Shell & Commands

Use jails console for an interactive root login shell, or jails exec to run a command directly and return to your host shell.

Both commands must run as root on the Sylve node, with the target Jail already running. They do not require a Sylve configuration file or a running Sylve daemon, and are unavailable inside sylve --console.

Open a Jail shell

Open a local interactive shell:

doas sylve jails console --ctid 101

This command resolves the running Jail with jls, then opens root’s login shell through jexec and su -l root.

A real Sylve 0.3.0 session inspecting a Jail network, opening its local shell, verifying the static address and route, and reaching the gateway.

Leave the Jail shell with:

exit

Exiting the shell does not stop the Jail.

Run a command without opening a shell

Use jails exec to run a command:

doas sylve jails exec --ctid 101 -- uname -a

The command runs as root inside the Jail with a clean environment. It does not start a login shell, read shell startup files, or allocate a pseudo-terminal. Standard input, standard output, and standard error are inherited, and the command’s exit status and signals are preserved.

Everything after -- is passed directly as command arguments, including flags such as --help. Sylve does not interpret shell syntax; explicitly invoke a shell for pipelines, redirections, or multiple commands inside the Jail:

doas sylve jails exec --ctid 101 -- /bin/sh -c 'id && uname -a'
cat script.sh | doas sylve jails exec --ctid 101 -- /bin/sh

Quote shell expressions so your host shell does not expand them first. Supplying no command is an error, not a request for an interactive shell. To use a program outside the clean environment’s search path, supply its full path inside the Jail.