Where are mount points stored?

[Igor Pechtchanski]

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003, Joaquin wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I found the mount points on my system using mount, but I was wondering
> if how these are stored.  There is no discernable fstab or something
> similar in the /etc directory.
>
>  - joaquin

Yessss!  I finally found a perfect use for the WCTYBTWHTKY acronym
(<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#WCTYBTWHTKY>). ;-)

The main question is (seriously): why do you care?  If it's simply to
satisfy your curiousity, the mounts are stored (for the moment) in
registry keys, as you could have found out by reading the Cygwin sources
(namely winsup/cygwin/path.cc).  However, when people find this out they
usually start wanting to go into the registry and change the mounts there,
and that's unacceptable[*].  So, here's a big DISCLAIMER: do not attempt
to change the mounts via regedit or other registry editing software.
Always use "mount" to change your mounts.  That way, you won't be
blindsided when mounts do move to /etc/fstab or something.
	Igor
[*] The only legitimate use of the registry mount knowledge that I can
think of is checking whether there are user mounts for the SYSTEM user
(there shouldn't be).
-- 
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     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D.
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"I have since come to realize that being between your mentor and his route
to the bathroom is a major career booster."  -- Patrick Naughton

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