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LO(4)			     Kernel Interfaces Manual			   LO(4)

NAME
     lo -- software loopback network interface

SYNOPSIS
     device loop

DESCRIPTION
     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 ad-
     dresses  assigned	for  each  address  family  with which it is to be used.
     These addresses may be set with the appropriate ioctl(2) commands for  cor-
     responding address families.  The loopback interface should be the last in-
     terface  configured,  as protocols may use the order of configuration as an
     indication of priority.  The loopback should never be configured first  un-
     less no hardware interfaces exist.

     If  the  transmit checksum offload capability flag is enabled on a loopback
     interface, checksums will not be generated by IP, UDP,  TCP,  or  SCTP  for
     packets sent on the interface.

     If  the  receive  checksum offload capability flag is enabled on a loopback
     interface, checksums will not be validated by IP, UDP,  TCP,  or  SCTP  for
     packets received on the interface.

     By  default,  both  receive and transmit checksum flags will be enabled, in
     order to avoid the overhead of checksumming for local  communication  where
     data  corruption is unlikely.  If transmit checksum generation is disabled,
     then validation should also be disabled in order  to  avoid  packets  being
     dropped due to invalid checksums.

DIAGNOSTICS
     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.

SEE ALSO
     inet(4), intro(4)

HISTORY
     The lo device appeared in 4.2BSD.	The current checksum generation and val-
     idation avoidance policy appeared in FreeBSD 8.0.

FreeBSD ports 15.1		  June 23, 2024 			   LO(4)

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