BIND(1) BIND(1)
NAME
bind, mount, unmount - change name space
SYNOPSIS
bind [ option ... ] new old
mount [ option ... ] servename old [ spec ]
unmount [ new ] old
DESCRIPTION
Bind and mount modify the file name space of the current
process and other processes in the same name space group
(see fork(2)). For both calls, old is the name of an exist-
ing file or directory in the current name space where the
modification is to be made.
For bind, new is the name of another (or possibly the same)
existing file or directory in the current name space. After
a successful bind, the file name old is an alias for the
object originally named by new; if the modification doesn't
hide it, new will also still refer to its original file.
The evaluation of new (see intro(2)) happens at the time of
the bind, not when the binding is later used.
The servename argument to mount is the name of a file that,
when opened, yields an existing connection to a file server.
Almost always, servename will be a file in /srv (see
srv(3)). In the discussion below, new refers to the file
named by the new argument to bind or the root directory of
the service available in servename after a mount. Either
both old and new files must be directories, or both must not
be directories.
Options control aspects of the modification to the name
space:
(none) Replace the old file by the new one. Henceforth,
an evaluation of old will be translated to the new
file. If they are directories (for mount, this
condition is true by definition), old becomes a
union directory consisting of one directory (the
new file).
-b Both files must be directories. Add the new
directory to the beginning of the union directory
represented by the old file.
-a Both files must be directories. Add the new
directory to the end of the union directory
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BIND(1) BIND(1)
represented by the old file.
-c This can be used in addition to any of the above
to permit creation in a union directory. When a
new file is created in a union directory, it is
placed in the first element of the union that has
been bound or mounted with the -c flag. If that
directory does not have write permission, the cre-
ate fails.
-C (Only in mount.) By default, file contents are
always retrieved from the server. With this
option, the kernel may instead use a local cache
to satisfy read(5) requests for files accessible
through this mount point. The currency of cached
data for a file is verified at each open(5) of the
file from this client machine.
-q Exit silently if the bind or mount operation
fails.
Mount takes two additional options. The first, -k
keypattern, constrains the set of factotum(4) keys used for
an authenticated mount. The second, -n, causes mount to
skip authentication entirely.
The spec argument to mount is passed in the attach(5) mes-
sage to the server, and selects among different file trees
served by the server.
The srv(3) service registry device, normally bound to /srv,
is a convenient rendezvous point for services that can be
mounted. After bootstrap, the file /srv/boot contains the
communications port to the file system from which the system
was loaded.
The effects of bind and mount can be undone with the unmount
command. If two arguments are given to unmount, the effect
is to undo a bind or mount with the same arguments. If only
one argument is given, everything bound to or mounted upon
old is unmounted.
EXAMPLES
To compile a program with the C library from July 16, 1992:
mount /srv/boot /n/dump dump
bind /n/dump/1992/0716/mips/lib/libc.a /mips/lib/libc.a
mk
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/bind.c
/sys/src/cmd/mount.c
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BIND(1) BIND(1)
/sys/src/cmd/unmount.c
SEE ALSO
bind(2), open(2), srv(3), srv(4)
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