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AUTO_MASTER(5)		      File Formats Manual		AUTO_MASTER(5)

NAME
       auto_master -- auto_master and map file format

DESCRIPTION
       The automounter configuration consists of the auto_master configuration
       file, which assigns filesystem paths to map names, and maps, which con-
       tain  actual  mount information.	 The auto_master configuration file is
       used  by	 the  automount(8)  command.   Map  files  are	read  by   the
       automountd(8) daemon.

AUTO_MASTER SYNTAX
       The  auto_master	file consists of lines with two	or three entries sepa-
       rated by	whitespace and terminated by newline character:

	     mountpoint	map_name [-options]

       mountpoint is either a fully specified path, or /-.  When mountpoint is
       a full path, map_name  must  reference  an  indirect  map.   Otherwise,
       map_name	must reference a direct	map.  See "MAP SYNTAX below."

       map_name	specifies map to use.  If map_name begins with -, it specifies
       a  special  map.	  See  "MAP SYNTAX" below.  If map_name	is not a fully
       specified path (it does not start with /),  automountd(8)  will	search
       for  that  name	in /etc.  Otherwise it will use	the path as given.  If
       the file	indicated by map_name is executable, automountd(8) will	assume
       it is an	executable map.	 See "MAP SYNTAX" below.  Otherwise, the  file
       is opened and the contents parsed.

       -options	 is  an	 optional  field  that	starts	with - and can contain
       generic filesystem mount	options.

       The following example specifies that the	/etc/auto_example indirect map
       will be mounted on /example.

	     /example auto_example

MAP SYNTAX
       Map files consist of lines with a number	of entries separated by	white-
       space and terminated by newline character:

	     key [-options] [mountpoint	[-options]] location [...]

       In most cases, it can be	simplified to:

	     key [-options] location

       key is the path component used by automountd(8) to find the  right  map
       entry  to  use.	It is also used	to form	the final mountpoint.  A wild-
       card (`*') can be used for the key.  It matches	every  directory  that
       does  not  match	 other keys.  Those directories	will not be visible to
       the user	until accessed.

       The options field, if present, must begin with -.   When	 mounting  the
       filesystem,  options  supplied  to auto_master and options specified in
       the map entry are concatenated together.	 The special option fstype  is
       used to specify filesystem type.	 It is not passed to the mount program
       as  an  option.	Instead, it is passed as an argument to	mount -t.  The
       default fstype is `nfs'.	 The special option nobrowse is	used  to  dis-
       able creation of	top-level directories for special and executable maps.

       The  optional mountpoint	field is used to specify multiple mount	points
       for a single key.

       The location field specifies the	filesystem to be mounted.   Ampersands
       (`&')  in  the location field are replaced with the value of key.  This
       is typically used with wildcards, like:

	     *	     192.168.1.1:/share/&

       The location field may contain references to variables, like:

	     sys     192.168.1.1:/sys/${OSNAME}

       Defined variables are:

       ARCH	Expands	to the output of uname -p.
       CPU	Same as	ARCH.
       DOLLAR	A literal $ sign.
       HOST	Expands	to the output of uname -n.
       OSNAME	Expands	to the output of uname -s.
       OSREL	Expands	to the output of uname -r.
       OSVERS	Expands	to the output of uname -v.

       Additional variables can	be defined with	the -D option of  automount(8)
       and automountd(8).

       To pass a location that begins with /, prefix it	with a colon.  For ex-
       ample, :/dev/cd0.

