NAME¶

switch_root - switch to another filesystem as the root of the mount tree

SYNOPSIS¶

switch_root [-hV]

switch_root newroot init [arg...]

DESCRIPTION¶

switch_root moves already mounted /proc, /dev, /sys and /run to newroot and makes newroot the new root filesystem and starts init process.

WARNING: switch_root removes recursively all files and directories on the current root filesystem.

OPTIONS¶

-h, --help

-V, --version

EXIT STATUS¶

switch_root returns 1 on failure, it never returns on success.

NOTES¶

switch_root will fail to function if newroot is not the root of a mount. If you want to switch root into a directory that does not meet this requirement then you can first use a bind-mounting trick to turn any directory into a mount point:

mount --bind $DIR $DIR

AUTHORS¶

Peter Jones <pjones@redhat.com>, Jeremy Katz <katzj@redhat.com>, Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>

SEE ALSO¶

chroot(2), init(8), mkinitrd(8), mount(8)

REPORTING BUGS¶

For bug reports, use the issue tracker at <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.

AVAILABILITY¶

The switch_root command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.