mount [ option ... ] source target [ spec ]

unmount [ source ] target

For bind, source is the name of an existing file or directory in the current name space. After a successful bind, the file name target is an alias for the object originally named by source; if the modification doesn't hide it, source will also still refer to its original file. The evaluation of source (see sys-intro(2)) happens at the time of the bind, not when the binding is later used.

Both source and target files must be of the same type: either both directories or both files.

For mount, source can be a shell command, a network address, or a file name. If source is surrounded by brace characters ({ and }), it is invoked as a sh(1) command and its standard input is mounted (no authentication takes place in this case). If source contains an exclamation mark (!), or there is no file of that name, it is assumed to be a network address for a machine acting as a file server. This argument should then conform to the conventions described in sys-dial(2). Otherwise source should be the name of a file that when opened gives a connection to a file server, something serving the Styx protocol described in intro(5). The optional spec argument to mount is passed in the attach(5) message and selects amongst different file trees offered by the server.

The effects of bind and mount can be undone by unmount. If two arguments are given to unmount, the effect is to undo a bind or mount with the same arguments. If only one argument is given, everything bound to or mounted on target is unmounted.

By default, bind and mount replace the target file by the new one, source. Henceforth, an evaluation of the pathname target will be translated to the new file. If they are directories (for mount, this condition is true by definition), target becomes a union directory consisting of one directory (the source directory).

A union directory unites the contents of the source and target directories. If the same name appears in both directories, the name used is the one in the directory that is bound before the other. In particular, if the directories have subdirectories of the same name, only the contents of the subdirectory in the top directory will be seen. If the subdirectory contents are themselves to be united, that must be done first in a separate bind or mount.

Note that the # character in the name of a kernel device must be quoted when used in a bind or unmount command, or the shell will take it as the start of a comment.

Options control aspects of the modification to the name space:

-b

Both files must be directories. Add the source directory to the beginning of the union directory represented by the target directory.

-a

Both files must be directories. Add the source directory to the end of the union directory represented by the target directory.

-c

This can be used in addition to any of the above to permit creation in a union directory. When a new file is created in a union directory, it is placed in the first element of the union that has been bound or mounted with the -c option. If that directory has not got write permission, the create fails.

-q

Exit quietly without printing a diagnostic if the bind or mount fails.

-A

For mount only. Do not authenticate the connection to the server before proceeding with mount. Otherwise the connection is authenticated by security-auth(2).

-C alg

For mount only, specify the algorithm, alg, to be used following authentication for digesting or encryption. See ssl(3) for the supported algorithms. The default is none: ssl(3) is not used after authentication.

-k kfile

For mount only, specify the keyfile to be used when authenticating. The default is /usr/user/keyring/default. See keyring-auth(2) for more details.

-9

For mount only, and only when hosted on Plan 9. Source is a Plan 9 file server; use Plan 9's factotum as authentication agent to authenticate the mount. (Note that a Plan 9 file service that is known not to authenticate can be mounted from any Inferno host, by using the -A option to suppress Inferno authentication.) The existing Plan 9 file servers do not encrypt connections, so the -C and -k options are ignored.

-P

When source is a network address, use styxpersist(2) to try to simulate a permanent connection, even should the server reboot. Note the caveats on that page.

-o

For mount only, the file server serves the original version of the Styx protocol, and mount inserts a process that translates to the current version.