diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 4a818616..61210d10 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
 	* NEWS, src/passwd.c, man/passwd.1.xml: Add --root option.
 	passwd's usage split in smaller messages.
 	* src/passwd.c: Call sanitize_env() before setting the locales.
+	* NEWS, src/groupmems.c, man/groupmems.8.xml: Add --root option.
+	Open syslog after the potential chroot.
+	* src/groupmems.c: The getopt index of long options is not used.
 
 2011-10-22  Nicolas François  <nicolas.francois@centraliens.net>
 
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 98e3733a..a50af47a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ shadow-4.1.4.3 -> shadow-4.1.5					UNRELEASED
   * Add --root option.
 - groupmems
   * Fix parsing of gshadow entries.
+  * Add --root option.
 - groupmod
   * Fixed groupmod when configured with --enable-account-tools-setuid.
   * When the gshadow file exists but there are no gshadow entries, an entry
diff --git a/man/groupmems.8.xml b/man/groupmems.8.xml
index 01a6b800..96964fe1 100644
--- a/man/groupmems.8.xml
+++ b/man/groupmems.8.xml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!--
    Copyright (c) 2005       , Tomasz Kłoczko
-   Copyright (c) 2007 - 2008, Nicolas François
+   Copyright (c) 2007 - 2011, Nicolas François
    All rights reserved.
   
    Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -139,6 +139,19 @@
 	  </para>
 	</listitem>
       </varlistentry>
+      <varlistentry>
+	<term>
+	  <option>-R</option>, <option>--root</option>
+	  <replaceable>CHROOT_DIR</replaceable>
+	</term>
+	<listitem>
+	  <para>
+	    Apply changes in the <replaceable>CHROOT_DIR</replaceable>
+	    directory and use the configuration files from the
+	    <replaceable>CHROOT_DIR</replaceable> directory.
+	  </para>
+	</listitem>
+      </varlistentry>
     </variablelist>
   </refsect1>
 
diff --git a/src/groupmems.c b/src/groupmems.c
index 5bb2ebe3..0643d707 100644
--- a/src/groupmems.c
+++ b/src/groupmems.c
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2000       , International Business Machines
  *                            George Kraft IV, gk4@us.ibm.com, 03/23/2000
  * Copyright (c) 2000 - 2006, Tomasz Kłoczko
- * Copyright (c) 2007 - 2009, Nicolas François
+ * Copyright (c) 2007 - 2011, Nicolas François
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ static void remove_user (const char *user,
                          const struct group *grp);
 static void purge_members (const struct group *grp);
 static void display_members (const char *const *members);
-static void usage (int status);
+static /*@noreturn@*/void usage (int status);
 static void process_flags (int argc, char **argv);
 static void check_perms (void);
 static void fail_exit (int code);
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ static void display_members (const char *const *members)
 	}
 }
 
-static void usage (int status)
+static /*@noreturn@*/void usage (int status)
 {
 	FILE *usageout = (EXIT_SUCCESS != status) ? stderr : stdout;
 	(void) fprintf (usageout,
@@ -371,6 +371,7 @@ static void usage (int status)
 	                Prog);
 	(void) fputs (_("  -g, --group groupname         change groupname instead of the user's group\n"
 	                "                                (root only)\n"), usageout);
+	(void) fputs (_("  -R, --root CHROOT_DIR         directory to chroot into\n"), usageout);
 	(void) fputs (_("\n"), usageout);
 	(void) fputs (_("Actions:\n"), usageout);
 	(void) fputs (_("  -a, --add username            add username to the members of the group\n"), usageout);
@@ -386,8 +387,7 @@ static void usage (int status)
  */
 static void process_flags (int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int arg;
-	int option_index = 0;
+	int c;
 	static struct option long_options[] = {
 		{"add", required_argument, NULL, 'a'},
 		{"delete", required_argument, NULL, 'd'},
@@ -395,12 +395,13 @@ static void process_flags (int argc, char **argv)
 		{"help", no_argument, NULL, 'h'},
 		{"list", no_argument, NULL, 'l'},
 		{"purge", no_argument, NULL, 'p'},
+		{"root", required_argument, NULL, 'R'},
 		{NULL, 0, NULL, '\0'}
 	};
 
-	while ((arg = getopt_long (argc, argv, "a:d:g:hlp", long_options,
-	                           &option_index)) != EOF) {
-		switch (arg) {
+	while ((c = getopt_long (argc, argv, "a:d:g:hlpR:",
+	                         long_options, NULL)) != EOF) {
+		switch (c) {
 		case 'a':
 			adduser = xstrdup (optarg);
 			++exclusive;
@@ -414,7 +415,7 @@ static void process_flags (int argc, char **argv)
 			break;
 		case 'h':
 			usage (EXIT_SUCCESS);
-			break;
+			/*@notreached@*/break;
 		case 'l':
 			list = true;
 			++exclusive;
@@ -423,6 +424,8 @@ static void process_flags (int argc, char **argv)
 			purge = true;
 			++exclusive;
 			break;
+		case 'R': /* no-op, handled in process_root_flag () */
+			break;
 		default:
 			usage (EXIT_USAGE);
 		}
@@ -590,12 +593,14 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 	 */
 	Prog = Basename (argv[0]);
 
-	OPENLOG ("groupmems");
-
 	(void) setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
 	(void) bindtextdomain (PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);
 	(void) textdomain (PACKAGE);
 
+	process_root_flag ("-R", argc, argv);
+
+	OPENLOG ("groupmems");
+
 #ifdef SHADOWGRP
 	is_shadowgrp = sgr_file_present ();
 #endif