LOSETUP (8)
set up and control loop devices
SYNOPSIS
l
losetup
[
-e
encryption
] [
-o
offset
]
loop_device file
losetup
[
-d
]
loop_device
b
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
loop_device argument is given, the status of the corresponding loop
device is shown.
OPTIONS
detach the file or device associated with the specified loop device.
enable data encryption. The following keywords are recognized:
use no encryption (default).
use a simple XOR encryption.
use DES encryption. DES encryption is only available if the optional
DES package has been added to the kernel. DES encryption uses an additional
start value that is used to protect passwords against dictionary
attacks.
the data start is moved offset bytes into the specified file or
device.
FILES
/dev/loop0,/dev/loop1,... loop devices (major=7)
EXAMPLE
dd if=/dev/zero of=/file bs=1k count=100
losetup -e des /dev/loop0 /file
Password:
Init (up to 16 hex digits):
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/loop0 100
mount -t ext2 /dev/loop0 /mnt
...
umount /dev/loop0
losetup -d /dev/loop0
If you are using the loadable module you may remove the module with
the command
RESTRICTION
DES encryption is painfully slow. On the other hand, XOR is terribly weak.
AUTHORS
Original version: Theodore Ts'o <tytso@athena.mit.edu>
Maintained by: Werner Almesberger <almesber@bernina.ethz.ch>
Original DES by: Eric Young <eay@psych.psy.uq.oz.au>
Modularized and updated 28-5-94: Mitch DSouza <m.dsouza@mrc-apu.cam.ac.uk>
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