/etc/fstab
The fstab (file system table) file (/etc/fstab) is a configuration file that defines how and where the main filesystems are to be mounted, especially at boot time.
Syntax
Each line of /etc/fstab contains the necessary settings to mount one partition, drive or network share. The line has six columns, separated by whitespaces or tabs. The columns are as follows:
- The device file, UUID or label or other means of locating the partition or data source.
- The mount point, where the data is to be attached to the filesystem.
- The filesystem type. See man 5 fstab for more supported file system types.
- Options, including if the filesystem should be mounted at boot.
- Adjusts the archiving schedule for the partition (used by app-arch/dump package).
0disables,1enables the feature. - Controls the order in which fsck checks the device/partition for errors at boot time. The root device should be
1. Other partitions should be either2(to check after root) or0(to disable checking for that partition altogether).
An example for the root device:
/etc/fstab/dev/sda1 / ext4 defaults 0 1
Special characters can be escaped by using their octal representation from an ASCII table. For example, if the name of the mount point contains spaces or tabs these can be escaped as \040 and \011 respectively.
For more detailed information see man 5 fstab.
Options such as
discard may seem useful for SSDs, though it is generally recommended to use periodic trim jobs instead.UUIDs and labels
In the first column, a UUID can be used instead of a device file:
/etc/fstabUsing a UUID for the root partitionUUID=339df6e7-91a8-4cf9-a43f-7f7b3db533c6 / ext4 defaults 0 1
Alternatively, a LABEL can be used:
/etc/fstabUsing a label for the root partitionLABEL=Gentoo / ext4 defaults 0 1
Depending on the partition table (e.g. the GUID Partition Table "GPT"), PARTLABEL can be used:
/etc/fstabUsing a label for the root partitionPARTLABEL=Gentoo / ext4 defaults 0 1
Please read this for details on how to retrieve UUIDs and labels.
Services
The following OpenRC services read the fstab to mount or manage the filesystems:
- localmount - Mount disks and swap according to fstab.
- netmount - Mount network shares according to fstab.
- fsck - Check and repair filesystems according to fstab.
- root - Mount the root filesystem read/write.
These services supplement the fstab, if the filesystems are not explicitly stated:
- sysfs - Mount the /sys filesystem.
- devfs - Mount system critical filesystems in /dev.
Check that they are enabled to start at boot time:
root #rc-update showSee also
- AutoFS — a program that uses the Linux kernel automounter to automatically mount filesystems on demand.
- Disk Quotas (Security Handbook)
- fstab (AMD64 Handbook)
- Mounting partitions (Security Handbook)
- mount — the attaching of an additional filesystem to the currently accessible filesystem of a computer.
- removable media — any media that is easily removed from a system.
- SSD — provides guidelines for basic maintenance, such as enabling discard/trim support, for SSDs (Solid State Drives) on Linux.