Linux From Scratch: Version 5.0-pre3
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# Creating the /etc/fstab file

The `/etc/fstab` file is used by some programs to determine where partitions are to be mounted by default, which file systems must be checked and in which order. Create a new file systems table like this:

    cat > /etc/fstab << "EOF"
    # Begin /etc/fstab

    # filesystem  mount-point  fs-type  options         dump  fsck-order

    /dev/xxx      /            fff      defaults        1     1
    /dev/yyy      swap         swap     pri=1           0     0
    proc          /proc        proc     defaults        0     0
    devpts        /dev/pts     devpts   gid=4,mode=620  0     0
    shm           /dev/shm     tmpfs    defaults        0     0

    # End /etc/fstab
    EOF

Of course, replace `xxx`, `yyy` and `fff` with the values appropriate for your system -- for example `hda2`, `hda5` and `reiserfs`. For all the details on the six fields in this table, see `man 5 fstab`.

When using a reiserfs partition, the 1 1 at the end of the line should be replaced with 0 0, as such a partition does not need to be dumped or checked

The `/dev/shm` mount point for tmpfs is included to enable POSIX shared memory. Your kernel must have the required support built into it for this to work. More about this in the next section. Please note that currently, very little software actually uses POSIX shared memory. Therefore you can consider the `/dev/shm` mount optional. For more information, see `Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt` in the kernel source tree.

There are other lines which you may consider adding to your `fstab` file. One example is a line to use if you intend to use USB devices:

    usbfs       /proc/bus/usb  usbfs    defaults    0     0

This option will of course only work if you have the relevant support compiled into your kernel.

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