dump and ext3

[Keith Morse]

On Fri, 2 Jul 2004, Malcolm Kay wrote:

> > > Which brings up another issue. Under linux can I create and
> > > mount a file system within a file on an existing file system
> > > rather than on a separate disk partition? This would allow me
> > > to at least try a restore operation using the space available
> > > in the current file system.
> >
> > Look at mount --bind.  I think this does what I think you want.
> >
> 
> Not really; this is something different. I was looking for something
> like 'vnconfig' from BSD. With this I can create a fs of any type known
> to the operating system nested within a regular file.
> An extract from the man page->
> 
> SYNOPSIS
>      vnconfig [-cdeguvTZ] [-s option[,option...]] [-r option[,option...]]
>               [-S value] special_file [regular_file] [feature]
>      vnconfig -a [-cdeguv] [-s option] [-r option] [-f config_file]
> 
> DESCRIPTION
>      The vnconfig command configures and enables vnode pseudo disk devices.
>      The first form of the command will associate the special file
>      special_file with the regular file regular_file allowing the latter to be
>      accessed as though it were a disk.  Hence a regular file within the
>      filesystem can be used for swapping or can contain a filesystem that is
>      mounted in the name space.  If you want to use swap backing store for
>      your device instead of a file, you can leave regular_file out and specify
>      the size of the block device with the -S option.


I replied to Ed's email but it doesn't seem to have made it to the list. 
Or if it did I've already deleted it.


I'd create a file with dd to whatever size I need and then mount the file 
using the loopback option (-loop).  You'll need to put a file system on it 
also.