GENFSTAB(8)

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🌸 GENFSTAB(8) — like, the genfstab manual page, bestie 💖

okay so this is the page for genfstab from section 8 of the manual (that's the sysadmin-ish section, iykyk), and honestly? she's a lil legend. let's get into it ✨

✨ NAME ✨

genfstab — generates output that's suitable for adding to an fstab file 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

genfstab [options] root

like. that's it. that's the whole vibe check. options are optional (shocking, i know), and root is the mountpoint you're pointing her at 💅

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

so genfstab is out here helping you fill in an fstab file, and the way she does it is genuinely iconic: she autodetects all the current mounts sitting below a given mountpoint, and then prints them out in fstab-compatible format straight to standard output. no cap. 🫶

real talk though — this is how you persist a filesystem hierarchy you mounted by hand. like, you did all that work mounting stuff manually, and now you want it to still be there after a reboot? that's her whole job. she's also super commonly used during the initial install and configuration of an OS, which, periodt. 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -f <filter> — restricts the output so you only get mountpoints that match the prefix filter. lowkey a little picky, but in a cute way 🌸
  • -L — uses labels for source identifiers. this is literally just a shortcut for -t LABEL ✨
  • -p — excludes pseudofs mounts. and yes, this is the default behavior, so she's already doing it. she's thoughtful like that 🙈
  • -P — includes pseudofs mounts. the opposite of -p, bestie. main character energy only 💀
  • -t <tag> — uses tag for source identifiers (should be one of: LABEL, UUID, PARTLABEL, PARTUUID). those are the four, and she said what she said 🎀
  • -U — uses UUIDs for source identifiers. shortcut for -t UUID, slay 💜
  • -h — outputs the syntax and command line options. your classic lil help flag 🦋
no drama here, but do clock that -t has a "should be one of" list — stick to LABEL, UUID, PARTLABEL, PARTUUID and everything's gonna be fine and gorgeous ⭐

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🍓 this was the genfstab(8) manual, dated 10/11/2026 — go forth and fstab responsibly, mwah 💖🔥

📦 where this page comes from