Score:-1

Ubuntu

How to define the fstab entry for /dirname when /home is already defined

chribonn

1/8/24, 2:38 PM

I refer to the post How do I mount a folder from another partition?. I have /home associated with a partition and this is working.

From the post it seems that my fstab should read:

/whatever    /home    none    bind

Can I have /whatever related to this partition without is being under /home? In scripts I would like to refer to this location as /whatever rather than as /home/whatever

I come from the Windows environment the my reasoning is that Drive D could have any number of folders under it.

Thanks

Clarification note

I have the following in my fstab

UUID=109bff64-xxxx /home ext4 defaults 0 2

I want to add a directory /whatever to resolve to the save device having UUID=109bff64-xxxx.

I do not want /whatever to be under /home.

1 + 6

partitioning

fstab

mount

terdon

1/8/24, 2:46 PM

Please [edit] your question and describe what the end result you want looks like. I can't understand what you are trying to achieve. Bind mounts essentially give you two locations where the same data are located. Is that what you want? What is `/whatever`? What do you want it to be? Where do you want to have its data mounted?

chribonn

1/9/24, 7:51 AM

@terdon. Clarification added. Thanks

terdon

1/9/24, 9:16 AM

Thanks, that helps. So why do you need a bind mount for this? Wouldn't a simple symlink be enough? Something like `sudo ln -s /home /whatever`? And your comment about "drive D having multiple folders" is also confusing, `/home` can have as many folders under it as you like. I am having trouble understanding what advantage you see in having this `/whatever`. Why is it easier to use `/whatever` in a script than to use `/home`? I feel this may be an [xy problem](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/66377/203101).

chribonn

1/9/24, 9:46 AM

I don't have an opinion on symbolic links. I come from Windows and I find it challenging to wrap my mind around going from devices that have names (A:, B:, ...) to a devices that are essentially folders. With Windows, C: drive has folders underneath it; here I am saying that /whatever point to ANOTHER folder /home. I can't (my ignorance) appreciate why /dev/sdaX is not the reference point for all folders under it. Maybe it needs time to sink in.

terdon

1/9/24, 10:15 AM

There isn't much difference, really. "C" is also a directory, and you can think of it as such. Presumably, Windows also does some sort of mapping between the directory `\C:` and the drive. So just like your system partition is accessible via `\C:` in Windows, so your home partition is accessible via `/home` in Linux. Sure, the mechanics might be different, but from the user perspective it is basically the same. But, again, what is the benefit for you in having `/whatever` point to `/home`? What can you do with `/whatever` that you cannot do with `/home`?

chribonn

1/9/24, 10:20 AM

I came tot he same conclusion. In fact I didn't create it.

Score:1

Ubuntu

terdon

1/9/24, 9:24 AM

While you could do this with a bind mount, that seems like overkill. If all you want is to access the data in /home from the directory /whatever, a symlink is enough:

sudo ln -s /home /whatever

That will create the symlink /whatever and you can use it just as you would /home.

I don't see any advantage to using a bind mount instead if all you want is a different entry point to /home. But then I also don't really understand why you would prefer to use /whatever instead of /home. They are both top level directories under / so there seems to be no benefit in using one over the other.

In any case, if you insist on using a bind mount, then you would first need to create the directory:

sudo mkdir /whatever

And then add this line to the end of your /etc/fstab file:

/home    /whatever   bind  defaults

That means "bind mount /home to /whatever".

+ 1

chribonn

1/9/24, 10:24 AM

Before following this read @terdon's comments under the question.

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