Re: fstab has "user" option, but still cann't be mounted by non-root user

[Mark Grieveson <dg135@torfree.net>]

On Thu,  8 Sep 2011 14:48:08 +0000 (UTC)
debian-user-digest-request@lists.debian.org wrote:

> page of fstab,I set the "user" option,but still get error " mount:
> only root can do that" when i try to mount it.
> 
> 
> # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
> #
> # <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
> # /dev/sdb4       none            ext4    sw              0       0
> UUID=3De2f1534d-aecd-4f2a-a153-822ac4d73967	/media/usbdisk4_data
>    ext4    user,exec,dev,suid,rw,noauto              0       0


I think you need to set up a mount point for your regular user, rather
than directly mounting the device in the /dev directory (.  On my
machine, I have a two mount points for usb devices, since I have two
usb ports that I can use, and sometimes need to mount them
simultaneously.  These are set up in the /media directory (/media/usb
and /media/usb2).  My mount points are executable by all and can be
read by the user ("xr-x"):

mark@debian:/media$ ls -l
total 24
drwxr-x--- 2 root root 4096 Mar  5  2011 apt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    6 Jul 23  2006 cdrom -> cdrom0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 23  2006 cdrom0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    7 Jul 23  2006 floppy -> floppy0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 23  2006 floppy0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 30  2011 hdb
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 17  2009 usb
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 17  2009 usb2
mark@debian:/media$ 

My fstab looks like this:
/dev/sdc1	/media/usb	vfat	noauto,user
0	0 /dev/sdd1	/media/usb2	vfat
noauto,user	0	0

However, I'm not sure if this is correct, given that UUIDs with various
incomprehensible numbers/letters seem to be used now (my fstab also has
these).  But, I can usually mount my usb sticks, so something is
working.  Anyway, I feel that creating an actual mount point, rather
than listing "none", might help.  Check the /media file to see if there
already is a mount point that you can use (IE, /media/usb).  If so,
replace the "none" in your fstab with the mount point.  If not, then
create a mount point, and subsequently add this to your fstab.

Mark