loop: add BLK_DEV_LOOP_MIN_COUNT=%i to allow distros 0 pre-allocated loop devices
Instead of unconditionally creating a fixed number of dead loop
devices which need to be investigated by storage handling services,
even when they are never used, we allow distros start with 0
loop devices and have losetup(8) and similar switch to the dynamic
/dev/loop-control interface instead of searching /dev/loop%i for free
devices.
Signed-off-by: Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@vrfy.org>
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <jaxboe@fusionio.com>
diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
index 4ca9389..c328511 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -1340,9 +1340,12 @@
it is equivalent to "nosmp", which also disables
the IO APIC.
- max_loop= [LOOP] Maximum number of loopback devices that can
- be mounted
- Format: <1-256>
+ max_loop= [LOOP] The number of loop block devices that get
+ (loop.max_loop) unconditionally pre-created at init time. The default
+ number is configured by BLK_DEV_LOOP_MIN_COUNT. Instead
+ of statically allocating a predefined number, loop
+ devices can be requested on-demand with the
+ /dev/loop-control interface.
mcatest= [IA-64]