Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

Name

mount

Synopsis

                  mount [options] [[device] directory]

System administration command. Mount a file structure. The file structure on device is mounted on directory. If no device is specified, mount looks for an entry in /etc/fstab to find what device is associated with the given directory. The directory, which must already exist and should be empty, becomes the name of the root of the newly mounted file structure. If mount is invoked with no arguments, it displays the name of each mounted device, the directory on which it is mounted, its filesystem type, and any mount options associated with the device.

Options

-a

Mount all filesystems listed in /etc/fstab. Use -t to limit this to all filesystems of a particular type.

-f

Fake mount. Go through the motions of checking the device and directory, but do not actually mount the filesystem.

-h

Print help message, then exit.

-l

When reporting on mounted filesystems, show filesystem labels for filesystems that have them.

-n

Do not record the mount in /etc/mtab.

-o option

Qualify the mount with a mount option. Many filesystem types have their own options. The following are common to most filesystems:

async

Read input and output to the device asynchronously.

atime

Update inode access time for each access. This is the default behavior.

auto

Allow mounting with the -a option.

defaults

Use all options’ default values (async, auto, dev, exec, nouser, rw, suid).

dev

Interpret any special devices that exist on the filesystem.

exec

Allow binaries to ...