[fhs-discuss] FHS exported filesystems

[Martin Bähr]

On Thu, May 05, 2011 at 05:38:31PM +0100, Tony Travis wrote:
> The FHS seems to be focussed on 'stand-alone' machines that may or may 
> not mount some network filesystems as a client, but it does not state 
> how filesystems should be 'exported' (or shared) by network servers or 
> by 'servents' (i.e. machines that can be both clients and servers).
> 
> For example, the FHS states that 'home' directories should be within:
> 
>    /home
> 
> This directory could, of course, be mounted from an NFS server, but it 
> is more flexible to use it as an automount point instead. In the case of 
> BSD and SunOS/Solaris, 'exported' home directories on a server (or 
> servent) are typically sub-directories of:
> 
>    /export/home

i suppose /srv can be used for this purpose.

> All machines, including an NFS servent exporting its own 'home' folder, 
> use the same automount map where the hostname is now part of the path to 
> the user's home directory:
> 
>    host1:/export/home/user1 -> host2:/home/host1/user1
>    host2:/export/home/user2 -> host1:/home/host2/user2
> 
> For example, the home directory of user1 on any host would then be:
> 
>    /home/host1/user1
> 
> Using the automounter, 'home' directories are now 'exported' from one 
> host and 'follow' users as they login on different hosts in a network.
> 
> FHS 3.0 could incorporate this widely adopted scheme for using network 
> filesystems more transparently on NFS servers, clients and servents.

and thus force everyone to use it? i think the FHS is mostly concerned
with issues that relates to the interaction among applications. things
that applications can expect, and that distributors should follow to
meet those expectations. i can't think of any application that would
break because nfs server directories are in a non-standard location (but
my experience on this is quite limited so there may be some). this is
all a configuration issue anyways.

greetings, martin.
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