NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     chroot - change root directory

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

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

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The chroot command changes its root directory  to  the  supplied directory
     newroot and executes command, if supplied, or an interactive
copy of the
     user's shell.

     The chroot command is restricted to the superuser.

     The options are as follows:

     -g group,group,...
             Override the primary  and  supplemental  group  IDs.
The primary
             group ID is set to the first group in the list.  Any
remaining
             groups are placed in the supplemental group ID  vector.  Each
             group listed must exist in the group(5) databases.

     -u user
             Set  user  ID to user (which must exist in the passwd(5) database).
             The primary and supplemental group IDs will  be  set
based on the
             user's   entries   in  the  passwd(5)  and  group(5)
databases unless
             overridden by the -g option.

ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]

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

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     chdir(2),  chroot(2),  setgid(2),  setgroups(2),  setuid(2),
group(5),
     passwd(5), environ(7)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The chroot utility first appeared in 4.4BSD.

CAVEATS    [Toc]    [Back]

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

OpenBSD     3.6                        February      7,      2003