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MOUNT(2)		   Linux Programmer's Manual		      MOUNT(2)



NAME
       mount - mount filesystem

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/mount.h>

       int mount(const char *source, const char *target,
		 const char *filesystemtype, unsigned long mountflags,
		 const void *data);

DESCRIPTION
       mount()	attaches  the filesystem specified by source (which is often a
       pathname referring to a device, but can	also  be  the  pathname	 of  a
       directory  or  file, or a dummy string) to the location (a directory or
       file) specified by the pathname in target.

       Appropriate privilege (Linux: the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability) is required
       to mount filesystems.

       Values  for  the	 filesystemtype	 argument  supported by the kernel are
       listed in  /proc/filesystems  (e.g.,  "btrfs",  "ext4",	"jfs",	"xfs",
       "vfat",	"fuse",	 "tmpfs",  "cgroup",  "proc", "mqueue", "nfs", "cifs",
       "iso9660").  Further types may become available	when  the  appropriate
       modules are loaded.

       The  data  argument is interpreted by the different filesystems.	 Typi-
       cally it is a string of	comma-separated	 options  understood  by  this
       filesystem.  See mount(8) for details of the options available for each
       filesystem type.

       A call to mount() performs one of a number of general types  of	opera-
       tion,  depending	 on  the  bits specified in mountflags.	 The choice of
       which operation to perform is determined by testing  the	 bits  set  in
       mountflags, with the tests being conducted in the order listed here:

       *  Remount an existing mount: mountflags includes MS_REMOUNT.

       *  Create a bind mount: mountflags includes MS_BIND.

       *  Change  the  propagation  type  of  an  existing  mount:  mountflags
	  includes one of MS_SHARED, MS_PRIVATE, MS_SLAVE, or MS_UNBINDABLE.

       *  Move an existing  mount  to  a  new  location:  mountflags  includes
	  MS_MOVE.

       *  Create a new mount: mountflags includes none of the above flags.

       Each of these operations is detailed later in this page.	 Further flags
       may be specified in mountflags to modify the behavior  of  mount(),  as
       described below.

   Additional mount flags
       The  list below describes the additional flags that can be specified in
       mountflags.  Note that some operation types ignore some or all of these
       flags, as described later in this page.

       MS_DIRSYNC (since Linux 2.5.19)
	      Make  directory  changes	on this filesystem synchronous.	 (This
	      property can be obtained for individual directories or  subtrees
	      using chattr(1).)

       MS_LAZYTIME (since Linux 4.0)
	      Reduce on-disk updates of inode timestamps (atime, mtime, ctime)
	      by maintaining these changes only in memory.  The on-disk	 time-
	      stamps are updated only when:

	      (a)  the	inode needs to be updated for some change unrelated to
		   file timestamps;

	      (b)  the application employs fsync(2), syncfs(2), or sync(2);

	      (c)  an undeleted inode is evicted from memory; or

	      (d)  more than 24 hours have passed since the inode was  written
		   to disk.

	      This  mount option significantly reduces writes needed to update
	      the inode's timestamps, especially mtime and atime.  However, in
	      the  event of a system crash, the atime and mtime fields on disk
	      might be out of date by up to 24 hours.

	      Examples of workloads where this option could be of  significant
	      benefit include frequent random writes to preallocated files, as
	      well as cases where the  MS_STRICTATIME  mount  option  is  also
	      enabled.	  (The	 advantage  of	combining  MS_STRICTATIME  and
	      MS_LAZYTIME is that stat(2) will return  the  correctly  updated
	      atime, but the atime updates will be flushed to disk only in the
	      cases listed above.)

       MS_MANDLOCK
	      Permit mandatory locking on files in this	 filesystem.   (Manda-
	      tory  locking  must  still  be  enabled  on a per-file basis, as
	      described in fcntl(2).)  Since  Linux  4.5,  this	 mount	option
	      requires the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

       MS_NOATIME
	      Do  not  update  access  times  for (all types of) files on this
	      filesystem.

       MS_NODEV
	      Do not allow access to devices (special files) on this  filesys-
	      tem.

       MS_NODIRATIME
	      Do  not  update access times for directories on this filesystem.
	      This flag provides a subset of  the  functionality  provided  by
	      MS_NOATIME; that is, MS_NOATIME implies MS_NODIRATIME.

       MS_NOEXEC
	      Do not allow programs to be executed from this filesystem.

       MS_NOSUID
	      Do not honor set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits or file capabili-
	      ties when executing programs from this filesystem.

