topic Re: How to mount an ISO image file? in Operating System - Tru64 Unix

How to mount an ISO image file?

dkt — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:21:13 GMT

Hi

How to mount an ISO image file (not a CDROM device) in Tru64?

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

Venkatesh BL — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 23:15:30 GMT

I don't think its possible.

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

dkt — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 02:10:03 GMT

So, is it possible by using third party programs?

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

Eric van Dijken — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:30:55 GMT

Have you heard of any such "3rd party" programs?

I don't think they exist.

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

Michael Schulte zur Sur — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 06:35:51 GMT

Hi,

mount requires a block device, so a normal file would be excluded. Don't you have access to a cdrom or what is the reason for wanting to mount a normal file? What do you want to do with the image? Just extract the content? The only alternative I could think of is to create a raw partition and copy the image to that. However I am not sure, whether you will be able to mount it then.

greetings,

Michael

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

dkt — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:07:06 GMT

I don't have a cdrom for my 1U alphaserver.

Sometimes I need to access iso images.
Currently, one passible way is to use Tru64 as NFS client and another server which has cdrom or can mount iso files as NFS server.

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

Devesh Pant_1 — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 22:39:29 GMT

Your best bet is nfs mounts from another server which has a CDROM drive.
I do it that way.

thanks
DP

Re: How to mount an ISO image file?

kobylka — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 06:18:02 GMT

You can use File Looper v1.0.0 software product to create file loops, i.e. attach an iso file to a virtual block device special file for use with mount:

A demo run from File Looper on Tru64 V5.1B-3:

bash-4.3# sizer -v Compaq Tru64 UNIX V5.1B (Rev. 2650); Sat Dec 14 15:56:28 CET 2019 bash-4.3# bash-4.3# fl -v File looper version 1.0.0 on OSF/1 bash-4.3# bash-4.3# fl -h File looper syntax: $ fl -a <dev> <file> Attach file to device. $ fl -d <dev> Detach file from device. $ fl -l List attached files. $ fl -h Print help. $ fl -v Print version. For more info type man fl bash-4.3#

Pick .iso file to loop mount:

bash-4.3# ls -l debian-10.8.0-mips-netinst.iso -rwxr-xr-x 1 root system 294803456 Mar 30 12:37 debian-10.8.0-mips-netinst.iso bash-4.3#

Attach iso file to a device:

bash-4.3# fl -a /dev/loop/debianiso ./debian-10.8.0-mips-netinst.iso bash-4.3#

Mount device:

bash-4.3# mount -t cdfs /dev/loop/debianiso /mnt/CDROM bash-4.3#

Use mounted filesystem (access, read, copy):

bash-4.3# ls -l /mnt/CDROM total 98 dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 .disk -r--r--r-- 1 root system 8158 Feb 6 14:40 README.html -r--r--r-- 1 root system 291 Mar 4 2017 README.mirrors.html -r--r--r-- 1 root system 86 Mar 4 2017 README.mirrors.txt -r--r--r-- 1 root system 4816 Feb 6 14:40 README.txt dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 css lr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 1 Feb 6 14:40 debian -> . dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 dists dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 doc dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 firmware dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 install -r--r--r-- 1 root system 69760 Feb 6 14:40 md5sum.txt dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 4096 Feb 6 14:40 pics dr-xr-xr-x 1 root system 2048 Feb 6 14:40 pool bash-4.3#

Unmount when done:

bash-4.3# umount /mnt/CDROM bash-4.3#

List loop attachments:

bash-4.3# fl -l /dev/loop/debianiso: /usr/users/root/debian-10.8.0-mips-netinst.iso (294803456 bytes) bash-4.3#

Detach file from device:

bash-4.3# fl -d /dev/loop/debianiso bash-4.3#

Verify:

bash-4.3# fl -l INFO: No loops attached bash-4.3#

And that's all!

Hopefully it may help sysadmins by bringing useful functionality to these systems.

Currently, only the cdfs file system is supported (i.e. only cdfs can be mounted through the virtual device special file created). This is enough to mount any iso file created on Windows or Linux (for example using mkisofs) and makes interoperation a lot easier than before.

File Looper is proprietary software and needs a per-node license to be used. Regular purchase price for a license is 49,95 Euro.

If you are interested, please contact me by pm or directly at truhobbyist@gmail.com and I'll happily guide you through the setup process.

Kind regards

Kobylka