bionic (8) losetup.8.gz

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NAME

       losetup - set up and control loop devices

SYNOPSIS

       Get info:

            losetup [loopdev]

            losetup -l [-a]

            losetup -j file [-o offset]

       Detach a loop device:

            losetup -d loopdev...

       Detach all associated loop devices:

            losetup -D

       Set up a loop device:

            losetup [-o offset] [--sizelimit size] [--sector-size size]
                    [-Pr] [--show] -f|loopdev file

       Resize a loop device:

            losetup -c loopdev

DESCRIPTION

       losetup  is  used  to associate loop devices with regular files or block devices, to detach loop devices,
       and to query the status of a loop device.  If only the loopdev argument  is  given,  the  status  of  the
       corresponding loop device is shown.  If no option is given, all loop devices are shown.

       Note  that  the old output format (i.e., losetup -a) with comma-delimited strings is deprecated in favour
       of the --list output format.

       It's possible to create more independent loop devices for the same  backing  file.   This  setup  may  be
       dangerous,  can  cause data loss, corruption and overwrites.  Use --nooverlap with --find during setup to
       avoid this problem.

OPTIONS

       The size and  offset  arguments  may  be  followed  by  the  multiplicative  suffixes  KiB  (=1024),  MiB
       (=1024*1024), and so on for GiB, TiB, PiB, EiB, ZiB and YiB (the "iB" is optional, e.g., "K" has the same
       meaning as "KiB") or the suffixes KB (=1000), MB (=1000*1000), and so on for GB, TB, PB, EB, ZB and YB.

       -a, --all
              Show the status of all loop devices.  Note that not all information  is  accessible  for  non-root
              users.  See also --list.  The old output format (as printed without --list) is deprecated.

       -d, --detach loopdev...
              Detach the file or device associated with the specified loop device(s). Note that since Linux v3.7
              kernel uses "lazy device destruction".  The detach operation does not return EBUSY  error  anymore
              if device is actively used by system, but it is marked by autoclear flag and destroyed later.

       -D, --detach-all
              Detach all associated loop devices.

       -f, --find [file]
              Find  the  first  unused loop device.  If a file argument is present, use the found device as loop
              device.  Otherwise, just print its name.

       --show Display the name of the assigned loop device if the -f option and a file argument are present.

       -L, --nooverlap
              Check for conflicts between loop devices to avoid situation when the same backing file  is  shared
              between  more  loop  devices. If the file is already used by another device then re-use the device
              rather than a new one. The option makes sense only with --find.

       -j, --associated file [-o offset]
              Show the status of all loop devices associated with the given file.

       -o, --offset offset
              The data start is moved offset bytes into the specified file or device.

       --sizelimit size
              The data end is set to no more than size bytes after the data start.

       -b, --sector-size size
              Set the logical sector size of the loop device in bytes (since Linux 4.14). The option may be used
              when  create a new loop device as well as stand-alone command to modify sector size of the already
              existing loop device.

       -c, --set-capacity loopdev
              Force the loop driver to reread the size of the file associated with the specified loop device.

       -P, --partscan
              Force the kernel to scan the partition table on a newly created loop device.

       -r, --read-only
              Set up a read-only loop device.

       --direct-io[=on|off]
              Enable or disable direct I/O for the backing file.  The optional argument can be either on or off.
              If the argument is omitted, it defaults to on.

       -v, --verbose
              Verbose mode.

       -l, --list
              If a loop device or the -a option is specified, print the default columns for either the specified
              loop device or all loop devices; the default is  to  print  info  about  all  devices.   See  also
              --output, --noheadings, --raw, and --json.

       -O, --output column[,column]...
              Specify the columns that are to be printed for the --list output.  Use --help to get a list of all
              supported columns.

       -n, --noheadings
              Don't print headings for --list output format.

       --raw  Use the raw --list output format.

       -J, --json
              Use JSON format for --list output.

       -V, --version
              Display version information and exit.

       -h, --help
              Display help text and exit.

ENCRYPTION

       Cryptoloop is no longer supported in favor of dm-crypt.  For more details see cryptsetup(8).

RETURN VALUE

       losetup returns 0 on success, nonzero on failure.  When losetup displays the status of a loop device,  it
       returns  1  if  the  device  is not configured and 2 if an error occurred which prevented determining the
       status of the device.

FILES

       /dev/loop[0..N]
              loop block devices

       /dev/loop-control
              loop control device

EXAMPLE

       The following commands can be used as an example of using the loop device.

              # dd if=/dev/zero of=~/file.img bs=1024k count=10
              # losetup --find --show ~/file.img
              /dev/loop0
              # mkfs -t ext2 /dev/loop0
              # mount /dev/loop0 /mnt
               ...
              # umount /dev/loop0
              # losetup --detach /dev/loop0

ENVIRONMENT

       LOOPDEV_DEBUG=all
              enables debug output.

AUTHORS

       Karel Zak <kzak@redhat.com>, based on the original version from Theodore Ts'o <tytso@athena.mit.edu>

AVAILABILITY

       The   losetup   command   is   part   of   the    util-linux    package    and    is    available    from
       https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.