CHROOT(2)                                           Linux Programmer's Manual                                          CHROOT(2)



NAME
       chroot - change root directory

SYNOPSIS
       #include <unistd.h>

       int chroot(const char *path);

DESCRIPTION
       chroot()  changes  the  root directory of the calling process to that specified in path.  This directory will be used for
       pathnames beginning with /.  The root directory is inherited by all children of the calling process.

       Only a privileged process (Linux: one with the CAP_SYS_CHROOT capability) may call chroot().

       This call changes an ingredient in the pathname resolution process and does nothing else.

       This call does not change the current working directory, so that after the call '.' can be outside  the  tree  rooted  at
       '/'.  In particular, the superuser can escape from a "chroot jail" by doing:

           mkdir foo; chroot foo; cd ..

       This  call  does  not close open file descriptors, and such file descriptors may allow access to files outside the chroot
       tree.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS
       Depending on the file system, other errors can be returned.  The more general errors are listed below:

       EACCES Search permission is denied on a component of the path prefix.  (See also path_resolution(7).)

       EFAULT path points outside your accessible address space.

       EIO    An I/O error occurred.

       ELOOP  Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving path.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              path is too long.

       ENOENT The file does not exist.

       ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.

       ENOTDIR
              A component of path is not a directory.

       EPERM  The caller has insufficient privilege.

CONFORMING TO
       SVr4, 4.4BSD, SUSv2 (marked LEGACY).  This function is not part of POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES
       A child process created via fork(2) inherits its parent's root directory.   The  root  directory  is  left  unchanged  by
       execve(2).

       FreeBSD has a stronger jail() system call.

SEE ALSO
       chdir(2), path_resolution(7)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.25 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about
       reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                                                      2008-06-23                                                  CHROOT(2)