms_s = perms
         self.perms = self.perms_s_to_bits(perms)
         self.owner = owner
diff --git a/mesonbuild/minstall.py b/mesonbuild/minstall.py
index d91f61b6f..9bb5ba775 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/minstall.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/minstall.py
@@ -130,7 +130,8 @@ def append_to_log(lf: T.TextIO, line: str) -> None:
     lf.flush()
 
 
-def set_chown(path: str, user: T.Optional[str] = None, group: T.Optional[str] = None,
+def set_chown(path: str, user: T.Union[str, int, None] = None,
+              group: T.Union[str, int, None] = None,
               dir_fd: T.Optional[int] = None, follow_symlinks: bool = True) -> None:
     # shutil.chown will call os.chown without passing all the parameters
     # and particularly follow_symlinks, thus we replace it temporary