You can easily create a base Debian system using debootstrap. To have a usable chroot environment, you'll also need to mount both the dev and proc filesystems. Follow these steps to create a chroot environment in Debian.

Steps to create a Debian chroot environment:

  1. Create a directory that you want to use for the base system (chroot-debian in this case). 

    mkdir chroot-debian
  2. Create a base system using debootstrap. 

    sudo debootstrap sid chroot-debian http://mirror.pacific.net.au/debian/

    You can change sid to stable to use the stable distribution, and to use Debian mirror closer to your physical location for faster download speed.

  3. Mount proc and dev filesystem. 

    sudo mount -o bind /dev chroot-debian/dev
sudo mount -o bind /proc chroot-debian/proc
  4. Start chrooting. 

    sudo chroot chroot-debian /bin/bash
  5. Once done, exit the session and don't forget to unmount the dev and proc filesystem. 

    sudo umount chroot-debian/dev chroot-debian/proc