shfs (Shell Filesystem) allows you, without installing any software on a remote host, to mount any part of the remote host’s directory tree on your system — assuming you have ssh access to that system.

This is brilliant, it makes it much easier to deal with work-at-home type situations (getting at shared office files without messing with a full-blown-vpn, or having to sync up two copies of all the files) as well as any time you have files on a server — hosting a website, for example. On your local box you can just do:

shfsmount user@webhost:/my/website/directory /home/user/website

and bingo, I’ve got my web hosting dir right there in /home/user/website.

I haven’t spent time beating it up yet, but I’ll be sure to. It certainly ‘works’ in the little time I’ve spent plinking at it. Incidentally, it works much better if you’ve got authorized keys going between the two servers — and if so, keychain is the stuff. All the convenience of passwordless ssh without the sick sinking feeling of having an actual passwordless key.

Nov 10, 03:47 PM − Posted in Tech