> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://davidjosearaujo.gitbook.io/notes-mcs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://davidjosearaujo.gitbook.io/notes-mcs/secure-execution-environments/linux-kernel-namespaces/mount-namespace.md).

# Mount namespace

**Mount namespaces provide isolation of the list of mount points seen by the processes in each namespace instance**. The processes in each of the mount namespace instances will see distinct single-directory hierarchies.

The views provided by the /proc/\[pid])/mounts, mountinfo, and mountstats files correspond to the mount namespace in which the process with the PID \[pid] resides.

If a namespace is created using a **clone**, the mount point list of the child's namespace is a **copy of the mount point list in the parent's namespace**. If it is created using **unshare**, the mount point list of the new namespace is a **copy of the mount point list in the caller's previous mount namespace**.

A file system includes many mounts.

* Namely / is usually mounted on a storage device.

A new mount namespace allows processes in inner namespaces to change mount points without affecting outer namespaces.

This is beneficial to mount entire file systems to different devices or even files.

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