chroot(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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


NAME

     chroot -- change root directory


SYNOPSIS

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


DESCRIPTION

     The chroot command changes its root directory to the supplied directory
     newroot and exec's command, if supplied, or 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

     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 possi-
     ble to exploit the program to gain root privileges.

NetBSD 5.1                      October 6, 1998                     NetBSD 5.1