From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mailsrv.cs.umass.edu (mailsrv.cs.umass.edu [128.119.240.136]) by sourceware.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2FC903854812 for ; Tue, 5 Jan 2021 15:09:23 +0000 (GMT) DMARC-Filter: OpenDMARC Filter v1.3.2 sourceware.org 2FC903854812 Authentication-Results: sourceware.org; dmarc=none (p=none dis=none) header.from=cs.umass.edu Authentication-Results: sourceware.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=moss@cs.umass.edu Received: from [192.168.0.14] (c-24-62-203-86.hsd1.ma.comcast.net [24.62.203.86]) by mailsrv.cs.umass.edu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id DB8A840167C0; Tue, 5 Jan 2021 10:09:22 -0500 (EST) Reply-To: moss@cs.umass.edu Subject: Re: Is it possible to define the root directory in a cross compiled program To: Bill Stewart , cygwin@cygwin.com References: <48b833bd-547a-92eb-542e-b7da8e0d601b@interocitors.com> <9d339f8b-83ff-8b9c-b2fe-1c6fa4b2a92d@SystematicSw.ab.ca> <472d5b4e-1916-eb79-cf3d-44f43b5f8b5d@cs.umass.edu> From: Eliot Moss Message-ID: Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2021 10:09:23 -0500 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:68.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/68.12.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.4 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, KAM_DMARC_STATUS, NICE_REPLY_A, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW, SPF_HELO_NONE, SPF_PASS, TXREP autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on server2.sourceware.org X-BeenThere: cygwin@cygwin.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: General Cygwin discussions and problem reports List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 05 Jan 2021 15:09:24 -0000 On 1/5/2021 10:02 AM, Bill Stewart wrote: > On Tue, Jan 5, 2021 at 6:34 AM Eliot Moss wrote: > >> Is there a Windows equivalent to chroot (either the program or the library/system call)? > > See: https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/highlights.html > > Quoting: > > "Chroot is supported. Kind of. Chroot is not a concept known by > Windows. This implies some serious restrictions. First of all, the > chroot call isn't a privileged call. Any user may call it. Second, the > chroot environment isn't safe against native windows processes. Given > that, chroot in Cygwin is only a hack which pretends security where > there is none. For that reason the usage of chroot is discouraged. > Don't use it unless you really, really know what you're doing." > > What I have found is that the cygwin chroot is not a security boundary Right. My impression was that the OP was more interested in having the functionality of where / is, though I could be wrong, of course. I also saw web posts about Windows' RUNAS command, which deals with some of the security implications, but does not re-root your file hierarchy. Best - Eliot