(libc.info)Mount Information


Mount Information
-----------------

   For some programs it is desirable and necessary to access information
about whether a certain filesystem is mounted and, if it is, where, or
simply to get lists of all the available filesystems.  The GNU libc
provides some functions to retrieve this information portably.

   Traditionally Unix systems have a file named `/etc/fstab' which
describes all possibly mounted filesystems.  The `mount' program uses
this file to mount at startup time of the system all the necessary
filesystems.  The information about all the filesystems actually mounted
is normally kept in a file named `/etc/mtab'.  Both files share the
same syntax and it is crucial that this syntax is followed all the
time.  Therefore it is best to never directly write the files.  The
functions described in this section can do this and they also provide
the functionality to convert the external textual representation to the
internal representation.

   Note that the `fstab' and `mtab' files are maintained on a system by
_convention_.  It is possible for the files not to exist or not to be
consistent with what is really mounted or available to mount, if the
system's administration policy allows it.  But programs that mount and
unmount filesystems typically maintain and use these files as described
herein.

   The filenames given above should never be used directly.  The
portable way to handle these file is to use the macros `_PATH_FSTAB',
defined in `fstab.h' and `_PATH_MNTTAB', defined in `mntent.h',
respectively.  There are also two alternate macro names `FSTAB' and
`_PATH_MOUNTED' defined but both names are deprecated and kept only for
backward compatibility.  The two former names should always be used.

fstab: The `fstab' file
mtab: The `mtab' file
Other Mount Information: Other (non-libc) sources of mount information

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