AUTOMOUNTD(8)

📦
version 15.1 · 2 versions
, in freebsd 15.1

💅 AUTOMOUNTD(8) — bestie, this is the automountd page from the System Manager's Manual, and we're gonna get through it together 🎀

okay so picture this: it's giving "the daemon that handles all the autofs mount requests", and honestly? main character energy. let's go ✨

✨ NAME ✨

automountd — the daemon that handles autofs mount requests 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

automountd [-D name=value] [-i] [-m maxproc] [-o options] [-d] [-v]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So the automountd daemon is literally responsible for handling autofs(4) mount requests, parsing maps, and mounting the filesystems those maps specify. that's the whole job, and it does it slayfully.

On startup, automountd forks into the background and waits for kernel requests. then, when a request shows up, automountd forks a child process. that child process parses the appropriate map and mounts filesystems accordingly. then it signals the kernel to release the blocked processes that were waiting for the mount. it's a whole pipeline, and it's iconic 👑

Now the flags, one by one, no skipping:

  • -D — define a variable. that's it, that's the vibe ✨
  • -i — for indirect mounts, only create subdirectories if there are no wildcard entries. without -i, automountd creates all the subdirectories it can. real talk though: users may not realize that the wildcard map entry makes it possible to access directories that have not yet been created 👀 so like. that's the whole point of this one.
  • -m maxproc — limit the number of forked automountd processes, and thus the number of mount requests being handled in parallel. the default is 30. thirty parallel vibes, no more 🫶
  • -d — debug mode: increase verbosity and do not daemonize. so it stays right there in your terminal being chatty. live your truth 💅
  • -o options — specify mount options. and listen: options specified here will be overridden by options entered in maps or auto_master(5). so like, this is the lowest priority spot, don't come crying to it 😭
  • -v — increase verbosity. more words. more lore. more of everything 🗣️

🌈 EXIT STATUS 🌈

The automountd utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. simple, clean, periodt 💀

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

go read them, iykw ikyk 🧚

👑 HISTORY 👑

The automountd daemon appeared in FreeBSD 10.1. yes it's that old, and yes it's still eating 🔥

💜 AUTHORS 💜

The automountd was developed by Edward Tomasz Napierala <trasz@FreeBSD.org> under sponsorship from the FreeBSD Foundation. we love a sponsored icon ⭐

okay bestie that's the whole page, nothing left out, fr fr 💖 this particular page is the Debian one, dated March 10, 2015 — yes, the source/version and date line is literally from way back then, and it's still serving. mwah, go mount something 🎀

📦 where this page comes from