From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org Received: from plane.gmane.org ([80.91.229.3]:46771 "EHLO plane.gmane.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751999AbbANSFI (ORCPT ); Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:05:08 -0500 Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1YBSJU-0004aD-4g for util-linux@vger.kernel.org; Wed, 14 Jan 2015 19:05:04 +0100 Received: from dynamic-adsl-84-223-98-34.clienti.tiscali.it ([84.223.98.34]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 14 Jan 2015 19:05:04 +0100 Received: from lucio by dynamic-adsl-84-223-98-34.clienti.tiscali.it with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 14 Jan 2015 19:05:04 +0100 To: util-linux@vger.kernel.org From: Lucio Crusca Subject: [BUG] losetup: support for physical devices Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 18:59:58 +0100 Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Sender: util-linux-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: During a disaster recovery I found that losetup either 1. does not support creating loop devices that target physical devices. In this case I think there exists a compelling reason to support them (http://serverfault.com/questions/659484) and this bug report is a wishlist bug or 2. it does support physical devices, but it is an undocumented feature (at least in the manpage) and the warning it issues is misleading beacuse it makes you think it doesn't support them ("losetup: /dev/sdc2: warning: file smaller than 512 bytes, the loop device maybe be useless or invisible for system tools"). In this case this could be a documentation bug. I haven't tested which of the two possibilities is the real situation, but I'm pretty sure you already know. Thanks for your attention, Lucio.