MacFUSE implements a mechanism that makes it possible to implement a fully functional file system in a user-space program on Mac OS X (10.4 and above). It aims to be API-compliant with the FUSE (File-system in USErspace) mechanism that originated on Linux. Therefore, many existing FUSE file systems become readily usable on Mac OS X. That said, MacFUSE has numerous user- and developer-visible interfaces that are specific to Mac OS X. The core of MacFUSE is in a dynamically loadable kernel extension.

Although MacFUSE has a completely different kernel-level implementation from Linux FUSE, it supports the FUSE specification well enough that many popular FUSE file systems can be easily compiled and made to work on Mac OS X--often out of the box. Examples of file systems that are known to work and were once tested (to varying degrees) include sshfs, ntfs-3g (read/write NTFS), ftpfs (read/write FTP), wdfs (WebDAV), cryptofs, encfs, bindfs, unionfs, beaglefs (yes, including the entire Beagle paraphernalia), and so on.

Besides making many existing FUSE file systems available on Mac OS X, MacFUSE opens up a whole new set of opportunities for Macintosh developers, who can now put intuitive and innovative interfaces around all kinds of information. If you are not writing a cross-platform file system, do look into the Mac OS X specific features of the MacFUSE API. In addition to the Unix-oriented dynamic library (libfuse.dylib), MacFUSE includes a higher-level Objective-C framework (MacFUSE.framework) that makes file system development even easier.

To see some examples of MacFUSE at work, see the videos linked on the right.

We also have some exciting and useful file systems for you to download, such as sshfs, procfs, SpotlightFS, AccessibilityFS, and YouTubeFS.

Before opening new issues, please look at the Wiki, especially the FAQ and the HOWTO articles, to see if your problem is already discussed there. It would also be helpful to look at the current and past problems reported in the 'Issues' section.