Why is "umount" not named "unmount"?

[pytheas22]

I've always wondered why the "umount" command isn't "unmount" instead. Do any Unix veterans know if there's a reason, beyond saving a keystroke?

[CharlesA]

Thought you could use either commands.

EDIT: Scratch that. Just tried unmount and it asked if I meant "umount"

I use umount all the time, and don't even think about it anymore.

[pytheas22]

I don't remember any Linux distribution where "unmount" was recognized. I assume there's some historical reason for this, but I'd love to know what it is! I assume that if they were just looking to make the command faster to type, they would have used something like "umnt," so it doesn't make sense that they took out the first "n" just to save a keystroke.

[CharlesA]

Well I guess it kinda makes sense, since you mount drives with the mount command and unmount them with the umount command.

I did fine some old IBM documentation that said that umount/unmount were both usable. Maybe that's changed since then.

[lisati]

I did fine some old IBM documentation that said that umount/unmount were both usable. Maybe that's changed since then.

I've seen stranger. On an IBM mainframe I once used, the "F" command at the operator's console was an abbreviation for "modify", which in turn meant "pass the following text info to a job/program"

[lvleph]

I am going to guess that it has to do with saving space.

[rnerwein]

hi
if you want to call umount --> unmount too. use: sudo ln /bin/umount /bin/unmount
this will cost you only a entry in the directory ( because of the same inode ).
and about the reason why it's not called "unmount" --> umount is shorter to type
ciao

[bville09]

Maybe it was something to do with not being able to have the same two characters in a command, or maybe a command character limit or something?

Interesting thing, never gave much thought to it, but when I was first starting out with linux (and FreeBSD especially) I was extremely annoyed at why they didn't just name it "unmount" anyway. Seems like a lot more logical thing to have than "umount".

[maedox]

umount is faster to type than unmount. Just try it.

And I'm sure there are worse examples. Open a terminal and hit Tab a couple of times, then y and take a look.

[koostudios]

How much faster is unmount that umount... one character - maybe if you're doing it multiple times. I'm sorry but I'm very much intrigued about this umount thing I would laugh if it was simply a typo from ages ago that we're still using now.