This part (located in read_initfile.c) is quite simple. Two functions are working together: the first (read_initfile()) goes through the initfile line by line (using a lineread function that allows (well, nearly) unlimited line lenghts. Lines starting with COMMENT_CHAR as well as empty lines are ignored, the others are passed to the second function (str2mentry()) that breaks them up into the pieces that fit into the structure that represents one device (struct mountentry as defined in typedef.h). After removing any comments each line is checked if enough entries exist to fill the structure. Be aware of the fact that the entries themselfs are not checked.