diff -uNr trac-0.8/trac/Ticket.py trac-0.8-default-owner/trac/Ticket.py
--- trac-0.8/trac/Ticket.py	2004-11-12 05:39:56.000000000 +1300
+++ trac-0.8-default-owner/trac/Ticket.py	2005-04-01 10:05:05.000000000 +1200
@@ -275,13 +275,18 @@
         ticket.populate(self.args)
         ticket.setdefault('reporter',self.req.authname)
 
-        # The owner field defaults to the component owner
+        # The owner field defaults to the component owner or the
+        # default ticket owner
+        default_owner = self.env.get_config('ticket', 'default_owner')
+        ticket_owner = ticket.get('owner', '')
         cursor = self.db.cursor()
-        if ticket.get('component') and ticket.get('owner', '') == '':
+        if ticket.get('component') and ticket_owner == '':
             cursor.execute('SELECT owner FROM component '
                            'WHERE name=%s', ticket['component'])
             owner = cursor.fetchone()[0]
             ticket['owner'] = owner
+        elif ticket_owner == '' and default_owner != '':
+            ticket['owner'] = default_owner
 
         tktid = ticket.insert(self.db)