# /net - what is it for?



## balanga (Feb 4, 2020)

Looking at The Handbook regarding directory structure, there is no mention of /net, but one is created when I install FreeBSD, although it didn't used to exist in earlier versions. I have no idea what purpose it serves.

Can anyone enlighten me?


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## SirDice (Feb 4, 2020)

```
% cat /etc/auto_master
# $FreeBSD: stable/12/usr.sbin/autofs/auto_master 337749 2018-08-14 13:52:08Z trasz $
#
# Automounter master map, see auto_master(5) for details.
#
/net            -hosts          -nobrowse,nosuid,intr
# When using the -media special map, make sure to edit devd.conf(5)
# to move the call to "automount -c" out of the comments section.
#/media         -media          -nosuid,noatime,autoro
#/-             -noauto
```


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## balanga (Feb 4, 2020)

Thanks for the explanation, but shouldn't it be mentioned in The Handbook  ?


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## getopt (Feb 4, 2020)

balanga said:


> but shouldn't it be mentioned in The Handbook ?


You are absolutely right that it *should *be mentioned in our great Handbook. Therefore you can look it up there:


			
				https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-nfs.html said:
			
		

> There is a special automounter map mounted on    /net.  When a file is accessed within    this directory, autofs(5) looks up the corresponding    remote mount and automatically mounts it.  For instance, an    attempt to access a file within    /net/foobar/usr would tell    automountd(8) to mount the /usr export from the host foobar.











						Chapter 31. Network Servers
					

This chapter covers some of the more frequently used network services on UNIX systems




					www.freebsd.org
				






balanga said:


> Can anyone enlighten me?


Your understanding of enlightenment is a passive one. It cannot be funneled in.


For advanced enlightenment to take place:

Try hard finding _yourself_ before going public.


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## laurentis (Feb 4, 2020)

/net is also mentioned in hier(7)


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