NAME

       automount - manage autofs mount points

SYNOPSIS

       automount [options] [master_map]

DESCRIPTION

       The  automount  program  is  used  to  manage  mount  points  for  autofs, the inlined Linux automounter.
       automount works by reading the auto.master(5) map and sets up mount points for each entry in  the  master
       map  allowing  them  to  be  automatically mounted when accessed. The file systems are then automatically
       umounted after a period of inactivity.

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
              Print brief help on program usage.

       -p, --pid-file
              Write the pid of the daemon to the specified file.

       -t, --timeout
              Set the global minimum timeout, in seconds, until directories are unmounted.  The  default  is  10
              minutes. Setting the timeout to zero disables umounts completely.

       -n <seconds>, --negative-timeout <seconds>
              Set the default timeout for caching failed key lookups. The default is 60 seconds.

       -v, --verbose
              Enables logging of general status and progress messages for all autofs managed mounts.

       -d, --debug
              Enables  logging  of  general  status  and  progress messages as well as debuging messages for all
              autofs managed mounts.

       -Dvariable=value
              Define a global macro substitution variable. Global definitions are over-ridden macro  definitions
              of the same name specified in mount entries.

       -f, --foreground
              Run the daemon in the foreground and log to stderr instead of syslog."

       -r, --random-multimount-selection
              Enables the use of ramdom selection when choosing a host from a list of replicated servers.

       -m, --dumpmaps
              Dump configured automounter maps, then exit.

       -O, --global-options
              Allows  the  specification  of global mount options used for all master map entries. These options
              will either replace or be appened to options  given  in  a  master  map  entry  depending  on  the
              APPEND_OPTIONS configuration setting.

       -V, --version
              Display the version number, then exit.

       -l, --set-log-priority priority path [path,...]
              Set  the daemon log priority to the specified value.  Valid values include the numbers 0-7, or the
              strings emerg, alert, crit, err, warning, notice,  info,  or  debug.  Log  level  debug  will  log
              everything,  log levels info, warn (or warning), or notice with enable the daemon verbose logging.
              Any other level will set basic logging. Note that enabling debug or verbose logging in the  autofs
              global  configuration  will override dynamic log level changes. For example, if verbose logging is
              set in the configuration then attempting to set logging to basic logging, by  using  alert,  crit,
              err  or  emerg  won't  stop  the  verbose  logging. However, setting logging to debug will lead to
              everything (debug logging) being logged witch can then also be disabled, returning the  daemon  to
              verbose logging. This option can be specified to change the logging priority of an already running
              automount process.

       The path argument corresponds to the automounted path name as specified in the master map.

       -C, --dont-check-daemon
              Don't check if the daemon is currently running (see NOTES).

       -F, --force
              Force an unlink umount of existing mounts under autofs managed mount points during  startup.  This
              can cause problems for processes with working directories within these mounts (see NOTES).

ARGUMENTS

       automount takes one optional argument, the name of the master map to use.

       master_map
              Location  for  autofs  master map that defines autofs managed mount points and the mount maps they
              will use. The default is auto.master.

NOTES

       If the automount daemon catches a USR1 signal, it will umount all currently unused autofs managed mounted
       file  systems  and  continue  running  (forced expire).  If it catches the TERM signal it will umount all
       unused autofs managed mounted file systems and exit if there are  no  remaining  busy  file  systems.  If
       autofs  has  been  compiled  with  the option to ignore busy mounts on exit it will exit leaving any busy
       mounts  in  place  otherwise  busy  file  systems  will  not  be  umounted  and  autofs  will  not  exit.
       Alternatively,  if  autofs has been compiled with the option to enable forced shutdown then a USR2 signal
       to the daemon will cause all mounts to be umounted and any busy mounts to be forcibly umounted, including
       autofs  mount  point  directories (summary execution). Note that the forced umount is an unlink operation
       and the actual umount will not happen in the kernel until active file handles are released.   The  daemon
       also responds to a HUP signal which triggers an update of the maps for each mount point.

       If any autofs mount point directories are busy when the daemon is sent an exit signal the daemon will not
       exit. The exception to this is if autofs has been built with configure  options  to  either  ignore  busy
       mounts  at exit or force umount at exit. If the ignore busy mounts at exit option is used the filesystems
       will be left in a catatonic (non-functional) state and can be manually umounted when they become  unused.
       If  the  force  umount  at exit option is used the filesystems will be umounted but the mount will not be
       released by the kernel until they are no longer in  use  by  the  processes  that  held  them  busy.   If
       automount  managed filesystems are found mounted when autofs is started they will be recoverd unless they
       are no longer present in the map in which case they need to umounted manually.

       If the option to disable the check to see if the daemon is already running is used be aware  that  autofs
       currently  may  not  function  correctly  for certain types of automount maps. The mounts of the separate
       daemons might interfere with one another. The implications of running multiple daemon instances needs  to
       be checked and tested before we can say this is supported.

       If  the  option to force an unlink of mounts at startup is used then processes whose working directory is
       within unlinked automounted directories will not get the correct pwd from the system.  This  is  because,
       after  the  mount  is unlinked from the mount tree, anything that needs to walk back up the mount tree to
       construct a path, such as getcwd(2) and the proc filesystem  /proc/<pid>/cwd,  cannot  work  because  the
       point from which the path is constructed has been detached from the mount tree.

SEE ALSO

       autofs(5), autofs(8), auto.master(5), mount(8).  autofs_ldap_auth.conf(5)

BUGS

       Don't know, I've fixed everything I know about.

       The documentation could be better.

       Please report other bugs along with a detailed description to <autofs@linux.kernel.org>. For instructions
       on how to join the list and for archives visit http://linux.kernel.org/mailman/listinfo/autofs

AUTHOR

       H. Peter Anvin <hpa@transmeta.com> and Ian Kent <raven@themaw.net>.

                                                   12 Apr 2006                                      AUTOMOUNT(8)