Re: poor feedback when misusing `losetup`

Benno Schulenberg <[email protected]> Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:34:10 +0200

Newsgroups	org.kernel.vger.util-linux
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Op 09-10-2025 om 11:44 schreef Benno Schulenberg:
>    # losetup loop2
>    losetup: loop2: failed to use device: No such device
> 
> It results that when setting up a loop device, one can use the short
> name, but when doing anything else, one needs to give the full path

Sorry, I was using the system-installed `losetup` -- the `./losetup`
from git accepts the plain name just fine.


>    # losetup -d /dev/loop2
>    # losetup -d /dev/loop2
>    losetup: /dev/loop2: detach failed: No such device or address
> 
> "No such device"?  So I request information about the device:
> 
>    # losetup /dev/loop2
>    losetup: /dev/loop2: No such file or directory

These inaccurate messages are still the case.  Are they seem even
more inaccurate when the user provides just the plain name (loop2)
and the error message mentions the full name (/dev/loop2).


Benno

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