---
name: "shfsmount"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "shfs-utils"
version: "0.35-6.2"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/shfsmount"
---

# shfsmount(8)

mount remote volumes using (secure) shell connection.

## NAME

shfsmount - mount remote volumes using (secure) shell connection.

## SYNOPSIS

**shfsmount** \[**options**\] \[**\[**user@**\]hostname\[**:root**\]**\] mount\_point

**shfsmount** \[**-hV**\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **shfsmount** is a mount-support utility which makes possible to mount remote volumes to the  local file system tree through simple shell connection.  It uses ssh (or any other program) connection to remote servers. It requires **shfs.o** kernel module to be loaded. If you set suid bit on  **shfsmount** you enable ANY USER to mount remote dirs. User must be owner (or member of group) of mount\_point and must have write access for that directory.

## OPTIONS

- **-u, --cmd-user=user**

  execute command (ssh) as this user (root only)

- **-c, --cmd=COMMAND**

  command to connect to remote side (see below)

- **-P, --port=PORT**

  connect to this port

- **-p, --persistent**

  make connection persistent (broken connection is re-established)

- **-t, --type=TYPE**

  connection server type (currently only "perl" and "shell" are supported)

- **-s, --stable**

  dereference symbolic links (if possible)

- **-o, --options**

  mount options (see below)

- **-n, --nomtab**

  do not update /etc/mtab

- **-v, --verbose**

  print debug messages; more options increases verbosity; this affects kernel module too

- **-V, --version**

  print version number

- **-h, --help**

  print usage information

- **user**

  log in using this user name

- **hostname**

  specify remote host

- **root**

  remote directory to become root of the new mounted tree

## MOUNT OPTIONS

- **cachesize=N**

  set read-ahead and write-back cache size in pages, page size  is 4KB on i386, 0 = disable filecache (default is 32, i.e. 128KB)

- **cachemax=N**

  set maximum number of files cached at once (default is 10)

- **preserve**

  preserve uid/gid (root only)

- **ttl=TIME**

  time to live (sec) of cached directory entries

- **uid=USER**

  owner of all files/dirs on mounted file system (root only)

- **gid=GROUP**

  group of all files/dirs on mounted file system (root only)

- **rmode=mode**

  root dir mode (default is 700)

- **suid, dev**

  see [**mount**(8)](/mount/8.md) (root only).

- **ro, rw, nosuid, nodev, exec, noexec, user, users**

  see [**mount**(8)](/mount/8.md).

- **cmd-user, cmd, port, persistent, type, stable**

  see above

  Options in mount\_options list are separated by comma without spaces between  items (just like in [**mount**(8)](/mount/8.md)).

  **%u %h %P** in COMMAND are substituted by user, host and port respectively.

-

  ## ERRORS

Mount errors will be written through [**syslog**(3)](/syslog/3.md). Stderr is redirected to /dev/null unless  **-v** option is given (may be useful if you cannot connect to remote side). On success, 0 is returned.

## CONFORMING TO

Nothing.

## BUGS

Date of remote file/dir may not be shown correctly (+- 1 day). "stable" symlinks option may not work on OSF1.

Please report bugs \[with diff -u patches, of course ;-)\] to  *\<qiq@ucw.cz\>*

## EXAMPLES

The simplest version (mount home dir of user at host):

-

  	shfsmount user@host /mnt/shfs

To specify remote directory:

-

  	shfsmount user@host:/tmp /mnt/shfs

To specify another port:

-

  	shfsmount -P 2222 user@host /mnt/shfs

To specify another ssh option:

-

  	shfsmount --cmd="ssh -c blowfish %u@%h /bin/bash" user@host:/tmp /mnt/shfs/

To make mount survive temporary connection outage (reconnect mode):

-

  	shfsmount --persistent user@host /mnt/shfs

Longer transfers? Increase cache size (here 1MB cache per file (256\*4KB)):

-

  	shfsmount user@host /mnt/shfs -o cachesize=256

To enable symlink resolution:

-

  	shfsmount -s user@host /mnt/shfs

To preserve uid (gid) (NFS replace mode :-)):

-

  	shfsmount root@host /mnt/shfs -o preserve,rmode=755

To see what is wrong (forces kernel debug output too):

-

  	shfsmount -vvv user@host /mnt/shfs

## SEE ALSO

[**shfsumount**(8)](/shfsumount/8.md), [**mount**(8)](/mount/8.md), [**ssh**(1)](/ssh/1.md)

## AUTHOR

```
Zemljanka core team (Johanka, Dan, Qiq)
Miroslav Spousta <qiq@ucw.cz>
```