From Linux Man Pages
automount - configure mount points for autofs
automount [options] mount-point map-type[,format] map [map-options]
DESCRIPTION
The automount program is used to configure a mount point for autofs, the inlined Linux automounter. automount
works by taking a base mount-point and map file, and using these (combined with other options) to automatically
mount filesystems within the base mount-point when they are accessed in any way. The filesystems are then
autounmounted after a period of inactivity.
OPTIONS
-p, --pid-file
Write the pid of the daemon to the specified file.
-t, --timeout
Set the minimum timeout, in seconds, until directories are unmounted. The default is 5 minutes. Setting
the timeout to zero disables unmounts completely.
-v, --verbose
Enables printing of general status and progress messages.
-d, --debug
Enables printing of general status and progress messages as well as debuging messages.
-g, --ghost
Request that directories in the automount be shown but not mounted until accesssed. The wildcard map is
not ghosted.
-V, --version
Display the version number, then exit.
ARGUMENTS
automount takes at least three arguments. Mandatory arguments include mount-point, map-type, and map. Both
mandatory and optional arguments are described below.
mount-point
Base location for autofs-mounted filesystems to be attached. This is a directory name that will be cre-
ated (as with mkdir -p) and later when automount terminates will be removed (as with rmdir -p).
map-type
Type of map used for this invocation of automount. The following are valid map types:
file The map is a regular text file.
program
The map is an executable program, which is passed a key on the command line and returns an entry on
stdout if successful.
yp The map is a NIS (YP) database.
nisplus
The map is a NIS+ database.
hesiod The map is a hesiod database whose filsys entries are used for maps.
ldap map names are of the form [//servername/]basedn, where the optional servername is the name of the
LDAP server to query, and basedn is the DN to do a subtree search under. Two LDAP schema are sup-
ported. The automountMap and the nisMap (RFC 2307) object classes.
Entries in the automountMap schema are automount objects in the specified subtree, where the cn attribute
is the key (the wildcard key is "/"), and the automountInformation attribute contains the information used
by the automounter. Documentation on the schema used by this module is available online at
http://docs.sun.com/source/806-4251-10/mapping.htm.
RFC 2307 schema entries are nisObject objects and use the cn attribute as the key and the nisMapEntry con-
tains information used by the automounter.
format Format of the map data; currently the only formats recognized are sun, which is a subset of the Sun auto-
mounter map format, and hesiod, for hesiod filesys entries. If the format is left unspecified, it
defaults to sun for all map types except hesiod.
map Location of mapfile to use. This is an absolute UNIX pathname in the case for maps of types file or pro-
gram, and the name of a database in the case for maps of type yp, nisplus, or hesiod.
options
Any remaining command line arguments without leading dashes (-) are taken as options (-o) to mount. Argu-
ments with leading dashes are considered options for the maps.
The sun format supports the following options:
-Dvariable=value
Replace variable with value in map substitutions.
-strict
Treat errors when mounting file systems as fatal. This is important when multiple file systems
should be mounted (`multimounts'). If this option is given, no file system is mounted at all if at
least one file system can't be mounted.
NOTES
If the automount daemon catches signal USR1, it will unmount all currently unused autofs-mounted filesystems and
continue running (forced expire). If it catches signals TERM or USR2 it will unmount all unused autofs-mounted
filesystems and exit if all filesystems were unmounted. Busy filesystems will not be unmounted. The daemon also
responds to a HUP signal which triggers an update of maps for which ghosting is implemented (currently FILE and
NIS maps).
If the autofs directory itself is busy when the daemon is signalled with an exit signal then the daemon will exit
without unmounting the autofs filesystem. The filesystem is left in a catatonic (non-functional) state, and can
be unmounted when it becomes unused.
RELATED
autofs(5), mount(8).
BUGS
A whole slew of missing desirable features (see TODO file).
The documentation leaves a lot to be desired.
Please report other bugs along with a detailed description to <autofs@linux.kernel.org>. For instructions on how
to join the list and for archives visit http://linux.kernel.org/mailman/listinfo/autofs
CATEGORY