losetup provides an -f option to discover an unused loop device. As implemented, it is racy. The problem is that -f prints the loop device to stdout only when used standalone. This means a script has to do: lodev=`losetup -f` losetup $lodev $filename ... which is racy if another script may be running. The syntax: lodev=`losetup -f $filename` ... doesn't work, because although it will set up the loop device for you (and it better do it atomically!), it never prints out the selected loop device for the script to use. -hpa - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe util-linux-ng" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
