Re: chroot useful?

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () research att com>]

It is important to understand what chroot() is and what it isn't.  It is
not a virtualization of the machine.  Attempts to use it as such are
quite likely doomed.  It is a mechanism to virtualize file name access;
at that, it does quite a good job, and has since shortly after the first
public release in 1979.  (That version permitted chroot("..") out of the
subtree.)

Standard UNIX systems do not have a complete virtual environment.  There
have been various attempts to add these on, with more or less success.
But it's an area where one should tread cautiously.


                --Steve Bellovin