On 04/18/2015 05:33 PM, Fernando Rodriguez wrote: > On Saturday, April 18, 2015 3:59:15 PM walt wrote: >> >> execve("/bin/mount", ["mount"], [/* 61 vars */]) = 0 >> >> That number 61 on the 'bad' machine is 48, though, and I don't know where >> that odd-looking string of characters is generated or what it means. To me >> it looks like a comment in a file of 'c' code. >> >> Still stumped :( > > That would be the number of environment variables passed to execve. strace is > just trying not to be too noisy. > > > Are there any differences in the options used in fstab between both machines, > Especially the auto or noauto options or if one of them is using labels. The > mount(8) man page may have more hints.
As a quick-and-dirty way of testing your idea I moved /etc/fstab out of the way. I was surprised to learn that "mount" doesn't care about fstab, and doesn't even bother to look for it (when invoked with no arguments). Using strace I examined the list of files opened by "mount" on both machines and discovered that the "bad" machine reads the same 8 files as the "good" machine, but then proceeds to read /etc/blkid.conf (I don't have that file on either machine) and then /proc/cmdline. (And then proceeds to read all the partition tables, etc) So, what kind of process needs those two files to do its job? I have no idea, but I'm hoping that some of you smart people out there may know.