On 05/15/2021 07:18 AM, Thomas Schmitt wrote:
Hi,
Richard Owlett wrote:
I don't grok loop devices. [...]
Also the article I read evidently took advantage of "mount" being able to
loop mount without the loop option being explicitly referenced.
Yes. mount is smart enough to see that your "device" is a data file and
that it has to use a loop device.
A little test as superuser with already existing directory /mnt/iso:
# mount debian-10.6.0-amd64-netinst.iso /mnt/iso
mount: /dev/loop0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
# ls /mnt/iso
EFI
...
win32-loader.ini
So it used the existing /dev/loop0. If no idle loop device is available
then it will create a new one.
See in man mount the section
THE LOOP DEVICE
I wish to have the ISO's of all install DVDs on a dedicated
partition of my hard drive as a local repository.
You could mount them all, e.g. by a script which knows all their names
and the desired mount points. Each mount point would need its own line
in sources.list.
That raises a couple of questions.
IIRC there was a limit on the number of loop devices created {8?}.
Is there any default limit now?
Also, I notice the phrase "auto-destruction of loop devices".
That raises a red flag. Might I lose one (or more) of my loop devices
without some intentional explicit action by me?????
[snip discussion of extracting pool directories and possible uses of
xorriso for possible later discussion]
Thanks.
