2.4.x-ac: No loop on tmpfs

2.4.x-ac: No loop on tmpfs

[Horst von Brand]

I don't know when this started (maybe it has been there forever...), but
you can't losetup(8) a loop device from a file on a tmpfs. [Yes, I _know_
this is an idiotic thing to do. But uniformity is nice...]

Here (Red Hat 7.1 + new kernel + random patches), /tmp is tmpfs, and
mkinitrd(8) won't work for this reason, so kernel upgrades fail.

Any fundamental reason for this behaviour, and should RH just use /var/tmp
or something else? Or is this a simple oversight of some sort?
-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                Usuario #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria              +56 32 654239
Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile                Fax:  +56 32 797513

Re: 2.4.x-ac: No loop on tmpfs

[Christoph Rohland]

Hi Horst,

On Mon, 29 Oct 2001, Horst von Brand wrote:
> Any fundamental reason for this behaviour, and should RH just use
> /var/tmp or something else? Or is this a simple oversight of some
> sort?

loop needs a feature that tmpfs - for fundamental design reasons -
does not support.

Greetings
		Christoph