Filesystem in Userspace

FUSE is a user-friendly software that enables users to implement a fully functional filesystem in a userspace program. The installation process is simple for most projects as the whole FUSE package is included to simplify the installation process. However, in other cases or for those who want to test out the examples, FUSE must be installed first.

During the installation process, users must unpack and enter the following commands: "./configure make make install." If an error arises during installation, users can specify the location of the kernel source using the --with-kernel parameter.

Building the kernel module requires a configured kernel source tree to match the running kernel. If users build their own kernel, this is not an issue. However, if a precompiled kernel is used, the kernel headers need to be prepared before starting the FUSE build process.

Users have two options for this process. Firstly, a package containing the kernel headers for the kernel binary may be available in the distribution, such as on Debian where it's the kernel-headers-X.Y.Z package for kernel-image-X.Y.Z. Secondly, the kernel source can be prepared by extracting it to a chosen directory, copying the running kernel's config to .config at the top of the source tree, and then running make menuconfig, then make dep at the top of the source tree (only necessary on 2.4 kernels).

For 2.6 kernels, write access is required for some files in the kernel source tree. This is usually achieved by making .tmp_versions and .__modpost.cmd writable. Overall, FUSE is easy to install and use, making it a convenient and efficient choice for implementing a fully functional filesystem in a userspace program.