From: Larry Doolittle (doolitt@cebaf4.cebaf.gov)
Date: 08/16/93


From: doolitt@cebaf4.cebaf.gov (Larry Doolittle)
Subject: Re: 'fstab' Problem
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1993 16:23:31 GMT

In article <93228.120430KKEYTE@ESOC.BITNET>, Karl Keyte, ESOC Darmstadt
<KKEYTE@ESOC.BITNET> writes:

> Having just installed Linux (complete set - from SLS) I notice that
> the 'df' command fails to read the mount table (/etc/mtab file). It's
> true - the file is empty, but surely my root partition should be mounted
> at system start up and that should show at least?? If I mount something
> else, like a DOS partition, 'df' then works and shows me that partition.
> Why can't I see the root? If I do a 'mount' I also see nothing. I note
> that the /etc/rc does a 'mount -a' which should be enough.
>

More than likely your root entry in fstab is messed up. Some versions
of SLS 1.03 glitched on the install, and make an entry for "/root"
instead of "/". You should fix the /etc/fstab file by hand, reboot,
and most of your problems should go away.

More explicitly, the entry should look something like:
/dev/hda2 / ext2 defaults

Cross-posted and followups to comp.os.linux.help

                    - Larry Doolittle doolittle@cebaf.gov