CHROOT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
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NAME

chroot - run command or interactive shell with special root directory  

SYNOPSIS

chroot [,OPTION/]... ,NEWROOT /[,COMMAND /[,ARG/]...]  

DESCRIPTION

Run COMMAND with root directory set to NEWROOT.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chroo-groups'--groups=G_LISTX'tty: link'

specify supplementary groups as g1,g2,..,gN

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chroo-userspec'--userspec=USER:GROUPX'tty: link'

specify user and group (ID or name) to use

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#chroo-ski-chdir'--skip-chdirX'tty: link'

do not change working directory to '/'

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chroot#chroo-help'--helpX'tty: link'

display this help and exit

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chroot#chroo-version'--versionX'tty: link'

output version information and exit

If no command is given, run '"$SHELL" -i' (default: '/bin/sh -i').  

Exit status:

125

if the chroot command itself fails

126

if COMMAND is found but cannot be invoked

127

if COMMAND cannot be found

-

the exit status of COMMAND otherwise

 

AUTHOR

Written by Roland McGrath.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org

Report Gentoo bugs to: https://bugs.gentoo.org/
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>  

SEE ALSO

chroot(2)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/chroot>
or available locally via: info aq(coreutils) chroot invocationaq

Packaged by Gentoo (9.10 (p0))
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Exit status:

AUTHOR

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO