/etc/mtab not up-to-date compared to /proc/mounts

kenneho · 06-19-2009, 01:11 AM

Hello all.

I've noticed that "mount" and "cat /etc/mtab" doens't always report the same as "cat /proc/mounts":

Code:

[root@server1 mnt]# cat /proc/mounts |grep -i scan 
[root@server1 mnt]# cat /etc/mtab |grep -i scan 
//windows/share1$ /mnt/mount1 cifs rw,mand 0 0 
[root@server1 mnt]# mount |grep -i scan 
//windows/share1 on /mnt/mount1 type cifs (rw,mand)

It seems like mtab (and thus "mount") aren't always up-to-date. Is this a symptom of a more severe issue on my linux boxes?

syg00 · 06-19-2009, 03:57 AM

Nope - "man mount"

kenneho · 07-07-2009, 02:28 AM

Thanks.

I found this in the man page:

Quote:

It is possible that files /etc/mtab and /proc/mounts don't match. The first file is based only on the mount command options, but the content of the second file also depends on the kernel and others settings (e.g. remote NFS server. In particular case the mount command may reports unreliable information about a NFS mount point and the /proc/mounts file usually contains more reliable information.)

In my example the file /etc/mtab shows a samba share that is no longer mounted, while the /proc/mount correctly shows that it's not mounted. I'm not sure if the above excerpt from the man page covers my type of problem, since it first of all only mentions NFS, and second only says that the information may me "unreliable". Any thought?