diff --git a/configuration/activate-configuration.sh b/configuration/activate-configuration.sh
index ca2f6963d76..680af9570ec 100644
--- a/configuration/activate-configuration.sh
+++ b/configuration/activate-configuration.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ export PATH=/empty
 for i in @path@; do PATH=$PATH:$i/bin:$i/sbin; done
 
 
+# Needed by some programs.
+ln -sfn /proc/self/fd /dev/fd
+
+
 # Set up the statically computed bits of /etc.
 staticEtc=/etc/static
 rm -f $staticEtc
diff --git a/configuration/options.nix b/configuration/options.nix
index ffcd0b61f9e..ead48d030aa 100644
--- a/configuration/options.nix
+++ b/configuration/options.nix
@@ -149,8 +149,7 @@
       }
       { mountPoint = "/data";
         device = "/dev/hda2";
-        filesystem = "ext3";
-        autoMount = true;
+        fsType = "ext3";
         options = "data=journal";
       }
     ];
@@ -160,14 +159,11 @@
       <literal>boot.autoDetectRootDevice</literal> is not set.  Each
       entry in the list is an attribute set with the following fields:
       <literal>mountPoint</literal>, <literal>device</literal>,
-      <literal>filesystem</literal> (a file system type recognised by
+      <literal>fsType</literal> (a file system type recognised by
       <command>mount</command>; defaults to
-      <literal>\"auto\"</literal>), <literal>autoMount</literal> (a
-      boolean indicating whether the file system is mounted
-      automatically; defaults to <literal>true</literal>) and
-      <literal>options</literal> (the mount options passed to
-      <command>mount</command> using the <option>-o</option> flag;
-      defaults to <literal>\"\"</literal>).
+      <literal>\"auto\"</literal>), and <literal>options</literal>
+      (the mount options passed to <command>mount</command> using the
+      <option>-o</option> flag; defaults to <literal>\"defaults\"</literal>).
     ";
   }
 
diff --git a/upstart-jobs/filesystems.nix b/upstart-jobs/filesystems.nix
index 0c581db9634..7b3ffc4f4e4 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/filesystems.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/filesystems.nix
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ let
   # !!! use XML
   mountPoints = map (fs: fs.mountPoint) fileSystems;
   devices = map (fs: fs.device) fileSystems;
+  fsTypes = map (fs: if fs ? fsType then fs.fsType else "auto") fileSystems;
+  optionss = map (fs: if fs ? options then fs.options else "defaults") fileSystems;
 
 in 
 
@@ -18,15 +20,23 @@ start on new-devices
 script
     mountPoints=(${toString mountPoints})  
     devices=(${toString devices})
+    fsTypes=(${toString fsTypes})
+    optionss=(${toString optionss})
 
     for ((n = 0; n < \${#mountPoints[*]}; n++)); do
         mountPoint=\${mountPoints[$n]}
         device=\${devices[$n]}
+        fsType=\${fsTypes[$n]}
+        options=\${optionss[$n]}
 
         # If $device is already mounted somewhere else, unmount it first.
         prevMountPoint=$(cat /proc/mounts | grep \"^$device \" | sed 's|^[^ ]\\+ \\+\\([^ ]\\+\\).*|\\1|')
 
-        if test \"$prevMountPoint\" = \"$mountPoint\"; then continue; fi
+        if test \"$prevMountPoint\" = \"$mountPoint\"; then
+             echo \"remounting $device on $mountPoint\"
+             ${utillinux}/bin/mount -t \"$fsType\" -o remount,\"$options\" \"$device\" \"$mountPoint\" || true
+             continue
+        fi
 
         if test -n \"$prevMountPoint\"; then
             echo \"unmount $device from $prevMountPoint\"
@@ -36,7 +46,7 @@ script
         echo \"mounting $device on $mountPoint\"
 
         mkdir -p \"$mountPoint\" || true
-        ${utillinux}/bin/mount \"$device\" \"$mountPoint\" || true
+        ${utillinux}/bin/mount -t \"$fsType\" -o \"$options\" \"$device\" \"$mountPoint\" || true
     done
 
 end script