       MS_RDONLY
	      Mount filesystem read-only.

       MS_REC (since Linux 2.4.11)
	      Used in conjunction with MS_BIND	to  create  a  recursive  bind
	      mount,  and  in  conjunction  with the propagation type flags to
	      recursively change the propagation type of all of the mounts  in
	      a subtree.  See below for further details.

       MS_RELATIME (since Linux 2.6.20)
	      When  a  file  on this filesystem is accessed, update the file's
	      last access time (atime) only if the current value of  atime  is
	      less  than or equal to the file's last modification time (mtime)
	      or last status change time (ctime).  This option is  useful  for
	      programs,	 such  as  mutt(1),  that need to know when a file has
	      been read since it was last modified.  Since Linux  2.6.30,  the
	      kernel  defaults	to  the behavior provided by this flag (unless
	      MS_NOATIME  was  specified),  and	 the  MS_STRICTATIME  flag  is
	      required	to  obtain  traditional semantics.  In addition, since
	      Linux 2.6.30, the file's last access time is always  updated  if
	      it is more than 1 day old.

       MS_SILENT (since Linux 2.6.17)
	      Suppress	the  display of certain (printk()) warning messages in
	      the kernel log.  This flag supersedes the misnamed and  obsolete
	      MS_VERBOSE  flag	(available  since Linux 2.4.12), which has the
	      same meaning.

       MS_STRICTATIME (since Linux 2.6.30)
	      Always update the last access time (atime) when  files  on  this
	      filesystem  are accessed.	 (This was the default behavior before
	      Linux 2.6.30.)  Specifying this flag  overrides  the  effect  of
	      setting the MS_NOATIME and MS_RELATIME flags.

       MS_SYNCHRONOUS
	      Make writes on this filesystem synchronous (as though the O_SYNC
	      flag to open(2)  was  specified  for  all	 file  opens  to  this
	      filesystem).

       From Linux 2.4 onward, the MS_NODEV, MS_NOEXEC, and MS_NOSUID flags are
       settable on  a  per-mount-point	basis.	 From  kernel  2.6.16  onward,
       MS_NOATIME  and	MS_NODIRATIME  are  also settable on a per-mount-point
       basis.  The MS_RELATIME flag is	also  settable	on  a  per-mount-point
       basis.

   Remounting an existing mount
       An  existing  mount may be remounted by specifying MS_REMOUNT in mount-
       flags.  This allows you to change the mountflags and data of an	exist-
       ing mount without having to unmount and remount the filesystem.	target
       should be the same value specified in the initial mount() call.

       The source and filesystemtype arguments are ignored.

       The mountflags and data arguments should match the values used  in  the
       original	 mount()  call,	 except	 for  those  parameters that are being
       deliberately changed.

       The following mountflags	 can  be  changed:  MS_LAZYTIME,  MS_MANDLOCK,
       MS_NOATIME, MS_NODEV, MS_NODIRATIME, MS_NOEXEC, MS_NOSUID, MS_RELATIME,
       MS_RDONLY, and MS_SYNCHRONOUS.  Attempts to change the setting  of  the
       MS_DIRSYNC flag during a remount are silently ignored.

       Since Linux 3.17, if none of MS_NOATIME, MS_NODIRATIME, MS_RELATIME, or
       MS_STRICTATIME is specified in mountflags, then the  remount  operation
       preserves the existing values of these flags (rather than defaulting to
       MS_RELATIME).

       Since Linux 2.6.26, this flag can also be used to make an existing bind
       mount read-only by specifying mountflags as:

	   MS_REMOUNT | MS_BIND | MS_RDONLY

       Note  that  only the MS_RDONLY setting of the bind mount can be changed
       in this manner.

   Creating a bind mount
       If mountflags includes MS_BIND (available since Linux 2.4),  then  per-
       form  a	bind  mount.  A bind mount makes a file or a directory subtree
       visible at another point within the single directory  hierarchy.	  Bind
       mounts may cross filesystem boundaries and span chroot(2) jails.

       The filesystemtype and data arguments are ignored.

       The  remaining  bits  in the mountflags argument are also ignored, with
       the exception of MS_REC.	 (The bind mount has the same mount options as
       the underlying mount point.)  However, see the discussion of remounting
       above, for a method of making an existing bind mount read-only.

