Discussion:
Dropbox and /etc/fstab
Patrick Connolly
2011-03-09 08:11:46 UTC
Permalink
I recently installed Dropbox via yum (Fedora 11) like this:

yum install nautilus-dropbox

It more or less works pretty well, but I'm a bit concerned about the
side effects, among them what it did to /etc/fstab which now looks like this:


#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Thu Jul 23 12:35:33 2009
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
#
UUID=151b5175-6a5d-4cd0-96d4-d6202bd297b4 /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
UUID=6363cb42-ba7a-410e-9e9e-6768ebf3166a / ext4 defaults 1 1
# Commented out by Dropbox
# UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults 1 2
UUID=2efa1867-5a81-4b83-aeed-5a5fa6661e55 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb2 swap swap defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
#devpts options modified by setup update to fix #515521 ugly way
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults,user_xattr 1 2


It's the line following the one that says "# Commented out by Dropbox"

What's that doing to the /home/ directory? I'm afraid to restart the
machine without a /home/ directory. Are my fears justified? If so,
should I take that comment out again while I have the chance? I'm
supposing Dropbox did it for a good reason, so maybe it's not a good
idea to remove it.

I'm also a bit annoyed about having the need to be root to unmount USB
devices which wasn't the case before.

Is that sort of tinkering really necessary for Dropbox to work?

Ideas gratefully appreciated.
--
___ Patrick Connolly
{~._.~}
_( Y )_ Good judgment comes from experience
(:_~*~_:) Experience comes from bad judgment
(_)-(_)


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Bruce Kingsbury
2011-03-09 08:25:05 UTC
Permalink
You missed the line at the end?

UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults,user_xattr 1 2

All it's really done is change the options for home,and left you the
original entry for comparison or to revert later if required. .. might
have been a bit nicer if it'd put that new entry right underneath the
commented line though instead of at the bottom of the file.
Post by Patrick Connolly
yum install nautilus-dropbox
It more or less works pretty well, but I'm a bit concerned about the
#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Thu Jul 23 12:35:33 2009
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
#
UUID=151b5175-6a5d-4cd0-96d4-d6202bd297b4 /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
UUID=6363cb42-ba7a-410e-9e9e-6768ebf3166a /                       ext4    defaults        1 1
# Commented out by Dropbox
# UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home                   ext4    defaults        1 2
UUID=2efa1867-5a81-4b83-aeed-5a5fa6661e55 swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/sdb2               swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620        0 0
#devpts options modified by setup update to fix #515521 ugly way
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults,user_xattr 1 2
It's the line following the one that says "# Commented out by Dropbox"
What's that doing to the /home/ directory?  I'm afraid to restart the
machine without a /home/ directory.  Are my fears justified?  If so,
should I take that comment out again while I have the chance?  I'm
supposing Dropbox did it for a good reason, so maybe it's not a good
idea to remove it.
I'm also a bit annoyed about having the need to be root to unmount USB
devices which wasn't the case before.
Is that sort of tinkering really necessary for Dropbox to work?
Ideas gratefully appreciated.
--
  ___     Patrick Connolly
 {~._.~}
 _( Y )_          Good judgment comes from experience
(:_~*~_:)         Experience comes from bad judgment
 (_)-(_)
_______________________________________________
http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug
--
Disclaimer:
By sending an email to any of my addresses you are agreeing that:
   1. I am by definition, "the intended recipient"
   2. All information in the email is mine to do with as I see fit and
make such financial profit, political mileage, or good joke as it
lends itself to.
   3. I may take the contents as representing the views of your company.
   4. This overrides any disclaimer or statement of confidentiality
that may be included on your message.

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Patrick Connolly
2011-03-09 09:56:31 UTC
Permalink
That's a relief. I hadn't noticed that.

What about the need to be root to unmount a USB stick? What's that
about? It also automatically mounts it and opens Nautilus which I
never use other than to see what Dropbox is doing -- and even that's
expendable. I'd prefer to use Dolphin.


