Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2012 10:14:29 +0100 From: Gary Jennejohn <gljennjohn@googlemail.com> To: Robert Simmons <rsimmons0@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Where and when /etc/fstab is checking during boot Message-ID: <20120305101429.59f23f86@ernst.jennejohn.org> In-Reply-To: <CA%2BQLa9B8y7_2wB-7gUZft95O%2BWMYYEArLBRn0DG6fAUFJ%2BszMg@mail.gmail.com> References: <CA%2BQLa9B8y7_2wB-7gUZft95O%2BWMYYEArLBRn0DG6fAUFJ%2BszMg@mail.gmail.com>
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On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 19:32:36 -0500 Robert Simmons <rsimmons0@gmail.com> wrote: > I've just finished working though building a FreeBSD box with an > encrypted root partition as mentioned in the geli(8) man page: "Ask > for the passphrase on boot, before the root partition is mounted. > This makes it possible to use an encrypted root partition. One will > still need bootable unencrypted storage with a /boot/ directory, which > can be a CD-ROM disc or USB pen-drive, that can be removed after > boot." > > I've noticed something quite interesting about the way that fstab is > read during boot. If you follow the instructions exactly as they are > written in the geli(8) man page you soon discover that you also must > have an /etc/fstab file in that same unencrypted partition. But this > need not be the complete fstab file. It only needs to have the one > line that describes /. > > Later, after the encrypted partition is mounted, the /etc/fstab inside > the encrypted partition is then read and all other partitions listed > in fstab are mounted as written there. > > I've tested this by putting empty fstabs and fstabs with just the line > for / in both locations and booting to see what happens. > > Is this the correct behavior? Shouldn't the fstab file be read > completely once and not twice? > man 5 fstab It isn't explicitly stated, but implied, that fsck(8), mount(8) and umount(8) parse fstab every time they're invoked. It's a feature. -- Gary Jennejohn
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