Userspace FUSE for macOS

Unfortunately, like macFUSE, this is not really open source. The license appears to be BSD-like for non-commercial use only. Also like macFUSE, the project uses GitHub but the source code is not available.

https://github.com/macos-fuse-t/fuse-t/blob/main/License.txt

Re: Userspace FUSE for macOS

#5

Post by EdSchouten » Mon, Sep 05, 2022, 5:48 PM UTC

What a coincidence! For a project that I maintain (Buildbarn, a distributed build cluster for Bazel) I recently generalized all of the FUSE code I had into a generic VFS that can both be exposed over FUSE and NFSv4. The intent was the same: to provide a better out of the box experience on macOS. Here's a design doc I wrote on that change. Slight warning that it's written with some Buildbarn knowledge in mind.

https://github.com/buildbarn/bb-adrs/blob/master/0009-nfsv4....

Fortunately, fuse-t doesn't make any of my work unnecessary. Buildbarn uses go-fuse, which talks to the FUSE character directly instead of using libfuse. fuse-t would thus not be a drop-in replacement. Phew!

PS: A bit unfortunate that fuse-t isn't Open Source. :-(

Re: Userspace FUSE for macOS

#6

Post by mdaniel » Mon, Sep 05, 2022, 5:49 PM UTC

concerned_ctzn wrote: post #3

https://github.com/macos-fuse-t/fuse-t

That "repo" appears to exist solely for housing the release artifacts, for those who came to the comments looking for "the goods"

Also, https://github.com/macos-fuse-t/fuse-t/blob/main/License.txt appears to be "playing lawyer"

Re: Userspace FUSE for macOS

#7

Post by keepquestioning » Mon, Sep 05, 2022, 5:50 PM UTC

freebeer2 wrote: post #2

A new project aims to deliver libfuse for mac without using kernel extensions.

Could this be done using DriverKit

Re: Userspace FUSE for macOS

#8

Post by mdaniel » Mon, Sep 05, 2022, 5:51 PM UTC

I don't know what's going on with the google.com/url encoding of the links on the submitted article

Also, one will want to be aware of the currently unsupported features https://github.com/macos-fuse-t/fuse-t/wiki#unsupported-feat...> since the submitted article appears to be aspirational

Re: Userspace FUSE for macOS

#9

Post by HHad3 » Mon, Sep 05, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

This is great! I hope that this project enables those many FUSE-related applications to return to Homebrew since an open-source FUSE provider is now available again.

I am curious though why a NFSv4 server was chosen over wrapping Apple's File Provider API [1], which seems to be the native method for providing virtual file systems from user space on macOS since macOS 11.5. After glancing over the API I guess it's because FPEs are too high-level to implement FUSE properly, but I'd be glad if you can share any details to satisfy my curiosity.

[1] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider

EDIT: Errata, I assumed it was open-source, but it is not. Too bad :( -- but at least this will eventually provide a more stable FUSE experience on macOS.

Re: Userspace FUSE for macOS

#10

Post by mdaniel » Mon, Sep 05, 2022, 5:54 PM UTC

keepquestioning wrote: post #7

freebeer2 wrote: post #2

A new project aims to deliver libfuse for mac without using kernel extensions.

Could this be done using DriverKit

linky: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/driverkit

> The drivers you build with DriverKit run in user space, rather than as kernel extensions, which improves system stability and security. You create your driver as an app extension and deliver it inside your existing app.

makes it seem like every consumer who wants to use something FUSE-y would have to ship their own impl, right?

and I shudder to think of the heartache required with signing or whatever Apple gatekeeping is going on nowadays