dump and ext3

[Malcolm Kay]

On Saturday 03 July 2004 01:29, Keith Morse wrote:
> 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.

Thanks, with your help I've found it in the man pages. It sounds like what I 
was thinking of.

I did see an earlier epistle from you on this but unfortunately for my limited
experience with linux it was a bit brief and didn't lead me to finding the 
information.

Again many thanks,

Malcolm