Why /etc/mtab? (was: Example modification of /etc/mtab wanted)

[Don Lewis]

In article <1929 at aurora.cs.athabascau.ca> lyndon at cs.AthabascaU.CA (Lyndon Nerenberg) writes:
>BTW - I like the idea of implementing /etc/mtab as /dev/mtab. The big
>problem I have with /etc/mtab is that it is usually completely out of
>sync with respect to the contents of the kernel's mount tables (primarily
>due to NFS failures). In these days of almost-reliable network file
>systems, I don't think we should be second guessing in user space something
>as intimately related to the kernel as the mount table.

It is also hard to keep /etc/mtab up to date, if you boot up single user
and your root filesystem is mounted read-only.

On the other hand, nfs mounts store hostname:remote path in /etc/mtab,
but store a socket address and file handle in the kernel mount table.
--
Don "Truck" Lewis                      Harris Semiconductor
Internet:  del at mlb.semi.harris.com     PO Box 883   MS 62A-028
Phone:     (407) 729-5205              Melbourne, FL  32901