Program equivalent of "mount" command

commands:

memory


Through the mount(2) syscall

Read the mount(2) manpage ("man 2 mount") for the syntax of the call.



MOUNT(2)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  MOUNT(2)

NAME
       mount, umount - mount and unmount filesystems

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/mount.h>

       int mount(const char *source, const char *target,
                 const char *filesystemtype, unsigned long mountflags,
                 const void *data);

       int umount(const char *target);

       int umount2(const char *target, int flags);

DESCRIPTION
       mount()  attaches  the filesystem specified by source (which is often a
       device name, but can also be a directory name or a dummy) to the direc-
       tory specified by target.

Thanks, I got it working.  But several things still confuse me.  One is the
filesystemtype.  I used "msdos" and it worked.  I was able to write a file to
the memory stick and that file appeared normally when plugged into my WinXP
system.  But is "msdos" right?  For example, should it handle long file names,
or will it be limited to 8.3 names as in DOS?  I thought there would be some
sort of an "auto" selection like there is in the mount shell command.

The second question has to do with handling the case where no memory stick is
plugged in.  Of course the mount() call fails, and I check for that in my
application and give the user appropriate feedback through an LCD screen.  The
the shell serial port also has some error messages, starting with "Device not
ready" and continuing for 8-10 lines more of info about the error.  I guess this
is not a problem for me since the shell port is  going to be disconnected during
normal operation.  So I can ignore whatever gets sent to it.  But I would like
to understand why this particular system call produces shell port error messages
while other systems calls (like open) are content to let my program handle error
returns.


Robert Scott
Ypsilanti, Michigan

Hello,



You could try out "auto", which worked at least once for me using the mount
program.

"msdos" is limited to 8.3 names; the newer system is called "vfat".



Does this happen using the mount program, too? If yes, it shouldn't be
anything serious.



To open files that don't exist is (imho) normal behaviour and expected. To
open a device which is not ready is related to kernel mode drivers (and thus
important to the administrator, kernel and system stability). It is the same
as if you're trying to use a floppy disk which has become very bad.
Moreover, you might be tampering with the file system structure which could
harm other running processes.

You could try to make the kernel talk less about things like this, they
won't be logged then. But if the shell port is disconnected in normal
operation, I wouldn't care. It might be more important to notice errors when
things don't work as expected - and I would probably forget to make the
kernel talk to me again. If you want to do it, you can find it in
/proc/sys/kernel/printk .

Hope this helps,
Sebastian

..just tried it.  mount fails.  "..no such device.."



I tried filesystemtype="vfat" and it worked fine with my USB memory stick.
Thanks.


Robert Scott
Ypsilanti, Michigan

This job can be done by udev automatically for you. It also could start your
application in the case someone inserts a memory stick (if you want). Or
send your application a signal, when the memory stick was inserted and
successfully mounted. Or everything else you want (this includes it could
also drive you crazy....).

JB