> I don't think Linux permissions work on a FAT partition anyway, so > this is all irrelevant.
Correct! FAT + VFAT have no notion of *ix permissions, but to make it a *ix filesystem, permissions have to be invented. The parameters in fstab (or with the mount command) supply the permissions which are used when the filesystem is mounted. You can specify permissions for files and directories seperately. Other types than files and directories can not exist. > If the directory doesn't have write permissions, the you might not be > able to write to it when it is mounted. Bark -> wrong tree ;) Permissions of the mount point once mounted are irrelevant (once the mount has succeeded) and are completely covered by the permissions of the directory which is now over top. > user = any user can mount the partition > noauto = don't mount on startup Yes, those shouls be used. Lacking noauto means the system assumes mounting this partition is required during boot, boot will fail if it isn't there. Whether to use "user" (or "users") is up to the owner. Sorry I didn't follow this thread as I don't understand the problem, it should be a non-issue. If it's a USB-device supplied filesystem, the hotplug system of $DISTRO should mount the filessytem automatically and use appropriate permissions for doing so. If that's not the case $DISTRO should be fixed, file a bug report. Linux has however 2 oddities with fat filesystems: 1) Time stamps can only be set by root. Worse, it also barfs. This is totally stupid. On any other *ix filesystem I can set time stamps of anything to which I have write access. (Note Matthew: I always appreciate explanations why things are so from an implementor's point of view, but will retain my statement that this is stupid from a user's point of view. If technology was as good as it claims, it would take into account that only the user's point of view counts.) 2) Attempting to change permissions or ownerships on a FAT filesystem throws barfs, instead of being silently ignored. This should be a mount option. Unpacking a tar file over a FAT filesystem throws truckloads of rubbish on the screen, obscuring the 1 or 2 lines which are actually important. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is possibly list0570 with the domain in header http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me.
