FSTAB(5) COMMAND REFERENCE FSTAB(5)
NAME
fstab - static information about file systems
SYNOPSIS
#include <mntent.h>
DESCRIPTION
The file /etc/fstab describes the file systems and swapping
partitions used by the local machine. It is created by the
system administrator using a text editor and processed by
commands that mount, unmount, check consistency of, dump and
restore file systems, and by the system in providing swap
space.
The fstab file consists of a number of lines of the form:
fsname dir type opts freq passno
An example of the file is
/dev/xy0a / 4.2 rw,noquota 1 2
The entries in the /etc/fstab file are accessed using the
routines in getmntent(3), which returns a structure of the
form:
struct mntent {
char *mnt_fsname; /* file system name */
char *mnt_dir; /* file system path prefix */
char *mnt_type; /* 4.2, nfs, swap, or ignore */
char *mnt_opts; /* ro, quota, etc. */
int mnt_freq; /* dump frequency, in days */
int mnt_passno; /* pass number on parallel fsck */
};
There is one entry per line in the file, and the fields are
separated by white space. A `#' as the first character
indicates a comment.
Note 1: No white space is allowed on the comment line
before the comment begins.
Note 2: All six fields are required. Any line with
less than six fields causes the mount -a command to
quit, parsing the file at that point.
The opts field consists of a string of comma-separated
options. Some of the options are common to all file system
types, others only make sense for a single file system type.
See mount(8) for a more complete description of the options
available.
Printed 3/13/89 1
FSTAB(5) COMMAND REFERENCE FSTAB(5)
The type field determines how the fsname and opts fields are
interpreted. File system types currently supported and the
way each of them interprets these fields is listed here:
4.2:
fsname Must be a block special device.
opts Valid opts are ro, rw, suid, nosuid, quota,
and noquota.
NFS:
fsname The path on the server of the directory to be
served.
opts Valid opts are ro, rw, suid, nosuid, hard,
soft, bg, fg, retry, rsize, wsize, timeo,
retrans, port, and intr.
SWAP:
fsname Must be a block special device swap
partition.
opts Ignored.
The opts are interpreted as follows:
rw read/write
ro read only
suid set uid execution allowed
nosuid set uid execution not allowed
quota usage limits enforced
noquota usage limits not enforced
bg if the first attempt fails, retry in the
background
retry=n set number of failure retries to n
rsize=n set read buffer size to n bytes
wsize=n set write buffer size to n bytes
timeo=n set NFS timeout to n tenths of a second
Printed 3/13/89 2
FSTAB(5) COMMAND REFERENCE FSTAB(5)
retrans=n set number of NFS retransmissions to n
port=n set server IP port number to n
soft return error of server doesn't respond
hard retry request until server responds
If the type is specified as ``ignore'' the entry is ignored.
(This is useful to show disk partitions which are currently
not used.)
The field freq indicates how often each partition should be
dumped by the dump(8) command (and triggers that command's w
option which specifies which file systems should be dumped).
Most systems set the freq field to 1 indicating that the
file systems are dumped each day.
The final field, passno, is used by the disk consistency
check program fsck(8) to allow overlapped checking of file
systems during a reboot. All file systems with passno of 1
are first checked simultaneously, then all file systems with
passno of 2 are checked, and so on. It is usual to make the
passno of the root file system have the value 1 and then
check one file system on each available disk drive in each
subsequent pass to the exhaustion of file system partitions.
The file /etc/fstab is only read by programs, and not
written; it is the duty of the system administrator to
properly create and maintain this file. The order of
records in /etc/fstab is important because fsck, mount, and
umount process the file sequentially; file systems must
appear after file systems they are mounted within.
FILES
/etc/fstab
CAVEATS
You MUST have information in all six fields. Any line with
less than six fields causes the mount -a command to quit,
parsing the file at that point.
SEE ALSO
fsck(8), getmntent(3), mount(8), umount(8), and vifstab(8).
Printed 3/13/89 3
%%index%%
na:264,97;
sy:361,295;
de:656,2502;3494,2957;6787,1925;
fi:8712,89;
ca:8801,313;
se:9114,224;
%%index%%000000000127