losetup (8)
NAME
losetup - set up and control loop devicesSYNOPSIS
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
Print the name of the first unused loop device:
losetup -f
Set up a loop device:
losetup [-o offset] [--sizelimit 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.
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.
- -c, --set-capacity loopdev
- Force the loop driver to reread the size of the file associated with the specified loop device.
- -d, --detach loopdev...
- Detach the file or device associated with the specified loop device(s).
- -D, --detach-all
- Detach all associated loop devices.
- -f, --find
- Find the first unused loop device. If a file argument is present, use the found device as loop device. Otherwise, just print its name.
- -j, --associated file
- Show the status of all loop devices associated with the given file.
- -J, --json
-
- Use JSON format for --list output.
- -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 --json and --raw.
- -n, --noheadings
- Don't print headings for --list output format.
- -o, --offset offset
- The data start is moved offset bytes into the specified file or device.
- -O, --output columns
- Specify the columns that are to be printed for the --list output.
- -P, --partscan
- Force the kernel to scan the partition table on a newly created loop device.
- --raw
- Use the raw --list output format.
- -r, --read-only
- Set up a read-only loop device.
- --sizelimit size
- The data end is set to no more than size bytes after the data start.
- --show
- Display the name of the assigned loop device if the -f option and a file argument are present.
- -v, --verbose
- Verbose mode.
- -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=1MiB 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.