diff --git a/libcontainer/container.go b/libcontainer/container.go
index c7cac35..1e032c0 100644
--- a/libcontainer/container.go
+++ b/libcontainer/container.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ type Container struct {
 	Networks         []*Network      `json:"networks,omitempty"`          // nil for host's network stack
 	Cgroups          *cgroups.Cgroup `json:"cgroups,omitempty"`           // cgroups
 	Context          Context         `json:"context,omitempty"`           // generic context for specific options (apparmor, selinux)
-	Mounts           []Mount         `json:"mounts,omitempty"`
+	Mounts           Mounts          `json:"mounts,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Network defines configuration for a container's networking stack
@@ -38,11 +38,22 @@ type Network struct {
 	Mtu     int     `json:"mtu,omitempty"`
 }
 
-// Bind mounts from the host system to the container
-//
-type Mount struct {
-	Source      string `json:"source"`      // Source path, in the host namespace
-	Destination string `json:"destination"` // Destination path, in the container
-	Writable    bool   `json:"writable"`
-	Private     bool   `json:"private"`
+type Mounts []Mount
+
+func (s Mounts) OfType(t string) Mounts {
+	out := Mounts{}
+	for _, m := range s {
+		if m.Type == t {
+			out = append(out, m)
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+type Mount struct {
+	Type        string `json:"type,omitempty"`
+	Source      string `json:"source,omitempty"`      // Source path, in the host namespace
+	Destination string `json:"destination,omitempty"` // Destination path, in the container
+	Writable    bool   `json:"writable,omitempty"`
+	Private     bool   `json:"private,omitempty"`
 }
diff --git a/libcontainer/nsinit/mount.go b/libcontainer/nsinit/mount.go
index e4869a0..ee48032 100644
--- a/libcontainer/nsinit/mount.go
+++ b/libcontainer/nsinit/mount.go
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ import (
 // default mount point flags
 const defaultMountFlags = syscall.MS_NOEXEC | syscall.MS_NOSUID | syscall.MS_NODEV
 
+type mount struct {
+	source string
+	path   string
+	device string
+	flags  int
+	data   string
+}
+
 // setupNewMountNamespace is used to initialize a new mount namespace for an new
 // container in the rootfs that is specified.
 //
@@ -33,7 +41,7 @@ func setupNewMountNamespace(rootfs, console string, container *libcontainer.Cont
 	if err := system.Mount(rootfs, rootfs, "bind", syscall.MS_BIND|syscall.MS_REC, ""); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("mouting %s as bind %s", rootfs, err)
 	}
-	if err := mountSystem(rootfs, container.Context["mount_label"]); err != nil {
+	if err := mountSystem(rootfs, container); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("mount system %s", err)
 	}
 	if err := setupBindmounts(rootfs, container.Mounts); err != nil {
@@ -183,19 +191,8 @@ func setupConsole(rootfs, console string, mountLabel string) error {
 
 // mountSystem sets up linux specific system mounts like sys, proc, shm, and devpts
 // inside the mount namespace
-func mountSystem(rootfs string, mountLabel string) error {
-	for _, m := range []struct {
-		source string
-		path   string
-		device string
-		flags  int
-		data   string
-	}{
-		{source: "proc", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "proc"), device: "proc", flags: defaultMountFlags},
-		{source: "sysfs", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "sys"), device: "sysfs", flags: defaultMountFlags},
-		{source: "shm", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "dev", "shm"), device: "tmpfs", flags: defaultMountFlags, data: label.FormatMountLabel("mode=1777,size=65536k", mountLabel)},
-		{source: "devpts", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "dev", "pts"), device: "devpts", flags: syscall.MS_NOSUID | syscall.MS_NOEXEC, data: label.FormatMountLabel("newinstance,ptmxmode=0666,mode=620,gid=5", mountLabel)},
-	} {
+func mountSystem(rootfs string, container *libcontainer.Container) error {
+	for _, m := range newSystemMounts(rootfs, container.Context["mount_label"], container.Mounts) {
 		if err := os.MkdirAll(m.path, 0755); err != nil && !os.IsExist(err) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("mkdirall %s %s", m.path, err)
 		}
@@ -249,8 +246,8 @@ func remountSys() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func setupBindmounts(rootfs string, bindMounts []libcontainer.Mount) error {
-	for _, m := range bindMounts {
+func setupBindmounts(rootfs string, bindMounts libcontainer.Mounts) error {
+	for _, m := range bindMounts.OfType("bind") {
 		var (
 			flags = syscall.MS_BIND | syscall.MS_REC
 			dest  = filepath.Join(rootfs, m.Destination)
@@ -274,3 +271,16 @@ func setupBindmounts(rootfs string, bindMounts []libcontainer.Mount) error {
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+func newSystemMounts(rootfs, mountLabel string, mounts libcontainer.Mounts) []mount {
+	systemMounts := []mount{
+		{source: "proc", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "proc"), device: "proc", flags: defaultMountFlags},
+		{source: "shm", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "dev", "shm"), device: "tmpfs", flags: defaultMountFlags, data: label.FormatMountLabel("mode=1777,size=65536k", mountLabel)},
+		{source: "devpts", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "dev", "pts"), device: "devpts", flags: syscall.MS_NOSUID | syscall.MS_NOEXEC, data: label.FormatMountLabel("newinstance,ptmxmode=0666,mode=620,gid=5", mountLabel)},
+	}
+
+	if len(mounts.OfType("sysfs")) == 1 {
+		systemMounts = append(systemMounts, mount{source: "sysfs", path: filepath.Join(rootfs, "sys"), device: "sysfs", flags: defaultMountFlags})
+	}
+	return systemMounts
+}