Are containers like chroot jails, but with better marketing? In a way, yes.

The article on Earthly's blog dives into the concept of chroot, a technique used in Unix and Linux systems. Chroot allows users to change the root directory for a specific application, meaning that the application runs in an isolated environment. This is a valuable tool for security purposes as it restricts the application’s access to the file system and makes it more difficult for it to interfere with other processes. The article discusses how to set up and utilize chroot in practical applications, providing examples that illustrate how to create and run an application in a chroot virtual environment. This can be particularly useful for testing and launching software in controlled conditions. Chroot is a feature that deserves attention from every system administrator, particularly when deploying new applications that may pose security risks.