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fstab
when I modify fstab to mount a loop filesystem my system always fails to reboot properly and goes into emergency mode. I then remove the line and can reboot normally. In researching fstab everything I read says the last it for pass order should be 0 1 or 2 but in the materials 3 is used. Is 3 something special for loop filesystems? I do not find anything on using 3 in that field.
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Comments
Example:
I had success mounting a loop device in the '/etc/fstab' file using this entry line:
Reboot and verify:
I didn't need to specify 'ro' for this mount because the .iso image was created as 'ro'.
Make sure you use the correct space or tab delimiters between fields in your '/etc/fstab' file as well.
In the example I gave, the '/media/hdd' directory is actually the mountpoint for a 2nd hard drive on which the .iso image I am mounting as a loop device is located. So it was important its mount line in '/etc/fstab' precedes the loop device mount line. The man page on 'fstab' mentions this.
Hi NYCJacob,
1) Please specify the Lab# you are working on.
2) What's the line you are adding to /etc/fstab?
3) What's the specific error you are getting on the boot?
Thanks,
Luis.
2) The second number in the "dump" field in fstab is the "pass_no" for filesystem checks. You are right that most Linux documentation mentions only 0, 1, 2. However, 3 means do after 3, 4 means do after 3 etc. This is an old UNIX thing and I'm not 100 percent sure that Linux does this (FreeBSD definitely does so) but some authors seem to say yes.
It's a rather obscure point and the text should not just dump it in there on dump
Try using "0" which means don't check at all.
The order your filesystems get loaded in matters. If you are trying to load a
loop file you must load the filesystem it is on first for example. Thus the order
of entries in fstab matters as the system reads the file.
I don't know if this solves your problems, but try.
In this case, when it fails, I usually do the following:
1) supply the root password as you are prompted for usually
2) mount -o remount,rw / #(so you can alter /etc/fstab)
3) edit /etc/fstab to fix the problem, or just comment out the change say
4) either just reboot, or type telinit 5 etc, something that tries to go forward, reboot is simpler (type reboot)
and hope for the best.