       By default, when a directory is bind mounted, only  that	 directory  is
       mounted;	 if there are any submounts under the directory tree, they are
       not bind mounted.  If the MS_REC flag is also specified, then a	recur-
       sive  bind mount operation is performed: all submounts under the source
       subtree (other than unbindable mounts) are also	bind  mounted  at  the
       corresponding location in the target subtree.

   Changing the propagation type of an existing mount
       If  mountflags  includes	 one  of  MS_SHARED,  MS_PRIVATE, MS_SLAVE, or
       MS_UNBINDABLE (all available since Linux 2.6.15), then the  propagation
       type  of an existing mount is changed.  If more than one of these flags
       is specified, an error results.

       The only flags that can be used with changing the propagation type  are
       MS_REC and MS_SILENT.

       The source, filesystemtype, and data arguments are ignored.

       The meanings of the propagation type flags are as follows:

       MS_SHARED
	      Make  this mount point shared.  Mount and unmount events immedi-
	      ately under this mount point will propagate to the  other	 mount
	      points that are members of this mount's peer group.  Propagation
	      here means that the same mount  or  unmount  will	 automatically
	      occur  under  all	 of  the other mount points in the peer group.
	      Conversely, mount and unmount events that take place under  peer
	      mount points will propagate to this mount point.

       MS_PRIVATE
	      Make  this mount point private.  Mount and unmount events do not
	      propagate into or out of this mount point.

       MS_SLAVE
	      If this is a shared mount point that is a member of a peer group
	      that  contains  other  members, convert it to a slave mount.  If
	      this is a shared mount point that is a member of	a  peer	 group
	      that  contains  no other members, convert it to a private mount.
	      Otherwise, the propagation type  of  the	mount  point  is  left
	      unchanged.

	      When  a  mount point is a slave, mount and unmount events propa-
	      gate into this mount point from the (master) shared  peer	 group
	      of  which	 it  was  formerly a member.  Mount and unmount events
	      under this mount point do not propagate to any peer.

	      A mount point can be the slave of another peer  group  while  at
	      the same time sharing mount and unmount events with a peer group
	      of which it is a member.

       MS_UNBINDABLE
	      Make this mount unbindable.  This is like a private  mount,  and
	      in  addition this mount can't be bind mounted.  When a recursive
	      bind mount (mount() with the MS_BIND and MS_REC flags)  is  per-
	      formed  on  a directory subtree, any bind mounts within the sub-
	      tree are automatically pruned (i.e., not replicated) when repli-
	      cating that subtree to produce the target subtree.

       By default, changing the propagation type affects only the target mount
       point.  If the MS_REC flag is also specified in	mountflags,  then  the
       propagation type of all mount points under target is also changed.

       For  further  details  regarding mount propagation types (including the
       default propagation type assigned  to  new  mounts),  see  mount_names-
       paces(7).

   Moving a mount
       If mountflags contains the flag MS_MOVE (available since Linux 2.4.18),
       then move a subtree: source specifies an existing mount point and  tar-
       get specifies the new location to which that mount point is to be relo-
       cated.  The move is atomic: at no point is the subtree unmounted.

       The remaining bits in the mountflags argument are ignored, as  are  the
       filesystemtype and data arguments.

   Creating a new mount point
       If   none  of  MS_REMOUNT,  MS_BIND,  MS_MOVE,  MS_SHARED,  MS_PRIVATE,
       MS_SLAVE, or MS_UNBINDABLE is specified	in  mountflags,	 then  mount()
       performs its default action: creating a new mount point.	 source speci-
       fies the source for the new  mount  point,  and	target	specifies  the
       directory at which to create the mount point.

       The  filesystemtype  and	 data arguments are employed, and further bits
       may be specified in mountflags to modify the behavior of the call.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and  errno  is
       set appropriately.

ERRORS
       The  error  values  given below result from filesystem type independent
       errors.	Each filesystem type may have its own special errors  and  its
       own special behavior.  See the Linux kernel source code for details.

       EACCES A	 component of a path was not searchable.  (See also path_reso-
	      lution(7).)

       EACCES Mounting a read-only filesystem was attempted without giving the
	      MS_RDONLY flag.

       EACCES The  block device source is located on a filesystem mounted with
	      the MS_NODEV option.

       EBUSY  source is already mounted.

       EBUSY  source cannot be remounted read-only,  because  it  still	 holds
	      files open for writing.

       EBUSY  source  cannot be mounted on target because target is still busy
	      (it is the working directory of some thread, the mount point  of
	      another device, has open files, etc.).

       EFAULT One  of  the  pointer  arguments points outside the user address
	      space.

       EINVAL source had an invalid superblock.

