autofsd

The autofsd command line tool is a utility used for managing automounting on macOS systems. It is primarily responsible for managing the AutoFS subsystem, which allows for on-demand mounting of file systems.

Using autofsd, system administrators can control the automatic mounting and unmounting of file systems, such as network shares or removable media, without requiring manual intervention. The tool ensures that file systems are only mounted when they are needed and unmounted when they are no longer in use.

autofsd also provides options for specifying different mount points, configuring mount options, and handling authentication for secure connections. It can be configured through various configuration files, such as /etc/auto_master and /etc/auto_home, which define the file systems to be automatically mounted.

In addition to managing file system mounting, autofsd can also log information about mount events and errors, allowing system administrators to troubleshoot any issues.

To use autofsd, it is typically invoked as a daemon or a service by the system, automatically starting up during system boot. However, it can also be controlled manually using the autofsd command-line interface for testing and debugging purposes.