SBUILD-SHELL(1)

📦
version 0.89.3 · 10 versions
, in debian trixie

💅 SBUILD-SHELL(1) 💅

okay so bestie, we're in the sbuild section of the Debian manual pages, and today's main character is sbuild-shell — yes, that's the actual page name, we're not being weird about it. this is the Debian sbuild manual, and this little icon is about to make your chroot era SO much easier 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

sbuild-shell — run a shell in an sbuild chroot 🐚

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sbuild-shell [-h|--help | -V|--version] CHROOT

that's it. that's the whole vibe check. one chroot, a couple of optional flags, and you're in 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so sbuild-shell literally runs an interactive shell — and we mean /bin/sh, the classic, no notes — inside the chroot you point it at. 🔥

and here's the thing, bestie, listen up: the changes will not be discarded. like, at all. it's not giving "temporary little peek," it's giving "permanent glow-up." so this is exactly the tool you use to set up a build chroot — get in there, install stuff, configure stuff, make it yours. the chroot remembers everything 💅✨

no cap, this is a real editing session on your chroot, not a sandbox-within-a-sandbox. act accordingly 🎀

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

💜 Actions

  • -h, --help — display this manual. the "help me understand" button, iconic as always 🫶
  • -V, --version — print version information. for when you gotta know exactly which era of sbuild-shell you're living in 👑

🌈 Chroot selection

  • CHROOT — the chroot to use. and here's the cute shortcut moment: o, s, t, u and e may be used as abbreviations for oldstable, stable, testing, unstable and experimental, respectively. so u is literally just unstable in a trench coat 😭 iykyk 🦋

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

to run a shell in the unstable chroot:

% sbuild-shell unstable↵

the ↵ is you hitting enter, bestie. go forth. be unstable. (the chroot, not you. well. 😭)

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Roger Leigh. that's the icon who made this happen, show some respect 💖

Copyright © 2006–2008 Roger Leigh <rleigh@debian.org>.

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

  • sbuild(1) — the big one, the parent, the main character energy. go read it next, fr fr 🌸

that's the whole page, bestie!! this was Version 0.89.3+deb13u4, dated 28 December 2025 — so yeah, she's fresh, she's current, she's serving 💅✨ slay, and remember: the chroot keeps your changes, so make 'em count 🫶🍓

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