@@ -624,6 +624,7 @@ func (container *Container) Start() (err error) {

 	// Create the requested volumes if they don't exist

 	for volPath := range container.Config.Volumes {

 		volPath = path.Clean(volPath)

+		volIsDir := true

 		// Skip existing volumes

 		if _, exists := container.Volumes[volPath]; exists {

 			continue

@@ -638,6 +639,16 @@ func (container *Container) Start() (err error) {

 			if strings.ToLower(bindMap.Mode) == "rw" {

 				srcRW = true

 			}

+			if file, err := os.Open(bindMap.SrcPath); err != nil {

+				return err

+			} else {

+				defer file.Close()

+				if stat, err := file.Stat(); err != nil {

+					return err

+				} else {

+					volIsDir = stat.IsDir()

+				}

+			}

 			// Otherwise create an directory in $ROOT/volumes/ and use that

 		} else {

@@ -658,8 +669,30 @@ func (container *Container) Start() (err error) {

 		container.VolumesRW[volPath] = srcRW

 		// Create the mountpoint

 		rootVolPath := path.Join(container.RootfsPath(), volPath)

-		if err := os.MkdirAll(rootVolPath, 0755); err != nil {

-			return err

+		if volIsDir {

+			if err := os.MkdirAll(rootVolPath, 0755); err != nil {

+				return err

+			}

+		}

+

+		volPath = path.Join(container.RootfsPath(), volPath)

+		if _, err := os.Stat(volPath); err != nil {

+			if os.IsNotExist(err) {

+				if volIsDir {

+					if err := os.MkdirAll(volPath, 0755); err != nil {

+						return err

+					}

+				} else {

+					if err := os.MkdirAll(path.Dir(volPath), 0755); err != nil {

+						return err

+					}

+					if f, err := os.OpenFile(volPath, os.O_CREATE, 0755); err != nil {

+						return err

+					} else {

+						f.Close()

+					}

+				}

+			}

 		}

 		// Do not copy or change permissions if we are mounting from the host

@@ -1257,6 +1257,13 @@ func TestBindMounts(t *testing.T) {

 	if _, err := runContainer(eng, r, []string{"-v", fmt.Sprintf("%s:.", tmpDir), "_", "ls", "."}, nil); err == nil {

 		t.Fatal("Container bind mounted illegal directory")

 	}

+

+	// test mount a file

+	runContainer(eng, r, []string{"-v", fmt.Sprintf("%s/holla:/tmp/holla:rw", tmpDir), "_", "sh", "-c", "echo -n 'yotta' > /tmp/holla"}, t)

+	content := readFile(path.Join(tmpDir, "holla"), t) // Will fail if the file doesn't exist

+	if content != "yotta" {

+		t.Fatal("Container failed to write to bind mount file")

+	}

 }

 // Test that -volumes-from supports both read-only mounts