{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "systemd.automount",
    "section": "5",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd.automount/5/json",
    "generated": "2026-10-09T19:28:52Z",
    "synopsis": "automount.automount",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "systemd.automount - Automount unit configuration\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "automount.automount\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "A unit configuration file whose name ends in \".automount\" encodes information about a file\nsystem automount point controlled and supervised by systemd. Automount units may be used to\nimplement on-demand mounting as well as parallelized mounting of file systems.\n\nThis man page lists the configuration options specific to this unit type. See systemd.unit(5)\nfor the common options of all unit configuration files. The common configuration items are\nconfigured in the generic [Unit] and [Install] sections. The automount specific configuration\noptions are configured in the [Automount] section.\n\nAutomount units must be named after the automount directories they control. Example: the\nautomount point /home/lennart must be configured in a unit file home-lennart.automount. For\ndetails about the escaping logic used to convert a file system path to a unit name see\nsystemd.unit(5). Note that automount units cannot be templated, nor is it possible to add\nmultiple names to an automount unit by creating symlinks to its unit file.\n\nFor each automount unit file a matching mount unit file (see systemd.mount(5) for details)\nmust exist which is activated when the automount path is accessed. Example: if an automount\nunit home-lennart.automount is active and the user accesses /home/lennart the mount unit\nhome-lennart.mount will be activated.\n\nNote that automount units are separate from the mount itself, so you should not set After= or\nRequires= for mount dependencies here. For example, you should not set\nAfter=network-online.target or similar on network filesystems. Doing so may result in an\nordering cycle.\n\nNote that automount support on Linux is privileged, automount units are hence only available\nin the system service manager (and root's user service manager), but not in unprivileged\nusers' service managers.\n\nNote that automount units should not be nested. (The establishment of the inner automount\npoint would unconditionally pin the outer mount point, defeating its purpose.)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCIES": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "Implicit Dependencies",
                    "content": "The following dependencies are implicitly added:\n\n•   If an automount unit is beneath another mount unit in the file system hierarchy, a\nrequirement and ordering dependencies are created to the on the unit higher in the\nhierarchy.\n\n•   An implicit Before= dependency is created between an automount unit and the mount unit it\nactivates.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Default Dependencies",
                    "content": "The following dependencies are added unless DefaultDependencies=no is set:\n\n•   Automount units acquire automatic Before= and Conflicts= on umount.target in order to be\nstopped during shutdown.\n\n•   Automount units automatically gain an After= dependency on local-fs-pre.target, and a\nBefore= dependency on local-fs.target.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "FSTAB": {
            "content": "Automount units may either be configured via unit files, or via /etc/fstab (see fstab(5) for\ndetails).\n\nFor details how systemd parses /etc/fstab see systemd.mount(5).\n\nIf an automount point is configured in both /etc/fstab and a unit file, the configuration in\nthe latter takes precedence.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "Automount unit files may include [Unit] and [Install] sections, which are described in\nsystemd.unit(5).\n\nAutomount unit files must include an [Automount] section, which carries information about the\nfile system automount points it supervises. The options specific to the [Automount] section\nof automount units are the following:\n\nWhere=\nTakes an absolute path of a directory of the automount point. If the automount point does\nnot exist at time that the automount point is installed, it is created. This string must\nbe reflected in the unit filename. (See above.) This option is mandatory.\n\nExtraOptions=\nExtra mount options to use when creating the autofs mountpoint. This takes a\ncomma-separated list of options. This setting is optional. Note that the usual specifier\nexpansion is applied to this setting, literal percent characters should hence be written\nas \"%%\".\n\nAdded in version 250.\n\nDirectoryMode=\nDirectories of automount points (and any parent directories) are automatically created if\nneeded. This option specifies the file system access mode used when creating these\ndirectories. Takes an access mode in octal notation. Defaults to 0755.\n\nTimeoutIdleSec=\nConfigures an idle timeout. Once the mount has been idle for the specified time, systemd\nwill attempt to unmount. Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a time span value such as\n\"5min 20s\". Pass 0 to disable the timeout logic. The timeout is disabled by default.\n\nAdded in version 220.\n\nCheck systemd.unit(5), systemd.exec(5), and systemd.kill(5) for more settings.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.mount(5), mount(8), automount(8),\nsystemd.directives(7)\n\nsystemd 255                                                                     SYSTEMD.AUTOMOUNT(5)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "systemd.automount - Automount unit configuration",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "systemd",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "systemctl",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemctl/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "systemd.unit",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd.unit/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "systemd.mount",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd.mount/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "mount",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mount/8/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "automount",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/automount/8/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "systemd.directives",
            "section": "7",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd.directives/7/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "SYSTEMD.AUTOMOUNT",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/SYSTEMD.AUTOMOUNT/5/json"
        }
    ]
}