Re: autofs question

[kmself]

On Thu, Aug 03, 2000 at 12:15:21AM -0400, Brian Stults wrote:
 Hello,
 
 I'm using the kernel-based auto mounter, autofs.  I have all my mount
 points in the default /var/autofs/misc, and I have symbolic links to
 them in /mnt.  However, whenever I do a listing of /mnt (either from an
 xterm, or from within an application such as StarOffice), all of the
 devices controlled by autofs are mounted.  Is there a way to prevent
 this?  If I want to access my CD-RW from within StarOffice, I would like
 to be able to go into the directory called /mnt and then go into the
 directory called /mnt/cdrw.  But I would like to be able to do this
 without inadvertantly automatically mounting all the devices controlled
 by autofs.  Any suggestions?

I haven't used autofs since I converted from RH last year.  IIRC mount
behavior is controlled by a couple of config files.  I'm not sure
whether or not access methods can be specified and discriminated
for/against (say, like diald allows/dissallows net connection by
activity type).

Suggest you post your config files, relevant parts of your directory
tree, and examples of behavior which cause/don't cause filesystems to
mount.

I found autofs more trouble than it was worth.  There are a number of
GUI apps which provide for mounting and umounting specific filesystems
fairly transparently, for Gnome, KDE, and WindowMaker.  This might be a
preferred alternative.

-- 
Karsten M. Self kmself@ix.netcom.com http://www.netcom.com/~kmself
 Evangelist, Opensales, Inc.http://www.opensales.org
  What part of Gestalt don't you understand?   Debian GNU/Linux rocks!
   http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/K5: http://www.kuro5hin.org
GPG fingerprint: F932 8B25 5FDD 2528 D595 DC61 3847 889F 55F2 B9B0


pgpVpCpjIws4O.pgp
Description: PGP signature

RE: autofs question

[Lehel Bernadt]

On 03-Aug-2000 Brian Stults wrote:
 Hello,
 
 I'm using the kernel-based auto mounter, autofs.  I have all my mount
 points in the default /var/autofs/misc, and I have symbolic links to
 them in /mnt.  However, whenever I do a listing of /mnt (either from an
 xterm, or from within an application such as StarOffice), all of the
 devices controlled by autofs are mounted.  

This is normal, since ls or soffice will try to readlink(2) the symlinks, thus
getting autofs mount them.

 Is there a way to prevent
 this?  If I want to access my CD-RW from within StarOffice, I would like
 to be able to go into the directory called /mnt and then go into the
 directory called /mnt/cdrw.  But I would like to be able to do this
 without inadvertantly automatically mounting all the devices controlled
 by autofs.  Any suggestions?

If you stay with this configuration, you cannot change this behavior. 
The problem is that when you don't use links, you can't refer to the mountpoint
while browsing from a gui, since this is created when you try to access it.
Most of these programs however can use bookmarks for directory URLs too. So you
can add the mountpoints to your bookmarks; under mc you could use the directory
hotlist.

HTH,
Lehel