From: Kay Sievers Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:08:04 +0000 (+0200) Subject: loop: add management interface for on-demand device allocation X-Git-Tag: v3.1-rc3~9^2~18 X-Git-Url: http://git.openpandora.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=770fe30a46a12b6fb6b63fbe1737654d28e84844;p=pandora-kernel.git loop: add management interface for on-demand device allocation Loop devices today have a fixed pre-allocated number of usually 8. The number can only be changed at module init time. To find a free device to use, /dev/loop%i needs to be scanned, and all devices need to be opened until a free one is possibly found. This adds a new /dev/loop-control device node, that allows to dynamically find or allocate a free device, and to add and remove loop devices from the running system: LOOP_CTL_ADD adds a specific device. Arg is the number of the device. It returns the device i or a negative error code. LOOP_CTL_REMOVE removes a specific device, Arg is the number the device. It returns the device i or a negative error code. LOOP_CTL_GET_FREE finds the next unbound device or allocates a new one. No arg is given. It returns the device i or a negative error code. The loop kernel module gets automatically loaded when /dev/loop-control is accessed the first time. The alias specified in the module, instructs udev to create this 'dead' device node, even when the module is not loaded. Example: cfd = open("/dev/loop-control", O_RDWR); # add a new specific loop device err = ioctl(cfd, LOOP_CTL_ADD, devnr); # remove a specific loop device err = ioctl(cfd, LOOP_CTL_REMOVE, devnr); # find or allocate a free loop device to use devnr = ioctl(cfd, LOOP_CTL_GET_FREE); sprintf(loopname, "/dev/loop%i", devnr); ffd = open("backing-file", O_RDWR); lfd = open(loopname, O_RDWR); err = ioctl(lfd, LOOP_SET_FD, ffd); Cc: Tejun Heo Cc: Karel Zak Signed-off-by: Kay Sievers Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe --- Reading git-diff-tree failed