I am trying to map an existing directory to a new name, e.g. /dir1 to /dir2. I can already do this through mount --bind /dir1 /dir2. However, I am looking to auto mount this every boot. I have search all I could but there was no mention of what type of file system to put in the fstab file.

How do I automate the mounting of existing directories?

Thanks,

Peter

Why don't you use symbolic link?

# man ln

I think at one point in time I was considering that, but I forgot why I didn't use it. Isn't it true that you can't use link across partiition? (Or is it just hard link?)

Thanks,

Peter

you can use links across any partition. there should be no problem. use -s switch to create symbolic link. it just acts like an alias i.e operations performed on the actual file(s) :)

I checked it out and it works, thanks.

I have no idea why I didn't use it. I much have forgotten to check out the -s switch.

By the way, what's the difference (advantage vs disadvantage) between symbolic link and mounting of existing directory? Any performance implications?

Thanks,

Peter

You can only mount filesystem, not directories or files. A directory is just a special kind of file.

Whereas links are pointers from one file to another. So you can't actually compare mount vs ln.

How about the difference between making a symbolic link to a directory vs using the mount --bind /olddir /newdir?

Thanks,

Peter

No idea about 'mount --bind', on my unix flavour i can't find anything like that :eek:

What OS are you using? On linux, you can do mount --bind /olddir /newdir, and the newdir will be mapped to olddir.

Peter

Yes, i just checked that's available on linux. I'm using FreeBSD. it has mount_null.

It differs from symbolic link that it actually creates another layer of sub-tree of filesystem (virtual), in the global filesystem space. My words but summarized from man page :)

What that means is that you can then mount other filesystems anywhere on that virtual tree, and that will not effect the original filesystem (reason: it is a separate tree now, not a symbolic link).

thanks for bringing it up. interesting stuff :stickout