NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     mount_portal - mount the portal daemon

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     mount_portal [-o options] /etc/portal.conf mount_point

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The mount_portal command attaches an instance of the  portal
daemon to the
     global  filesystem  namespace.  The conventional mount point
is /p.  This
     command is normally executed by mount(8) at boot time.

     The options are as follows:

     -o options
             Options are specified with a -o flag followed  by  a
comma separated
 string of options.  See the mount(8) man page for
possible options
 and their meanings.

     The portal daemon provides an open service.  Objects  opened
under the
     portal  mount  point  are  dynamically created by the portal
daemon according
     to rules specified in the named configuration  file.   Using
this mechanism
     allows  descriptors  such as sockets to be made available in
the filesystem
     namespace.

     The portal daemon works by being passed the full pathname of
the object
     being  opened.  The daemon creates an appropriate descriptor
according to
     the rules in the configuration file, and then passes the descriptor back
     to  the  calling  process as the result of the open() system
call.

NAMESPACE    [Toc]    [Back]

     By convention, the portal daemon divides the namespace  into
sub-namespaces,
 each of which handles objects of a particular type.

     Currently,  two  sub-namespaces are implemented: tcp and fs.
The tcp
     namespace takes a hostname and a port (slash separated)  and
creates an
     open  TCP/IP  connection.   The fs namespace opens the named
file, starting
     back at the root directory.  This can be used to  provide  a
controlled escape
 path from a chrooted environment.

CONFIGURATION FILE    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  configuration file contains a list of rules.  Each rule
takes one
     line and  consists  of  two  or  more  whitespace  separated
fields.  A hash
     (`#')  character  causes  the  remainder of a line to be ignored.  Blank
     lines are ignored.

     The first field is a pathname prefix to  match  against  the
requested pathname.
   If a match is found, the second field tells the daemon what type
     of object to create.  Subsequent fields are  passed  to  the
creation function.


     # @(#)portal.conf       5.1 (Berkeley) 7/13/92
     tcp/            tcp tcp/
     fs/             file fs/

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /p/*

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     mount(2), fstab(5), mount(8), umount(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The mount_portal utility first appeared in 4.4BSD.

CAVEATS    [Toc]    [Back]

     This filesystem may not be NFS-exported.

OpenBSD      3.6                          March      27,     1994