USB drives, DVDs, CDROMs and other drives must be mounted before they are used. This article explains how any drive can be mounted automatically when it is needed. For most Linux distributions, such as Fedora Core, automounting works without installing new software. Example configuration for most common devices is provided.
Benefits of method described here: works with or without graphical desktop, uses standard software, configuration works for many users out-of-the-box, no need to install new software.
(c) 2004 Tero Karvinen www.iki.fi/karvinen. Latest version of this document is at www.iki.fi/karvinen/mounttero/
For example,
when user opens directory /mnt/auto/usb/, digital camera is automatically mounted and
all the pictures shown in the directory. After four seconds of inactivity, device is
unmounted and can be detached.
Create the directories used by the automounter. The directory is the one mentioned
in /etc/auto.master:
# mkdir -p /mnt/auto/autofs
Create auto.master to tell autofs daemon that /mnt/auto/autofs directory is handled according to auto.tero
# /etc/auto.master # mountpoint map options # see also: man 8 autofs /mnt/auto/autofs /etc/auto.tero --timeout=4
List the actual mountpoints and devices in the automounter map
# /etc/auto.tero # http://iki.fi/karvinen/linux/doc/automatic-mounting-autofs.html # mountpoint_key options location_device # man 5 autofs cdrom -fstype=iso9660,ro,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/cdrom cdrom1 -fstype=auto,ro,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/cdrom1 dvd -fstype=auto,ro,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/dvd usb -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,noexec,user,gid=100,umask=000 :/dev/sda1 floppy -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,noexec,user,gid=100,umask=000 :/dev/fd0 hda1 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hda1 hda2 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hda2 hda3 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hda3 hda4 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hda4 hdb1 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdb1 hdb2 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdb2 hdb3 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdb3 hdb4 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdb4 hdc1 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdc1 hdc2 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdc2 hdc3 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdc3 hdc4 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdc4 hdd1 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdd1 hdd2 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdd2 hdd3 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdd3 hdd4 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hdd4 # Serial ATA (SATA) disks are IDE emulated in Linux 2.6 hde1 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hde1 hde2 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hde2 hde3 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hde3 hde4 -fstype=auto,nosuid,nodev,user :/dev/hde4 # (c) 2003, 2004-05-29 Tero.Karvinen atta iki.fi
# /etc/init.d/autofs restart
Now drives are automatically mounted when you try to access them.
You can test it by inserting a cdrom, and cd /mnt/auto/autofs/cdrom.
The CDROM is automatically mounted, and ls should show you contents
of the cd. When you cd to another directory, such as home directory (cd),
CDROM is umounted in four seconds and the eject button in the drive starts working.
To see which drives are mountable (have discs in drive), you can create symlinks (similar to shortcuts) to the mountpoints. You can create the symlinks manually for each drive, for example
# cd /mnt/auto/
# ln -s autofs/cdrom cdrom
Or, if you are lazy, you can use this script
#!/bin/sh
# autotero.sh - automatically create symlinks for auto.tero autofs map.
# (c) 2004-05-29 Tero.Karvinen atta iki.fi, http://www.iki.fi/karvinen
# http://www.iki.fi/karvinen/linux/doc/automatic-mounting-autofs.html
MNT="/mnt/"
if [ -z $MAP ]; then
MAP=`cat /etc/auto.master |gawk '/^[^#]/{print $2}'`
fi
if [ "0" != "$id" ]; then
echo "Warning: You are currently not root. Try -t for test in current dir."
fi
if [ "-t" == "$1" ]; then
echo "Testing only, directories and symlinks will be created to current dir"
MNT=`pwd`
fi
cd $MNT
mkdir -p auto/ # for symlinks
cd auto
mkdir -p autofs # mountpoint
# Create drives mentioned in auto.tero
MOUNTPOINTS=`cat $MAP|gawk '/^[^#]/{print $1}'`
for MPOINT in $MOUNTPOINTS
do
echo $MPOINT
ln -s autofs/$MPOINT $MPOINT
done
# autotero.sh
Now ls /mnt/auto shows unmountable devices as red, broken symlinks and mountable
devices with normal colors. If you use tab to complete filenames, it only offers you mountable
drives. For example, cd /mnt/auto/c<tab> fills the name to cdrom1 if cdrom0
does not have a disc inside.
If you don't like copy-pasting, you can also dowload the scripts.
Well done, now you can enjoy moveable media without mounting them by hand.
Gnome automounter, KDE automounter, mntd, automount.
Todo: screenshot of automounted camera in nautilus or konqueror. Link autofs mini-howto. More explanations. Link alternatives mntd. Explain why gnome mounter is bad. autofs-tero-links.sh. Make an RPM of this whole thing.
Copyright Tero Karvinen www.iki.fi/karvinen 2003 (initial release of configuration files only) 2004-05-29 (html file with some explanations). GNU Free Document License with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts being "Contains material by Tero Karvinen http://www.iki.fi/karvinen".