AUTOFS(4)

📦 version 15.1, in freebsd 15.1, nixpkgs unstable

💅 AUTOFS(4) — bestie edition ✨

okay so this page lives in the Kernel Interfaces Manual and it's literally about autofs — the automounter filesystem 🎀. strap in, we're getting into it.

🌸 NAME 🌸

autofs — the automounter filesystem, no cap ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

so to compile this driver into the kernel (iykyk, the built-in way), you drop this line into the kernel configuration file:

options AUTOFS

or, alternatively — if you'd rather load the driver as a module at boot time — put this line into loader.conf(5):

autofs_load="YES"
💡 pick your fighter: baked-in or module. both slay.

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so the autofs driver is the kernel component of the automounter infrastructure — it's giving main character energy on the kernel side 💅.

its whole job? pass mount requests to the automountd(8) daemon, and pause the processes that are trying to access the automounted filesystem until the mount is completed. literally holding the line so everything works out 🫶.

and it's mounted by automount(8). periodt.

👑 OPTIONS 👑

these options are available when mounting autofs file systems:

  • master_options — mount options for all filesystems specified in the map entry. like a group chat setting that applies to everyone 🧚
  • master_prefix — filesystem mountpoint prefix. the lil name-tag at the front 💖

🌈 SYSCTL VARIABLES 🌈

the following variables are available as both sysctl(8) variables and loader(8) tunables — so you can tweak them at runtime or at boot, whichever vibes with you:

  • vfs.autofs.debug — verbosity level for log messages from the autofs driver. set it to 0 to disable logging, or 1 to warn about potential problems. larger values enable debugging output. defaults to 1 ✨
  • vfs.autofs.interruptible — set to 1 to allow mount requests to be interrupted by signal. defaults to 1 🫶
  • vfs.autofs.retry_delay — number of seconds before retrying mount requests. defaults to 1 ⏱️
  • vfs.autofs.retry_attempts — number of attempts before failing mount. defaults to 3 💀
  • vfs.autofs.cache — number of seconds to wait before reinvoking automountd(8) for any given file or directory. defaults to 600 🍓
  • vfs.autofs.timeout — number of seconds to wait for automountd(8) to handle the mount request. defaults to 30 🌸
  • vfs.autofs.mount_on_stat — set to 1 to trigger mount on stat(2) on mountpoint. defaults to 0 ⭐

💜 EXAMPLES 💜

to unmount all mounted autofs filesystems (bye bestie 👋):

umount -At autofs

to mount autofs filesystems specified in auto_master(5):

automount

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

auto_master(5), automount(8), automountd(8), autounmountd(8)

🎀 HISTORY 🎀

the autofs driver first appeared in FreeBSD 10.1. vintage but make it iconic ✨

🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

the autofs was developed by Edward Tomasz Napierala <trasz@FreeBSD.org> under sponsorship from the FreeBSD Foundation. we love a sponsored king 👑

Debian · December 2, 2017 · mwah, that's the whole page bestie — go mount something cute 💅💖

📦 where this page comes from