What purpose does the 'mnt' namespace serve in Linux?

The 'mnt' namespace in Linux is specifically designed to manage and isolate access to filesystem mount points. When a new namespace is created, it allows for a clean environment where processes can have different view of the file system hierarchy. This means that within the 'mnt' namespace, a process can see its own set of mounted filesystems without being aware of the mounts made by other processes in different namespaces.

By using 'mnt' namespaces, system administrators and developers can customize the filesystem views for various applications or containers. This capability is particularly essential in containerized environments, such as those using Docker or Kubernetes, where each container needs to work with its own isolated filesystem to avoid conflicts with other containers.

This specific functionality differentiates 'mnt' from other namespaces, such as user namespaces (which deal with user and group IDs) or network namespaces (which control network interfaces and access). Thus, the correct answer highlights how 'mnt' namespaces map access to storage resources, establishing a controlled filesystem environment for processes within that namespace.