FUSE [Sze] is a framework similar to LUFS, but, unlike this latter, it is still maintained. This is very important because Linux evolves rapidly and much time should be spent in syncing a patch with the current kernel version. The more visible difference between these two implementations is that in LUFS the file system is a shared object loaded by lufsd, whereas in FUSE it consists of a separate executable, which uses the fuse library. In addition, this last solution is optimized for local file systems: its parts communicate each others through a special file descriptor (neither socket nor pipe), and there is no cache.
During PackageFS development, FUSE reached good popularity and stability
degrees. Since the actual API is very similar, it has been studied
the integration of both these solutions. Miklos Szeredi has written
a translator called
, that can load LUFS modules
and run them using the FUSE kernel module. It is binary compatible
with existing LUFS file systems, so no recompilation is needed.
The first time lufis loaded PackageFS, something strange happened. Thus, lufis has been slightly modified and some bugs were fixed. The patch was then submitted, and now the official CVS development distribution of lufis itself includes it. As soon as the debug phase has been completed, PackageFS is able to run either with LUFS or FUSE support.