Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
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%sccs.include.redist.man%

@(#)lo.4 6.5 (Berkeley) 06/23/90

C 5 lo - software loopback network interface pseudo-device loop The loop interface is a software loopback mechanism which may be used for performance analysis, software testing, and/or local communication. As with other network interfaces, the loopback interface must have network addresses assigned for each address family with which it is to be used. These addresses may be set or changed with the SIOCSIFADDR ioctl. The loopback interface should be the last interface configured, as protocols may use the order of configuration as an indication of priority. The loopback should never be configured first unless no hardware interfaces exist. lo%d: can't handle af%d. The interface was handed a message with addresses formatted in an unsuitable address family; the packet was dropped. intro(4), inet(4), ns(4) Previous versions of the system enabled the loopback interface automatically, using a nonstandard Internet address (127.1). Use of that address is now discouraged; a reserved host address for the local network should be used instead.