< 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)