lfs-book/chapter08/fstab.xml

<sect1 id="ch08-fstab">
<title>Creating the /etc/fstab file</title>
<?dbhtml filename="fstab.html" dir="chapter08"?>

<para>In order for certain programs to be able to determine where certain
partitions are supposed to be mounted by default, the /etc/fstab file is
used. Create a new file <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> containing the
following:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>cat &gt; /etc/fstab &lt;&lt; "EOF"</userinput>
# Begin /etc/fstab

# filesystem   mount-point fs-type    options     dump    fsck-order

/dev/*LFS*     /           *fs-type*  defaults    1       1
/dev/*swap*    swap        swap       pri=1       0       0
proc           /proc       proc       defaults    0       0
shm            /dev/shm    tmpfs      defaults    0       0

# End /etc/fstab
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen></para>

<para><userinput>*LFS*</userinput>, 
<userinput>*swap*</userinput>
and <userinput>*fs-type*</userinput> have to be replaced with the 
appropriate values (/dev/hda2, /dev/hda5 and reiserfs for example).</para>

<para>When adding a reiserfs partition, the <userinput>1 1</userinput> at 
the end of the line should be replaced with <userinput>0 0</userinput>.</para>

<para>A tmpfs mount is added at /dev/shm to comply with Posix shared memory
requirements.  For more information, see the file 
Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt in the kernel source tree.</para>

<para>For more information on the various fields which are in the fstab
file, see <userinput>man 5 fstab</userinput>.</para>

<para>There are other lines which you may consider adding to your fstab
file.  One example is the line which you must have if you are using
devpts:</para>

<para><screen>devpts         /dev/pts    devpts     gid=4,mode=620 0    0</screen></para> 

<para>Another example is a line to use if you intend to use USB
devices:</para>
<para><screen>usbfs       /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults    0       0</screen></para>

<para>Both of these options will only work if you have the relevant
support compiled into your kernel.</para>

</sect1>