Ubuntu Wiki

• Launchpad Entry: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/pmount-uber-alles

• Created: 2005-10-28 by MrPantless

• Contributors: MrPantless

• Packages affected: pmount, nautilus, gnome-vfs

Summary

If pmount knew about things like FUSE, CIFS, NFS and so on, a huge category of gnome-vfs problems (in particular, applications that don't support gnome-vfs) would disappear in an instant.

Rationale

gnome-vfs provides access to many useful filesystem-like things such as CIFS and SFTP servers, as well as less exposed things such as compressed archive access (tarballs, zips, etc). Unfortunately, many apps do not use gnome-vfs.

Existing tools to mount CIFS and FUSE filesystems are pretty tough to use. In most cases, they do not share a similar user interface and all require root privileges. pmount would be a rocking frontend for all of these, providing both a simplified user interface, but also a secure policy.

Use cases

1. Jenny wants to attach a file stored on her Windows server to an email she's about to send with mutt.

2. Jimmy wants to open a file stored on his laptop with OpenOffice.org.

Scope

Design

Implementation

Code

Data preservation and migration

Outstanding issues

BoF agenda and discussion