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Chroot

🧩 What Is chroot and Why Cubic Uses It

chroot stands for “change root”. It is a Linux/Unix operation that changes the apparent root directory (/) for a process and its children. In other words, the process sees a different directory tree as its root, isolated from the rest of the system.

Key Points:

  1. Purpose of chroot

  2. Creates an isolated environment for safely modifying a filesystem.

  3. Any changes inside the chroot do not affect the host OS.

  4. Why Cubic Uses chroot

  5. When customizing an Ubuntu ISO, Cubic extracts the ISO filesystem and opens a chroot shell inside it.

  6. This allows you to:

    • Install or remove packages
    • Modify system configuration
    • Add applications or extensions
    • Test scripts
    • All changes are confined to the custom ISO and do not affect your running system.

  7. Advantages of Using chroot

  8. Safe experimentation without risking the host OS.

  9. Full root privileges inside the ISO environment.

  10. Can replicate the environment the user will see when booting the ISO.

  11. Common Usage in Cubic

  12. Enter the chroot via the Cubic GUI terminal.

  13. Run commands as if you were on a live Ubuntu system.
  14. Exit the chroot once customization is done, then build the final ISO.

Example:

# Inside Cubic terminal (chroot)
apt update
apt install firefox gnome-tweaks

This installs packages inside the ISO, not on your host system.