chroot_manager

chroot_manager is a fully featured tool for managing chroot environments on Debian‐based systems. It provides a simple command-line interface for creating, connecting to, disconnecting from, and monitoring a chroot jail. The tool supports daemon mode—using strace—to log all system calls made within the chroot environment, along with installation and uninstallation support for easy deployment.

Features

• Create a minimal Debian chroot jail using debootstrap.
• Connect to the chroot, automatically mounting necessary filesystems (e.g., /dev, /proc, /sys, /tmp).
• Daemon mode: With the --daemon flag, run the chroot session under strace so that all system calls (and those of forked child processes) are logged to separate files.
• Disconnect from the chroot and unmount all bind mounts.
• Status command to display the current mount status for the chroot jail.
• Verbose/debug mode for detailed logging.
• Install/Uninstall: Easily install the tool (and its man page and bash completions) to system directories.
• Extensible: Designed to be further enhanced with configuration file support, advanced logging, and additional completions.

Requirements

• A Debian-based system.
• Root privileges are required for creating, connecting, disconnecting, and installing/uninstalling the tool.
• Required commands: debootstrap, chroot, mount, xhost, xauth, sudo, and strace.

Installation

To install chroot_manager system-wide, run:

sudo ./chroot_manager.sh install [--verbose]

This command will:

• Copy the script to /usr/local/bin/chroot_manager and set the executable permission.
• Install the man page (if chroot_manager.1 exists in the current directory) to /usr/local/share/man/man1 and compress it.
• Install the bash completion file (if chroot_manager.bash_completion exists) to /etc/bash_completion.d/chroot_manager.

Uninstallation

To remove chroot_manager and its associated files, run:

sudo ./chroot_manager.sh uninstall [--verbose]

This command removes:

• The binary from /usr/local/bin/chroot_manager.
• The man page from /usr/local/share/man/man1/chroot_manager.1.gz.
• The bash completion file from /etc/bash_completion.d/chroot_manager.

Usage

Basic Syntax:

sudo chroot_manager [--verbose] [--daemon] <command>

Commands:

• create
  Create the chroot jail using debootstrap.
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager create
  

• connect
  Mount necessary filesystems, set up X access, and enter the chroot environment.
  With --daemon, the session is traced via strace, and system calls are logged to files in the daemon log directory (default: $(pwd)/chroot_daemon_logs).
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager --daemon connect
  

• disconnect
  Unmount the bind mounts from the chroot and revoke X server permissions.
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager disconnect
  

• status
  Display the current mount status for the chroot jail.
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager status
  

• help
  Display a detailed help message with usage and command descriptions.
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager help
  

• install
  Install the tool to /usr/local/bin along with its man page and bash completion.
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager install
  

• uninstall
  Remove the installed tool and its associated files.
  Example:

  sudo chroot_manager uninstall
  

Configuration

By default, chroot_manager assumes:

• The chroot jail is located at /var/chroot.
• The Debian mirror used is http://deb.debian.org/debian.
• Daemon logs (when in daemon mode) are stored in a directory in the current working directory named chroot_daemon_logs.

Feel free to modify these defaults directly in the script or extend the tool with configuration file support in future versions.

Bash Completion

If installed, bash completions will allow you to auto-complete the available commands and options when using chroot_manager in your shell.

License

This project is released under the terms of the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions, suggestions, and bug reports are welcome! Please submit issues and pull requests via GitHub.

Author

Kleinpanic
kleinpanic@gmail.com