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Oddly enough, /proc/mounts doesn't retain all the information that mtab
does. For example, the kernel is oblivious to certain mount options
that are only used by the mount.* program (e.g., credentials for
CIFS). I'm not sure how much of this still applies, but there's an
extensive LKML thread[1] that documents this and the reasons for NOT
making it a symlink to /proc/mounts.<br>
<br>
David<br>
[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/2/19/43">http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/2/19/43</a><br>
<br>
<br>
On 05/05/2010 06:47 PM, Michael Trausch wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:u2ke496c4701005051547x6b324b03i6350fd33d966d4b6@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<p>Yes, I actually wonder myself why the file exists at all. Seems
silly on Linux systems; I would think that it should just be a symlink
to /proc/mounts in any case, because it is really the kernel's job to
track mounts and show state.</p>
<p>It has always bugged me that its there. It bugs me even more than
on a system that only boots ro, with init=/bin/bash, it reads /etc/mtab
which is almost always inaccurate at that point.</p>
<p>--<br>
Sent from my ADP1 running Android 2.1</p>
<blockquote type="cite">On May 5, 2010 4:10 PM, "Jim Kinney" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:jim.kinney@gmail.com">jim.kinney@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
If /var is not mounted, LOTS of stuff is not working so I'm in runlevel
1 at that point :-)<br>
<br>
I'd even settle for a spot in /tmp. <br>
<br>
But not /etc. mtab is not used to configure anything. It is the report
of a state. So the /proc/mounts (linked to /proc/self/mounts) is the
only place it should exist from my thinking.<br>
<br>
Must be an _old_ carry over from way before /proc days.
<p><font color="#500050"><br>
<br>
On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 3:46 PM, Dennis Ruzeski <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:denniruz@gmail.com">denniruz@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
><br>
> So if /var was unmo...</font></p>
-- <br>
-- <br>
<p><font color="#500050">James P. Kinney III<br>
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness <br>
Doing pretty well on all 3 p...</font></p>
<br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Tomaschik, RHCE
Moderator, LinuxQuestions.org
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tuxteam.com">http://www.tuxteam.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:david@tuxteam.com">david@tuxteam.com</a> [GPG: 0x6D428695]
</pre>
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