lofi(7D)                                                              Devices                                                             lofi(7D)

NAME

       lofi - Loopback file driver

DESCRIPTION

       The  lofi  file  driver  exports  a  file as a block device. Reads and writes to the block device are translated to reads and writes on the
       underlying file. This is useful when the file contains a file system image. Exporting it as a block device through the   lofi  file  driver
       allows  normal system utilities to operate on the image through the block device (like fstyp(1M)fsck(1M), and mount(1M). This is useful for
       accessing CD-ROM and FAT floppy images. See lofiadm(1M) for examples.

       File block device entries are contained in /dev/lofi, while /dev/rlofi contains the character (or raw) device entries. Entries are  in  the
       form  of   decimal  numbers which are assigned through lofiadm(1M). When created, these device entries are owned by root, in group sys, and
       have permissions 0600. While ownership, group, and permission settings can be altered, there are possible ramifications.   See  lofiadm(1M)
       for more information.

FILES

       /dev/lofictl

           Master control device

       /dev/lofi/n

           Block device for file n

       /dev/rlofi/n

           Character device for file n

       /kernel/drv/lofi

           32-bit driver

       /kernel/drv/lofi.conf

           Driver configuration file. (Should not be altered.)

       /kernel/drv/sparcv9/lofi

           64-bit driver

ATTRIBUTES

       See  attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         |      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability                 |SUNWcsr, SUNWcarx.u          |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       lofiadm(1M), fsck(1M), fstyp(1M), mount(1M), newfs(1M), attributes(5), lofs(7FS)

NOTES

       Just  as  you  would  not directly access a disk device that has mounted file systems, you should not access a file associated with a block
       device except through the lofi file driver.

       For compatability purposes, a raw device is also exported along with the block device. For example, newfs(1M) requires one.

SunOS 5.10                                                          30 Jul 1999                                                           lofi(7D)