[dm-devel] [PATCH] kpartx: Add -P option for partition scanning

[Ritika Srivastava]

On 3/3/22, 2:57 AM, "Martin Wilck" wrote:

    > I agree. kpartx is a tool for creating linear dm mappings that behave
    > roughly like partitions. And it should stay that way. We (made the
    > mistake to) add convenience functionality to setup loop devices when
    > kpartx is called with a regular file argument. That doesn't mean that
    > kpartx is a generic tool for handling loop devices or partition
    > devices. We should stick to the "do one thing, do it right" philosophy
    > here.

    > TBH, he usage "kpartx -av /some/file" just to create the loop device,
    > if the file has no partition table, looks like an abuse to me. I
    > wouldn't recommend to rely on that behavior. It might change in the
    > future.

Thank you for clarifying this.
I was under the impression that since kpartx supports loop device creation,  
it may as well support partition scanning functionality - just like losetup does.

Will keep this in mind and be wary about using kpartx -a to create loop device.
Thank you, Ben and Martin, for your review.

Thanks,
Ritika