Creating master automount maps

Each line in the master map, by convention called /etc/auto.master, has the syntax:

mount_point    map_name    [ mount_options ]

A line whose first character is ``#'' is treated as a comment, and everything that follows until the end of the line is ignored. A backslash (\) at the end of the line permits splitting long lines into shorter ones. For details on this syntax see ``About automount maps''.

The following sample master map is based on ``An example of indirect mounting using automount'', and ``An example of direct mounting using automount''. The direct and indirect map names are taken from the direct and indirect map examples in ``Creating indirect automount maps'' and ``Creating direct automount maps'', which are also based on the same figures:

   /-             /etc/auto.usr    -ro
   /doc_tools     /etc/auto.doc    -ro

The second entry is a pointer to an indirect map located at /etc/auto.doc; the remote filesystems listed in this map will be mounted under /doc_tools/basename, where basename is a ``key'' directory specified in the indirect map. All filesystems listed in /etc/auto.doc will be mounted read-only unless this option is overridden in the indirect map. automount creates /doc_tools if it does not exist. If it exists and is not empty, the existing contents are hidden by the automounted filesystem.

See also:

• ``Creating indirect and direct automount maps''