diff --git a/System/Unix/Mount.hs b/System/Unix/Mount.hs
--- a/System/Unix/Mount.hs
+++ b/System/Unix/Mount.hs
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving, ScopedTypeVariables #-}
 -- |functions for mounting, umounting, parsing \/proc\/mounts, etc
-module System.Unix.Mount 
-    (umountBelow,	-- FilePath -> IO [(FilePath, (String, String, ExitCode))]
-     umount,		-- [String] -> IO (String, String, ExitCode)
-     isMountPoint)	-- FilePath -> IO Bool
-    where
+module System.Unix.Mount
+    ( umountBelow	-- FilePath -> IO [(FilePath, (String, String, ExitCode))]
+    , umount		-- [String] -> IO (String, String, ExitCode)
+    , isMountPoint	-- FilePath -> IO Bool
 
+    , withMount
+    , WithProcAndSys(runWithProcAndSys)
+    , withProcAndSys
+    , withTmp
+    ) where
+
 -- Standard GHC modules
 
 import Control.Monad
@@ -16,6 +22,21 @@
 import System.Posix.Files
 import System.Process (readProcessWithExitCode)
 
+import Control.Applicative (Applicative)
+import Control.Exception (catch)
+import Control.Monad.Catch (bracket, MonadCatch, MonadMask)
+import Control.Monad.Trans (MonadTrans, lift, liftIO, MonadIO)
+-- import Control.Monad.Trans.Except ({- ExceptT instances -})
+import Data.ByteString.Lazy as L (ByteString, empty)
+import GHC.IO.Exception (IOErrorType(OtherError))
+import System.Directory (createDirectoryIfMissing)
+import System.Exit (ExitCode(ExitFailure, ExitSuccess))
+import System.FilePath ((</>))
+import System.IO (hPutStrLn, stderr)
+import System.IO.Error
+import System.Process (CreateProcess, proc)
+import System.Process.ListLike (readCreateProcess, showCreateProcessForUser)
+
 -- Local Modules
 
 -- In ghc610 readFile "/proc/mounts" hangs.  Use this instead.
@@ -78,7 +99,7 @@
 unescape ('\\':'1':'3':'4':rest) = '\\' : (unescape rest)
 unescape (c:rest) = c : (unescape rest)
 
--- |'escape' - \/proc\/mount stytle string escaper
+-- |'escape' - \/proc\/mount style string escaper
 escape :: String -> String
 escape [] = []
 escape (' ':rest)  = ('\\':'0':'4':'0':escape rest)
@@ -115,3 +136,57 @@
             -- It is hard to know what is going on if . or .. don't exist.
             -- Assume we are seeing some sort of mount point.
             return True
+
+readProcess :: CreateProcess -> L.ByteString -> IO L.ByteString
+readProcess p input = do
+  (code, out, _err) <- readCreateProcess p input :: IO (ExitCode, L.ByteString, L.ByteString)
+  case code of
+    ExitFailure n -> ioError (mkIOError OtherError (showCreateProcessForUser p ++ " -> " ++ show n) Nothing Nothing)
+    ExitSuccess -> return out
+
+-- | Do an IO task with a file system remounted using mount --bind.
+-- This was written to set up a build environment.
+withMount :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => FilePath -> FilePath -> m a -> m a
+withMount directory mountpoint task =
+    bracket pre (\ _ -> post) (\ _ -> task)
+    where
+      mount = proc "mount" ["--bind", directory, mountpoint]
+      umount = proc "umount" [mountpoint]
+      umountLazy = proc "umount" ["-l", mountpoint]
+
+      pre = liftIO $ do -- hPutStrLn stderr $ "mounting /proc at " ++ show mountpoint
+                        createDirectoryIfMissing True mountpoint
+                        readProcess mount L.empty
+
+      post = liftIO $ do -- hPutStrLn stderr $ "unmounting /proc at " ++ show mountpoint
+                         readProcess umount L.empty
+                           `catch` (\ (e :: IOError) ->
+                                        do hPutStrLn stderr ("Exception unmounting " ++ mountpoint ++ ", trying -l: " ++ show e)
+                                           readProcess umountLazy L.empty)
+
+-- | Monad transformer to ensure that /proc and /sys are mounted
+-- during a computation.
+newtype WithProcAndSys m a = WithProcAndSys { runWithProcAndSys :: m a } deriving (Functor, Monad, Applicative)
+
+instance MonadTrans WithProcAndSys where
+    lift = WithProcAndSys
+
+instance MonadIO m => MonadIO (WithProcAndSys m) where
+    liftIO task = WithProcAndSys (liftIO task)
+
+-- | Mount /proc and /sys in the specified build root and execute a
+-- task.  Typically, the task would start with a chroot into the build
+-- root.  If the build root given is "/" it is assumed that the file
+-- systems are already mounted, no mounting or unmounting is done.
+withProcAndSys :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => FilePath -> WithProcAndSys m a -> m a
+withProcAndSys "/" task = runWithProcAndSys task
+withProcAndSys root task = do
+  exists <- liftIO $ doesDirectoryExist root
+  case exists of
+    True -> withMount "/proc" (root </> "proc") $ withMount "/sys" (root </> "sys") $ runWithProcAndSys task
+    False -> liftIO $ ioError $ mkIOError doesNotExistErrorType "chroot directory does not exist" Nothing (Just root)
+
+-- | Do an IO task with /tmp remounted.  This could be used
+-- to share /tmp with a build root.
+withTmp :: (MonadIO m, MonadMask m) => FilePath -> m a -> m a
+withTmp root task = withMount "/tmp" (root </> "tmp") task
diff --git a/Unixutils.cabal b/Unixutils.cabal
--- a/Unixutils.cabal
+++ b/Unixutils.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           Unixutils
-Version:        1.52.4
+Version:        1.53
 License:        BSD3
 License-File:	COPYING
 Author:         Jeremy Shaw, David Fox
@@ -13,8 +13,20 @@
 Build-type:	Simple
 Cabal-Version: >= 1.2
 
-Library 
-    Build-Depends:  base >= 4 && <5, bytestring, directory, filepath, process, pureMD5, regex-tdfa, unix, zlib
+Library
+    Build-Depends:
+      base >= 4 && <5,
+      bytestring,
+      directory,
+      exceptions,
+      filepath,
+      mtl,
+      process,
+      process-extras,
+      pureMD5,
+      regex-tdfa,
+      unix,
+      zlib
     ghc-options:	-O2
     Exposed-modules:
         System.Unix.Chroot,