[dm-devel] [PATCH 2.6.20] updated dm-loop patch

[Bryn M. Reeves]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

This is a revised version of the device mapper loop target. The patch
applies to 2.6.20, but you'll also need the dm-bio-list-helpers patch
posted earlier.

This release  adds a number of features and removes some of the
limitations of the previous patch:

- - merge Heinz's lookup work & fs I/O support
- - rework allocation for the extent map & extents
- - reorganise context data structures
- - fallback from sparse file detection

* dm-loop can now support files with an arbitrary number of extents
(limited only by available memory) as well as networked file systems and
device-backed files containing holes (sparse files).

* Performance should be much better for large/fragmented backing files.
The old linear code has been replaced with a binary search and we no
longer allocate huge chunks of kernel memory for the extent table.

* Table format is unchanged: <loop path> <offset>, for e.g:

	0 2048 loop /data/img0 0

If you are using a recent version of dmsetup you can symlink it to
either 'dmlosetup' or 'losetup' and use it in much the same way as the
regular losetup.

This version has been tested on ext2/3, NFS and SAMBA. Earlier versions
of the block mapping code have also been tested with XFS, JFS & reiserfs
- - there shouldn't be any problems here, but please report any unexpected
behavior.

Please give the new patch a try and post any problem reports / feedback.

Thanks!

Bryn.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFFyGgP6YSQoMYUY94RAjuYAJ9ieZecyKs6HnhBtvnMfQqaAoXsJACfX+cW
z839Ouwlw4XLHm8SQiugAJs=
=u3wY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: dm-loop.patch
Type: text/x-patch
Size: 24546 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/dm-devel/attachments/20070206/16cbb28e/attachment.bin>