Post by: gunug on March 16, 2010, 07:48:56 AM
QUOTE
MacFUSE allows you to extend Mac OS X's native file handling capabilities via 3rd-party file systems. It is used as a software building block by dozens of products.
As a user, installing the MacFUSE software package will let you use any 3rd-party file system written atop MacFUSE.
As a developer, you can use the MacFUSE SDK to write numerous types of new file systems as regular user-mode programs. The content of these file systems can come from anywhere: from the local disk, from across the network, from memory, or any other combination of sources. Writing a file system using MacFUSE is orders of magnitude easier and quicker than the traditional approach of writing in-kernel file systems. Since MacFUSE file systems are regular applications (as opposed to kernel extensions), you have just as much flexibility and choice in programming tools, debuggers, and libraries as you have if you were developing standard Mac OS X applications.
In more technical terms, 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 provides multiple APIs, one of which is a superset of the FUSE (File-system in USEr space) API that originated on Linux. Therefore, many existing FUSE file systems become readily usable on Mac OS X.
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/
As a user, installing the MacFUSE software package will let you use any 3rd-party file system written atop MacFUSE.
As a developer, you can use the MacFUSE SDK to write numerous types of new file systems as regular user-mode programs. The content of these file systems can come from anywhere: from the local disk, from across the network, from memory, or any other combination of sources. Writing a file system using MacFUSE is orders of magnitude easier and quicker than the traditional approach of writing in-kernel file systems. Since MacFUSE file systems are regular applications (as opposed to kernel extensions), you have just as much flexibility and choice in programming tools, debuggers, and libraries as you have if you were developing standard Mac OS X applications.
In more technical terms, 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 provides multiple APIs, one of which is a superset of the FUSE (File-system in USEr space) API that originated on Linux. Therefore, many existing FUSE file systems become readily usable on Mac OS X.
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/
I'm kind of seeing this as a concept only until this morning when I saw the iTunesFS on Versiontracker which allows you to mount the "iTunes Music Library.xml as a file system." Not sure how this would help except as a mechanism to move or back up your library. Anyone else have any thoughts about the utility of something like this?
Post by: Paddy on March 16, 2010, 10:20:18 AM
Think your quote re: iTunesFS is a little off, John. (Think you maybe meant "Finder", not "file system"?
From TUAW:
QUOTE
iTunesFS: your music in Finder
by Brett Terpstra (RSS feed) on Jan 2nd 2008 at 10:30AM
iTunesFS is a MacFUSE filesystem, written by Marcus Müller, that lets you browse your iTunes music library and playlists from the finder. It's a great example of MacFUSE being put to use, and the source code is available (via Subversion) for others to learn from.
iTunesFS allows you to manage the songs in your library directly. "But I can drag and drop files right from iTunes," you say. Not from your iPod(s), you can't. iTunesFS detects iPods, and allows for direct control over the music contents. It also offers a view of your playlists with sequentially numbered filenames to preserve playlist order. If you're handy with Terminal, it's a simple task to customize the formatting of the naming scheme as well.
iTunesFS requires MacFUSE, available at Google Code.
by Brett Terpstra (RSS feed) on Jan 2nd 2008 at 10:30AM
iTunesFS is a MacFUSE filesystem, written by Marcus Müller, that lets you browse your iTunes music library and playlists from the finder. It's a great example of MacFUSE being put to use, and the source code is available (via Subversion) for others to learn from.
iTunesFS allows you to manage the songs in your library directly. "But I can drag and drop files right from iTunes," you say. Not from your iPod(s), you can't. iTunesFS detects iPods, and allows for direct control over the music contents. It also offers a view of your playlists with sequentially numbered filenames to preserve playlist order. If you're handy with Terminal, it's a simple task to customize the formatting of the naming scheme as well.
iTunesFS requires MacFUSE, available at Google Code.
Could be useful, if you need that extra level of control.
Post by: gunug on March 16, 2010, 02:19:58 PM
QUOTE
Product Description:
iTunesFS allows you to mount the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file as a file system, using the excellent MacFUSE (http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/). All playlists are exposed as directories, with their respective entries. Order of tracks within the playlists is maintained by prefixing the tracks with their playlist index.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32542
iTunesFS allows you to mount the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file as a file system, using the excellent MacFUSE (http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/). All playlists are exposed as directories, with their respective entries. Order of tracks within the playlists is maintained by prefixing the tracks with their playlist index.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32542
Which as you note is probably not strictly correct. I'm just wondering, and will try to figure it out on my Powerbook G4 this weekend (because it has very little music in the iTunes Library), just what the advantages and disadvantages of mounting the Library as a file system might be.
Post by: gunug on March 17, 2010, 12:50:47 PM
I'm not sure why I could only read this file at this time, why it showed up on the desktop, and why it "seems" to have gone away. But it seems to have worked alright in principal!
Post by: Xairbusdriver on March 17, 2010, 03:52:43 PM
You mean it's already tornado season in Kansas, Dorothy?!!! 
Post by: gunug on March 17, 2010, 07:18:06 PM
Post by: Xairbusdriver on March 17, 2010, 10:16:38 PM
I kew it wasn't your house. Still...