/etc/fstab: Contains information about the filesystems available to be mounted on this Linux system. Compare to /etc/mtab.

When you make an entry in /etc/fstab you can set various options, including things like allowing mounting by other than root, automounting, etc. See man fstab.

See AboutThesePages.

fstab is a configuration file which can conveniently store information about each filesystem used by your computer. In Mandrake 7.2, it is stored in directory /etc.

If a filesystem is specified in fstab and the "auto" option is specified, the filesystem will be mounted automatically during the boot process.

If you choose to mount a filesystem manually, you don't need to specify all the options in the mount command -- those specified in fstab will be used.

In older Linux systems, all entries were made manually. In newer Linux systems, many entries are made automatically by the system during the installation process (or using various configuration tools). The file can still be edited manually.

For now, the contents of the file are not discussed here. See the references or look at the /etc/fstab file on your system to get a general idea of what is available.

Most Linux file systems, including network file systems, can be specified in fstab. My current objective is to mount some Samba "shares" from Windows computers, so I will include an example of how to do that -- see SambaMount.

I don't know of a way to force the fstab file to be "re-executed" after boot up, but you can use mount and umount to mount and unmount individual filesystems.

References:

• http://www.frankenlinux.com/intro/fstab.html
• http://www.humbug.org.au/talks/fstab/fstab.html
• man pages for
  • fstab(8)
  • mount(8)

Contributors

• RandyKramer - 11 Jun 2001 (transferred from swiki)
• RandyKramer - 15 Jan 2002
• RandyKramer - 09 FEB 2002 combined two pages on fstab -- probably needs editing
• <If you edit this page, add your name here, move this to the next line>