Re: Bind mount bug?
From: Roland Kuhn
Date: Sun Nov 11 2007 - 17:10:36 EST
Hi Frans!
Let's see whether I can explain this (I'm not a guru...)
On 11 Nov 2007, at 11:06, Frans Pop wrote:
I'm not sure whether this is a bug or expected behavior.
Suppose I create a "looped" bind mount situation as follows.
# mkdir test
# touch test/foo
# mkdir bindtest
# touch bindtest/bar
# mkdir bindtest/test
# mount --bind test/ bindtest/test/
# ls bindtest/test/
foo
# mount --bind bindtest/ test/
This mounts the bindtest/ tree on test/ _without_ copying the mount
points which are found on subtrees. This is necessary to avoid loops
in the filesystem (bind mounts are somewhat like hardlinks on
directories, just without the headaches).
# ls test/
bar test
# ls test/test/
#
This lists the contents of the original bintest/test/ directory which
you created above. Creating e.g. a file in there stores that file
physically in bindtest/test/bla, where "test" does _not_ mean the
bind mount but the underlying directory here.
I'd expected the last command to list "foo", but it shows an empty
dir.
Shouldn't it also show the original contents of test (as they were
before
the first bind mount)?
# mount | grep test
/root/test on /root/bindtest/test type none (rw,bind)
/root/bindtest on /root/test type none (rw,bind)
You see, the bindtest/test/ mount was not propagated to test/test/.
This is very much by design. You can e.g. do
# mkdir -p test/test
# mount --bind test test/test
# ls test/test
test
# ls test/test/test
#
so there is no loop (`find test` would actually say that it
terminates because it has detected a loop, so it cannot be used to
test this).
# touch test/test/test/a
# ls test/test/test
a
# ls test/test
# umount test/test
# ls test/test
a
#
So, you see, test/test/test/a was (as it should) physically created
in test/test, where it is shadowed by the bind mount as long as that
is not removed. Nothing vanishes into "thin air" ;-)
Ciao,
Roland
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