Hal mount folder named "/media/uuid" of all storeage devices.

Question

hay guys new here, I've been trying to figure out how to get HAL to use the devices UUID for the mount folders name. (For example /media/5ee2c068-fab8-4b64-8061-e7662c9c2169) this is so when i make symbolic links to folders on my removable storage devices i don't need to worry about the order i mount mount my removable drives. I know that well at least the time when i used Ubuntu as my primary distribution it was the default configuration to do this.
After doing a bit reading of Hal's default policy files i  noticed that when Hal is invoked to mount a volume it will call the binary "hal-storage-mount" (located in  "/usr/lib/hal") and so I'm guessing this is the mounting command that handles creating a folder in "/media" and mounting the volume to that directory.  so what i would like to know if anyone knows how to configure either hal or "hal-storage-mount" itself to achieve what I'm asking?
any help would be greatly appreciated
Last edited by BRAXS69 (2010-06-05 13:22:23)

Answer 1

lamdacore wrote:
I am not sure how to tell hal to auto-make the folders. You could always make the folders manually and set the mountpoints in fstab.
Another option is (specifically for your purpose of creating symbolic links - I do this personally). Set labels on your partitions! HAL automatically creates the mount points in /media according to the partition's label.
You can use gparted to edit the labels.
Ah i didn't know that Hal would use the labels if its available, i guess I'll stick with this option for the mean time. I don't really think configuring my fstab for this case would be very viable for me since it my portable hard drives that I'm trying to setup and having to manually invoke remounting fstab every time i plug something in would be a  little crazy.
i kinda  like using the uuid for the mount directory, it think kinda adds a little bit more security and robustness because it 's unlikely any other device would have the same uuid but they could quite easily have the same label.
polymetr wrote:
I have next settings:
1. Autofs :
auto.master:
/var/autofs/hal /etc/auto.hal --timeout=5
2. /etc/auto.hal:
#!/bin/sh
set -e
for volume in `hal-find-by-capability --capability autofs`; do
if [ "`basename $volume`" = "$1" ]; then
device=`hal-get-property --udi $volume --key block.device`
fstype=`hal-get-property --udi $volume --key volume.fstype`
fsopts=`hal-get-property --udi $volume --key volume.autofs.mount_opt
ions`
echo "-fstype=$fstype,$fsopts :$device"
exit
fi
done
3. /etc/hal/fdi/policy/hal-autofs-policy.fdi:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<!-- cleanup symlinks in /media if needed -->
<match key="info.udi" string="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer">
<append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-autofs-cleanup</append>
</match>
<!-- options below are used by automounter with /etc/auto.hal executable map -->
<match key="volume.fsusage" string="filesystem">
<match key="@info.parent:storage.hotpluggable" bool="true">
<!-- usb disks, mmc cards -->
<match key="volume.fstype" string="vfat">
<append key="info.capabilities" type="strlist">autofs</append>
<merge key="volume.autofs.mount_options" type="string">noatime,nosuid,nodev,noexec,gid=igor,uid=igor,fmask=133,dmask=022,codepage=866,iocharset=utf8,flush</merge>
</match>
<match key="volume.fstype" string="ext2">
<append key="info.capabilities" type="strlist">autofs</append>
<merge key="volume.autofs.mount_options" type="string">defaults,noatime,nosuid,nodev</merge>
</match>
</match>
<match key="@info.parent:storage.removable" bool="true">
<!-- CD/DVD discs, usb sticks formatted in iso9660 -->
<match key="volume.fstype" string="iso9660">
<append key="info.capabilities" type="strlist">autofs</append>
<merge key="volume.autofs.mount_options" type="string">ro,nosuid,nodev,unhide,iocharset=utf8,utf8</merge>
</match>
</match>
<!-- callouts to add/remove symlinks -->
<match key="info.capabilities" contains="autofs">
<append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-autofs</append>
<append key="info.callouts.remove" type="strlist">hal-autofs</append>
</match>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>
4. /usr/lib/hal/scripts/hal-autofs:
#!/bin/sh
key=`basename $UDI`
case $HALD_ACTION in
add)
while [ -h /media/$key ]; do sleep 0.1; done
ln -fs /var/autofs/hal/$key /media/$key
remove)
rm -f /media/$key
esac
/usr/lib/hal/scripts/hal-autofs-cleanup:
find -L /media -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type l | xargs -r rm
When I insert on example a flash disk I see in /media link:
volume_uuid_7B40_CFDC -> /var/autofs/hal/volume_uuid_7B40_CFDC
If I go in the volume_uuid_7B40_CFDC directory then the flash disk is being got mounted:
/dev/sdc1 on /var/autofs/hal/volume_uuid_7B40_CFDC type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,noatime,gid=1001,uid=1000,fmask=133,dmask=022,codepage=866,iocharset=utf8,flush)
wow thats quite a bit to churn through, but what it looks like you've had to completely rewrite the polices to invoke your custom "hal-autofs" script and clean up scripts for all the volume devices? very new to how hal is configured and operates. so I'm guessing that you had to make it call a custom script instead of using "hal-storage-mount" and the other scripts involved with the management of mounting and unmounting volumes? does this mean that "hal-storage-mount" can not take custom arguments or be configured to use the uuid for the mount directory's name instead of the label or the "disk"?
though the "hal-autofs" script seems strange, i don't see anywhere where it invokes mounting of the device but i do see that it makes a symbolic link from /var/autofs/hal/<device key> to /media/<device key> (done a little bit of research)so I'm guessing that I'll have to install autofs in order to achieve what I'm trying to do. but does that mean that autofs will mount automatically any and every storage volume and hal will just make a symbolic link to the /media directory when you call hal and say you want to use the volume even though its already mounted. Thats kinda risky isn't it unless i've misunderstood autofs workings having the volume mounted when you unplug the device isnt exactly best practice.....
Thanks guys this is providing some great insight