SHFS 0.35 review

Shfs is a simple and easy to use Linux kernel module which allows you to mount remote filesystems using a plain shell (ssh) connectio

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 0K Developer: Miroslav Spousta

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Shfs is a simple and easy to use Linux kernel module which allows you to mount remote filesystems using a plain shell (ssh) connection.

When using shfs, you can access all remote files just like the local ones, only the access is governed through the transport security of ssh.

Here are some key features of "SHFS":
file cache for access speedup
perl and shell code for the remote (server) side
could preserve uid/gid (root connection)
number of remote host platforms (Linux, Solaris, Cygwin, ...)
Linux kernel 2.4.10+ and 2.6
arbitrary command used for connection (instead of ssh)
persistent connection (reconnect after ssh dies)


Installation

Shfs stands for SHell File System. It consists of simple Linux kernel module (similar to smbfs, ftpfs or ncpfs) and a userspace mount utility. The general usage:

$ shfsmount user@host /local/path
user@host password:
$ cd /local/path

Usage

The shfsmount command has a number of options, please refer to the manpage for a more detailed description.

shfsmount was designed to have the same interface as the mount command. make install should have created the symlink /sbin/mount.shfs -> shfsmount so you will be able to call

mount -t shfs user@host /mnt

exactly as with other filesystems. You can even use an automounter to connect to a server automatically (think about using ssh keys).

If you would like all users to be able to mount (umount) remote dirs using shfs, set the suid bit on /usr/bin/shfsmount and shfsumount. Security checks are similar to smbmount.

Requirements:
Client side:

Linux 2.4.10+ (2.6) system
tar, gzip, make
C compiler (gcc) used while building your kernel (exactly the same version)

Remote (server) side:

shell and number of utilities (chmod, chgrp, cut, dd, expr, ln, ls, mkdir, touch, wc, ...)
or perl version 5+