In summary

• Loop mounts — limited to files.
• Loop mounts with NBD and nbdkit — infinitely flexible.
• Lots of plugins, or write your own.
• Filesystem development and testing.
• Bridge between proprietary disk storage/hypervisors, and the free world.
• ⚠ Dangerous with untrusted disks — use libguestfs instead.

Get it

• nbdkit ≥ 1.8.3 available in major Linux distros.
• nbd client ≥ 3.18 and kernel ≥ 4.18 recommended.
• FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Haiku also supported as a server (but those don't have kernel loop clients).
• https://github.com/libguestfs/nbdkit
• This talk: http://git.annexia.org/?p=libguestfs-talks.git
• Presentation software: Tech Talk PSE 1.2

Any Questions?