In traditional monolithic system, the kernel keeps track of all mounts; the information is available through /proc/mounts (on Linux at least), and in a very similar form in /etc/mtab.

The Hurd on the other hand has a totally decentralized file system. There is no single entity involved in all mounts. Rather, only the parent file system to which a mountpoint (translator) is attached is involved. As a result, there is no central place keeping track of mounts.

The mtab translator has been implemented; see the discussion subpage for design considerations.