       EINVAL A remount operation (MS_REMOUNT) was attempted, but  source  was
	      not already mounted on target.

       EINVAL A	 move  operation (MS_MOVE) was attempted, but source was not a
	      mount point, or was '/'.

       EINVAL mountflags includes more	than  one  of  MS_SHARED,  MS_PRIVATE,
	      MS_SLAVE, or MS_UNBINDABLE.

       EINVAL mountflags   includes   MS_SHARED,   MS_PRIVATE,	 MS_SLAVE,  or
	      MS_UNBINDABLE and also includes a	 flag  other  than  MS_REC  or
	      MS_SILENT.

       EINVAL An attempt was made to bind mount an unbindable mount.

       ELOOP  Too many links encountered during pathname resolution.

       ELOOP  A	 move  operation  was attempted, and target is a descendant of
	      source.

       EMFILE (In case no block device is required:) Table of dummy devices is
	      full.

       ENAMETOOLONG
	      A pathname was longer than MAXPATHLEN.

       ENODEV filesystemtype not configured in the kernel.

       ENOENT A pathname was empty or had a nonexistent component.

       ENOMEM The  kernel  could not allocate a free page to copy filenames or
	      data into.

       ENOTBLK
	      source is not a block device (and a device was required).

       ENOTDIR
	      target, or a prefix of source, is not a directory.

       ENXIO  The major number of the block device source is out of range.

       EPERM  The caller does not have the required privileges.

VERSIONS
       The definitions of MS_DIRSYNC, MS_MOVE,	MS_PRIVATE,  MS_REC,  MS_RELA-
       TIME,  MS_SHARED, MS_SLAVE, MS_STRICTATIME and MS_UNBINDABLE were added
       to glibc headers in version 2.12.

CONFORMING TO
       This function is Linux-specific and should  not	be  used  in  programs
       intended to be portable.

NOTES
       Since  Linux  2.4  a single filesystem can be mounted at multiple mount
       points, and multiple mounts can be stacked on the same mount point.

       The mountflags argument may have the magic number  0xC0ED  (MS_MGC_VAL)
       in  the	top 16 bits.  (All of the other flags discussed in DESCRIPTION
       occupy the low order 16 bits of mountflags.)  Specifying MS_MGC_VAL was
       required	 in  kernel  versions  prior to 2.4, but since Linux 2.4 is no
       longer required and is ignored if specified.

       The original MS_SYNC flag was renamed MS_SYNCHRONOUS in 1.1.69  when  a
       different MS_SYNC was added to <mman.h>.

       Before  Linux  2.4  an attempt to execute a set-user-ID or set-group-ID
       program on a filesystem mounted with MS_NOSUID would fail  with	EPERM.
       Since Linux 2.4 the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits are just silently
       ignored in this case.


   Per-process namespaces
       Starting with kernel 2.4.19, Linux provides  per-process	 mount	names-
       paces.  A mount namespace is the set of filesystem mounts that are vis-
       ible to a process.  Mount-point namespaces can  be  (and	 usually  are)
       shared  between multiple processes, and changes to the namespace (i.e.,
       mounts and unmounts) by one process are visible to all other  processes
       sharing	the  same  namespace.	(The pre-2.4.19 Linux situation can be
       considered as one in which a  single  namespace	was  shared  by	 every
       process on the system.)

       A child process created by fork(2) shares its parent's mount namespace;
       the mount namespace is preserved across an execve(2).

       A process can obtain a private mount namespace if: it was created using
       the  clone(2) CLONE_NEWNS flag, in which case its new namespace is ini-
       tialized to be a copy of the  namespace	of  the	 process  that	called
       clone(2);  or  it  calls	 unshare(2)  with  the CLONE_NEWNS flag, which
       causes the caller's mount namespace to obtain a	private	 copy  of  the
       namespace  that it was previously sharing with other processes, so that
       future mounts and unmounts by the caller are invisible  to  other  pro-
       cesses  (except	child  processes that the caller subsequently creates)
       and vice versa.

       The Linux-specific /proc/[pid]/mounts file exposes the  list  of	 mount
       points in the mount namespace of the process with the specified ID; see
       proc(5) for details.

SEE ALSO
       mountpoint(1),  umount(2),   mount_namespaces(7),   path_resolution(7),
       findmnt(8), lsblk(8), mount(8), umount(8)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 4.10 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
       latest	  version     of     this    page,    can    be	   found    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux				  2016-12-12			      MOUNT(2)