CHROOT(8) | System Manager's Manual | CHROOT(8)

# NAME

chroot — change root directory

# SYNOPSIS

chroot | [-G group,group,...] [-g group] [-u user] newroot [command]

# DESCRIPTION

The chroot command changes its root directory to the supplied directory newroot and exec's command, or, if not supplied, an interactive copy of your shell.

If the -u, -g, or -G options are given, the user, group, and group list of the process are set to these values after the chroot has taken place; see setgid(2), setgroups(2), setuid(2), getgrnam(3), and getpwnam(3).

Note: command or the shell are run as your real-user-id.

# ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variable is referenced by chroot:

SHELL
  If set, the string specified by SHELL is interpreted as the name of the shell to exec. If the variable SHELL is not set, /bin/sh is used.

# SEE ALSO

ldd(1), chdir(2), chroot(2), environ(7)

# HISTORY

The chroot utility first appeared in 4.4BSD.

# SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

chroot should never be installed setuid root, as it would then be possible to exploit the program to gain root privileges.

August 13, 2011 | NetBSD 6.0