1Here's how I test new LVM2 builds without interfering with the stable 2LVM2 that is running the LV's on my development box. 3 41) Create a set of loopback devices. 5 62) Create a new directory to contain the LVM2 configuration files for 7 this setup. (I use /etc/lvm_loops) 8 93) Write a suitable lvm.conf file, this goes in the directory you just 10 created. eg, my /etc/lvm_loops/lvm.conf looks like: 11 12 log { 13 file="/tmp/lvm2_loop.log" 14 level=9 15 verbose=0 16 overwrite=1 17 } 18 19 devices { 20 scan = "/dev" 21 filter = ["a/loop/", "r/.*/"] 22 } 23 24 25 The important thing to note is the devices section which makes sure 26 that only the loopback devices are considered for LVM2 operations. 27 284) When you want to use this test setup just set the environment 29 variable LVM_SYSTEM_DIR to point to your config directory 30 (/etc/lvm_loops in my case). 31 325) It's a good idea to do a vgscan to initialise the filters: 33 34 export LVM_SYSTEM_DIR=/etc/lvm_loops 35 ./lvm vgscan 36 37 where ./lvm is the new build of LVM2 that I'm trying out. 38 397) Test away. Make sure that you are explicit about which lvm 40 executable you want to execute (eg, ./lvm if you are in 41 LVM2/tools). 42