Chroot
Chroot (short for 'change root') is a Unix/Linux system call and command that changes the apparent root directory for the current running process and its children. It creates an isolated filesystem environment by restricting a process's view of the filesystem to a specific directory, which becomes the new root ('/') for that process. This is commonly used for system maintenance, testing, and as a basic form of process isolation.
Developers should learn chroot for tasks like safely testing software in a controlled environment, performing system recovery or maintenance without affecting the main system, and as a lightweight isolation mechanism for processes. It's particularly useful in DevOps for building and testing packages in clean environments, and in security contexts to limit the scope of potentially vulnerable applications, though it's not a full sandbox solution.