Somewhere about Wed, 09-Mar-2011 at 09:25PM +1300 (give or take),
Bruce Kingsbury wrote:

|> You missed the line at the end?
|>
|> UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults,user_xattr 1 2
|>
|> All it's really done is change the options for home,and left you the
|> original entry for comparison or to revert later if required. .. might
|> have been a bit nicer if it'd put that new entry right underneath the
|> commented line though instead of at the bottom of the file.
|>
|> On 9 March 2011 21:11, Patrick Connolly <***@slingshot.co.nz> wrote:
|> > I recently installed Dropbox via yum (Fedora 11) like this:
|> >
|> > yum install nautilus-dropbox
|> >
|> > It more or less works pretty well, but I'm a bit concerned about the
|> > side effects, among them what it did to /etc/fstab which now looks like this:
|> >
|> >
|> > #
|> > # /etc/fstab
|> > # Created by anaconda on Thu Jul 23 12:35:33 2009
|> > #
|> > # Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
|> > # See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
|> > #
|> > UUID=151b5175-6a5d-4cd0-96d4-d6202bd297b4 /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
|> > UUID=6363cb42-ba7a-410e-9e9e-6768ebf3166a /                       ext4    defaults        1 1
|> > # Commented out by Dropbox
|> > # UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home                   ext4    defaults        1 2
|> > UUID=2efa1867-5a81-4b83-aeed-5a5fa6661e55 swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
|> > /dev/sdb2               swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
|> > tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
|> > devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620        0 0
|> > #devpts options modified by setup update to fix #515521 ugly way
|> > sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
|> > proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
|> > UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults,user_xattr 1 2
|> >
|> >
|> > It's the line following the one that says "# Commented out by Dropbox"
|> >
|> > What's that doing to the /home/ directory?  I'm afraid to restart the
|> > machine without a /home/ directory.  Are my fears justified?  If so,
|> > should I take that comment out again while I have the chance?  I'm
|> > supposing Dropbox did it for a good reason, so maybe it's not a good
|> > idea to remove it.
|> >
|> > I'm also a bit annoyed about having the need to be root to unmount USB
|> > devices which wasn't the case before.
|> >
|> > Is that sort of tinkering really necessary for Dropbox to work?
|> >
|> > Ideas gratefully appreciated.
|> >
|> >
|> >
|> > --
|> >   ___     Patrick Connolly
|> >  {~._.~}
|> >  _( Y )_          Good judgment comes from experience
|> > (:_~*~_:)         Experience comes from bad judgment
|> >  (_)-(_)
|> >
|> >
|> > _______________________________________________
|> > NZLUG mailing list ***@linux.net.nz
|> > http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug
|> >
|>
|>
|>
|> --
|> Disclaimer:
|> By sending an email to any of my addresses you are agreeing that:
|>    1. I am by definition, "the intended recipient"
|>    2. All information in the email is mine to do with as I see fit and
|> make such financial profit, political mileage, or good joke as it
|> lends itself to.
|>    3. I may take the contents as representing the views of your company.
|>    4. This overrides any disclaimer or statement of confidentiality
|> that may be included on your message.
|>
|> _______________________________________________
|> NZLUG mailing list ***@linux.net.nz
|> http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug
--
___ Patrick Connolly
{~._.~}
_( Y )_ Good judgment comes from experience
(:_~*~_:) Experience comes from bad judgment
(_)-(_)


_______________________________________________
NZLUG mailing list ***@linux.net.nz
http://www.linux.net.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nzlug
David Pando
2011-03-09 08:34:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Patrick Connolly
#
UUID=151b5175-6a5d-4cd0-96d4-d6202bd297b4 /boot ext3
defaults 1 2
UUID=6363cb42-ba7a-410e-9e9e-6768ebf3166a / ext4
defaults 1 1
# Commented out by Dropbox
# UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4
defaults 1 2
UUID=2efa1867-5a81-4b83-aeed-5a5fa6661e55 swap swap
defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb2 swap swap defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620
0 0
#devpts options modified by setup update to fix #515521 ugly way
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
UUID=95e2503a-842b-4584-9309-3f78397c2f38 /home ext4 defaults,user_xattr 1 2
What's that doing to the /home/ directory?
It enables the "Extended atributes" support for the home partition.
According to Dropbox "it might not be necessary it is recommended."

http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=29809
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