From: Karel Zak Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 08:42:36 +0000 (+0200) Subject: mount: add note about systemd and --all historical context X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=d59e09cc0fb98268196cbf48080a74094e69d1a6;p=thirdparty%2Futil-linux.git mount: add note about systemd and --all historical context Add information that mount -a was originally designed for init scripts but many modern systemd-based distributions use systemd units instead for mounting filesystems on boot in a more sophisticated way. Signed-off-by: Karel Zak --- diff --git a/sys-utils/mount.8.adoc b/sys-utils/mount.8.adoc index 0279767f7..9a5479fe5 100644 --- a/sys-utils/mount.8.adoc +++ b/sys-utils/mount.8.adoc @@ -307,7 +307,9 @@ The *mount* command does not pass all command-line options to the **/sbin/mount. Command-line options available for the *mount* command are: *-a*, *--all*:: -Mount all filesystems (of the given types) mentioned in _fstab_ (except for those whose line contains the *noauto* keyword). The filesystems are mounted following their order in _fstab_. The *mount* command compares filesystem source, target (and fs root for bind mount or btrfs) to detect already mounted filesystems. The kernel table with already mounted filesystems is cached during *mount --all*. This means that all duplicated _fstab_ entries will be mounted. +Mount all filesystems (of the given types) mentioned in _fstab_ (except for those whose line contains the *noauto* keyword). This option was originally designed for use in init scripts. Note that many modern systemd-based distributions do not use *mount -a* on boot and instead mount filesystems in a more sophisticated way using systemd units. ++ +The filesystems are mounted following their order in _fstab_. The *mount* command compares filesystem source, target (and fs root for bind mount or btrfs) to detect already mounted filesystems. The kernel table with already mounted filesystems is cached during *mount --all*. This means that all duplicated _fstab_ entries will be mounted. + The correct functionality depends on _/proc_ (to detect already mounted filesystems) and on _/sys_ (to evaluate filesystem tags like UUID= or LABEL=). It's strongly recommended to mount _/proc_ and _/sys_ filesystems before *mount -a* is executed, or keep /proc and /sys at the beginning of _fstab_. +