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NOTE: this project is not being maintained. You might be interested in https://github.com/higlass/simple-httpfs which implements a similar concept!

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HttpFs

Experimental FUSE filesystem that lets you read HTTP/HTTPS/FTP files as if they were present on your own Linux box.

Requirement

Requires the following Python libraries, all installable via PyPi, etc:

• requests
• fusepy

Usage

Setup

Create a directory to be used as a mountpoint. The directory should be named “http:”, “https:” or “ftp:” and be placed on your home directory.

Starting

Run the filesystem: ./httpfs.py <mountpoint> <http|https|ftp>

(Example: /.httpfs.py /home/daniboy/http: http - this will “mount” the HTTP schema to /home/daniboy/http:

Using

To access a file just paste the URL as part of your command and append two dots at the end. For example, with the URL http://placekitten.com/g/400/300 we can:

• cp ~/http://placekitten.com/g/400/300.. ~/kitty.jpg - this will copy the file to the home directory under the name kitty.jpg
• xdg-open ~/http://placekitten.com/g/400/300.. - this will open the file with the user's preferred application
• Using GIMP's “Open Image” dialog open http://placekitten.com/g/400/300.. in the home directory

Stopping

To stop the filesystem run fusermount -u <mountpoint>. DO NOT kill the Python process as this will NOT clear the mountpoint, allowing all sorts of extra dimensional critters to invade our universe through your device.

NOTICE

• See instructions on how to stop the filesystem!
• Linux ignores multiple /-slashes, so trying to access the file http:/example.com/, http://example.com/ and http:///////////example.com/ will all lead to the same file
• The filesystem caches all files that were accessed with it in RAM for approximately 60 seconds
• This FUSE filesystem is EXPERIMENTAL and far from being stable enough for any work, and comes under NO WARRANTY (and any other big scary all-caps things that can be said)