       This example, when put into /etc/auto_example, and with auto_master re-
       ferring	to  the	 map  as described above, specifies that the NFS share
       192.168.1.1:/share/example/x will be mounted on	/example/x/  when  any
       process	attempts  to access that mountpoint, with intr and nfsv4 mount
       options,	described in mount_nfs(8):

	     x -intr,nfsv4 192.168.1.1:/share/example/x

       Automatically mount an SMB share	on access, as a	 guest	user,  without
       prompting for a password:

	     share -fstype=smbfs,-N ://@server/share

       Automatically mount the CD drive	on access:

	     cd	-fstype=cd9660 :/dev/cd0

SPECIAL	MAPS
       Special maps have names beginning with -.  Supported special maps are:

       -hosts	Query the remote NFS server and	map exported shares.  This map
		is traditionally mounted on /net.  Access to files on a	remote
		NFS	  server       is	provided      through	   the
		/net/nfs-server-ip/share-name/	directory  without  any	 addi-
		tional	configuration.	Directories for	individual NFS servers
		are not	present	until the first	access,	when they are automat-
		ically created.
       -media	Query devices that are not  yet	 mounted,  but	contain	 valid
		filesystems.   Generally used to access	files on removable me-
		dia.
       -noauto	Mount filesystems configured in	fstab(5)  as  "noauto".	  This
		needs to be set	up as a	direct map.
       -null	Prevent	 automountd(8)	from  mounting	anything on the	mount-
		point.

       It is possible to add custom special maps by adding them, as executable
       maps named special_foo, to the /etc/autofs/ directory.

EXECUTABLE MAPS
       If the map file specified in  auto_master  has  the  execute  bit  set,
       automountd(8)  will execute it and parse	the standard output instead of
       parsing the file	contents.  When	called without command line arguments,
       the executable is expected to output a list of available	map keys sepa-
       rated by	newline	characters.  Otherwise,	the executable will be	called
       with a key name as a command line argument.  Output from	the executable
       is expected to be the entry for that key, not including the key itself.

INDIRECT VERSUS	DIRECT MAPS
       Indirect	 maps  are  referred to	in auto_master by entries with a fully
       qualified path as a mount point,	and must contain only  relative	 paths
       as keys.	 Direct	maps are referred to in	auto_master by entries with /-
       as the mountpoint, and must contain only	fully qualified	paths as keys.
       For indirect maps, the final mount point	is determined by concatenating
       the  auto_master	mountpoint with	the map	entry key and optional map en-
       try mountpoint.	For direct maps, the final mount point	is  determined
       by  concatenating  the map entry	key with the optional map entry	mount-
       point.

       The example above could be rewritten using direct map, by placing  this
       in auto_master:

	     /-	auto_example

       and this	in /etc/auto_example map file:

	     /example/x	-intr,nfsv4 192.168.1.1:/share/example/x
	     /example/share -fstype=smbfs,-N ://@server/share
	     /example/cd -fstype=cd9660	:/dev/cd0

DIRECTORY SERVICES
       Both auto_master	and maps may contain entries consisting	of a plus sign
       and map name:

	     +auto_master

       Those entries cause automountd(8) daemon	to retrieve the	named map from
       directory services (like	LDAP) and include it where the entry was.

       If  the file containing the map referenced in auto_master is not	found,
       the map will be retrieved from directory	services instead.

       To retrieve entries from	directory services, automountd(8) daemon  runs
       /etc/autofs/include,  which is usually a	shell script, with map name as
       the only	command	line parameter.	 The script should output entries for-
       matted according	to auto_master or automounter map syntax  to  standard
       output.	  An   example	 script	  to   use   LDAP   is	 included   in
       /etc/autofs/include_ldap.  It can be symlinked to /etc/autofs/include.

FILES
       /etc/auto_master	 The default location of the auto_master file.
       /etc/autofs/	 Directory containing shell scripts to implement  spe-
			 cial maps and directory services.

SEE ALSO
       autofs(5), automount(8),	automountd(8), autounmountd(8)

AUTHORS
       The  auto_master	 configuration	file  functionality  was  developed by
       Edward Tomasz Napierala <trasz@FreeBSD.org> under sponsorship from  the
       FreeBSD Foundation.

FreeBSD	14.3		       December	28, 2018		AUTO_MASTER(5)

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