LinuxQuestions.org - autofs woes

- Slackware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/)

- - autofs woes (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/autofs-woes-633724/)

ok, I am running slack 12 (primarily as a console user) and now that I got a internal USB multicard reader I would like to get autofs up and running. I have managed to get alien bob's rc.autofs onto my system and got that running here are my files:
auto.master:

Code:

/mnt/automount /etc/auto.mnt --timeout 3

and my auto.mnt

Code:

CFcard -fstype=auto :/dev/usbCF1

SDcard -fstype=auto :/dev/usbSD1

SMcard -fstype=auto :/dev/usbSM1

MScard -fstype=auto :/dev/usbMS1

now, originally I had made directories in /mnt/automount/ for the mount points, after I ran 'rc.autofs start' those directories disappeared. which only makes sense since I'm mounting a filesystem at /mnt/automount

I only have 1 question, how do I get those directories back... I mean I have cards in the CF SD and MS slots and when I do a 'ls -a /mnt/automount' all I get is '.' and '..' but if I do a 'ls /mnt/automount/CFcard than it shows up. but I have to try to access the directory before it shows up there, i was under the impression that as soon as I accessed /mnt/automount it would consult the map file and create the directories of the entries in auto.mnt

am I wrong in thinking that it works this way, if I am this system doesn't make much sense.

nekkutta

This is how automounting works using autofs.

In Slackware 12.0 with KDE (and XFCE too I guess), you do not need autofs as long as you run X. Instead, let KDE use HAL and DBUS and allow you to mount the card automatically whenever you pop one into your reader.

Automounting using autofs will work without the requirement of running X which is why I prefer it.

Eric

well, darn, since I'm normally ssh'ing to my slack box it would be nice to not have to guess if I left a SD card in the slot :)

So I guess my next question would be concerning ivman and pmount(?) would that create directories for the devices but not mount the actual filesystems until I access the directories... and is there a timeout for the mounting...

as I said, I don't really use any gui (unless you count mc :) ) and with the addition of usb devices it is truely annoying to have to mount and umount, hell DOS 6.22 didn't even have that problem with floppies. I know, I know, completely different fs structure. but there is something to be said about just popping some media into a drive (be it floppy or USB Mass Storage) and copying files to it without having to manually mount it. I guess I can't complain, since I've never gotten a "General Failure reading drive a:" in Linux. I'd still like to know who General Failure is and why he is messing with my a: drive :D

I just recently upgraded this box from 10.2 and it would be nice to figure out all the bells and whistles that I upgraded to.

nekkutta