[PATCH nfs-utils 03/17] exportfs: remove obsolete legacy mode documentation from manpage

Jeff Layton
2026-03-16T15:16:56Z

The exportfs manpage described a "legacy mode" for 2.4 and earlier
kernels that used the nfsservctl() syscall to inject exports directly
into the kernel. This syscall was removed from the kernel in Linux 3.1
and the corresponding nfs-utils code was dropped long ago. Remove the
outdated text and simplify the description.
---
utils/exportfs/exportfs.man | 29 ++---------------------------
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)

diff --git a/utils/exportfs/exportfs.man b/utils/exportfs/exportfs.man
index 6d417a700340f050c0af5c8af848ebe8403f8379..af0e5571cef83d4f3de6915608b4871690a8853a 100644
--- a/utils/exportfs/exportfs.man
+++ b/utils/exportfs/exportfs.man
@@ -53,39 +53,14 @@ by using the
command.
.PP
.B exportfs
-and its partner program
-.B rpc.mountd
-work in one of two modes: a legacy mode which applies to 2.4 and
-earlier versions of the Linux kernel, and a new mode which applies to
-2.6 and later versions, providing the
-.B nfsd
-virtual filesystem has been mounted at
-.I /proc/fs/nfsd
-or
-.IR /proc/fs/nfs .
-On 2.6 kernels, if this filesystem is not mounted, the legacy mode is used.
-.PP
-In the new mode,
-.B exportfs
-does not give any information to the kernel, but provides it only to
+does not give any information to the kernel directly, but provides it
+only to
.B rpc.mountd
through the
.I /var/lib/nfs/etab
file.
.B rpc.mountd
then manages kernel requests for information about exports, as needed.
-.PP
-In the legacy mode,
-exports which identify a specific host, rather than a subnet or netgroup,
-are entered directly into the kernel's export table,
-as well as being written to
-.IR /var/lib/nfs/etab .
-Further, exports listed in
-.I /var/lib/nfs/rmtab
-which match a non host-specific export request will cause an
-appropriate export entry for the host given in
-.I rmtab
-to be added to the kernel's export table.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-d kind " or " \-\-debug kind

--
2.53.0