chroot

1 definition found

chroot - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  chroot
  
     <operating system> The UNIX command to make the root directory
      (/) become something other than its default for the
     lifetime of the current process.  It can only be run by
     privileged users and is used to give a process (commonly a
     network server such as FTP or HTTP) access to a restricted
     portion of the file system.
  
     The new root contains copies of all the essential files and
     directories, e.g. /lib, /dev/tty, /tmp.
  
     (1996-12-08)