Member Avatar for TimC

Hi all.

Can some one help me with the following answers.
I am brushing up for an exam monday and we have to answer one q from a linux environment. I hope this Q comes up as it has done over the last 2 years.

thanks in advance

T

Consider the following entry from a typical /etc/fstab file.

/dev/hdc /media /cdrom iso9660 user,ro,noauto 0 0

Explain the terms

/dev/hdc
/media/cdrom
iso9660

Write down a command to mount this device.

In a typical Linux system, what files are typically stored in the following directories.

/bin
/root
/sbin
/etc

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Dani AI

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Good start — and is right to correct the /root point. The fstab line in the first post packs six standard fields (device, mount point, filesystem type, mount options, dump, fsck order). For exam answers, name those fields and explain the role of the options rather than just listing names.

Important option semantics often tested: the user option lets a non-root account mount the entry (it also carries safety defaults such as disabling suid/nodev/exec in many implementations), ro enforces read‑only, and noauto prevents automatic mounting at boot. The difference between user and users (who can unmount) is a common short-question trap. See the official fstab and mount manpages for precise wording: fstab(5) and mount(8).

Directory-role clarifications: /bin contains essential user binaries required for single‑user and basic operation; /sbin holds system/administration binaries used during boot and for maintenance; /etc stores host‑specific configuration files; /root is the root account’s home directory (not the filesystem root). Modern distributions may merge /bin into /usr/bin — check the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for authoritative definitions: FHS 3.0.

Quick verification/troubleshooting commands useful on an exam or in practice:

lsblk -f
blkid /dev/sr0
findmnt --fstab
dmesg | tail
mount -a   # to test all fstab entries

CD images commonly use the ISO 9660 format with Rock Ridge or Joliet extensions to preserve POSIX metadata and long filenames — a useful extra detail for fuller answers (see ISO 9660).

Member Avatar for TimC

After 38 views and no responses I decided to do it the hard way and checked my notes. These were the answers I found.

Explain the terms

/dev/hdc Device file, which specifies the device file
/media/cdrom specifies the directory where the filesystem should be mounted.
iso9660 the standard filesystem used for CD-ROMs.

Write down a command to mount this device.
mount /dev/cdrom


In a typical Linux system, what files are typically stored in the following directories.

/bin cat, ls, rm
/root home, tmp, boot
/sbin shutdown, fdisk, init
/etc passwd, shadow, group

Member Avatar for John A

>mount /dev/cdrom
Of course, if you didn't have an fstab file, you'd have to do

mount -t iso9660 -o user,ro /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

I'm not exactly sure whether they meant a mount command with or without the fstab file, but it'd probably be okay to assume that you did have it.

>/root home, tmp, boot
Nope. /root is the root's home directory (much like yours would be /home/username), and by default, there's nothing in it. What's typically stored in it varies from user to user, but I usually use it to store old configuration files (and of course a .bashrc for when I use 'su'). If you use it for logging into X (bad idea) it'll also contain your window manager's user configuration files.

Member Avatar for TimC

John A, thanks for that. I'll change the answer in the exam to match what you said. Hopefully it comes up.

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