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Add details about usage of FUSE to docs

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Antonio SJ Musumeci 2022-05-23 11:26:32 -04:00
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28
README.md
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
% mergerfs(1) mergerfs user manual
% Antonio SJ Musumeci <trapexit@spawn.link>
% 2022-04-25
% 2022-05-23
# NAME
@ -1111,6 +1111,32 @@ Whenever you run into a split permission issue (seeing some but not all files) t
If using a network filesystem such as NFS, SMB, CIFS (Samba) be sure to pay close attention to anything regarding permissioning and users. Root squashing and user translation for instance has bitten a few mergerfs users. Some of these also affect the use of mergerfs from container platforms such as Docker.
#### Why use FUSE? Why not a kernel based solution?
As with any two solutions to a problem there are advantages and disadvantages to each one.
A FUSE based solution has all the downsides of FUSE:
* Higher IO latency due to the trips in and out of kernel space
* Higher general overhead due to trips in and out of kernel space
* Double caching when using page caching
* Misc limitations due to FUSE's design
But FUSE also has a lot of upsides:
* Easier to offer a cross platform solution
* Easier forward and backward compatibility
* Easier updates for users
* Easier and faster release cadence
* Allows more flexibility in design and features
* Overall easier to write, secure, and maintain
* Ability to run without root access or need to change the kernel
* Much lower barrier to entry (getting code into the kernel takes a lot of time and effort initially)
FUSE was chosen because of all the advantages listed above. The negatives of FUSE do not outweight the positives.
#### Is my OS's libfuse needed for mergerfs to work?
No. Normally `mount.fuse` is needed to get mergerfs (or any FUSE filesystem to mount using the `mount` command but in vendoring the libfuse library the `mount.fuse` app has been renamed to `mount.mergerfs` meaning the filesystem type in `fstab` can simply be `mergerfs`. That said there should be no harm in having it installed and continuing to using `fuse.mergerfs` as the type in `/etc/fstab`.

38
man/mergerfs.1
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.\"t
.\" Automatically generated by Pandoc 2.5
.\"
.TH "mergerfs" "1" "2022\-04\-25" "mergerfs user manual" ""
.TH "mergerfs" "1" "2022\-05\-23" "mergerfs user manual" ""
.hy
.SH NAME
.PP
@ -2433,6 +2433,42 @@ Root squashing and user translation for instance has bitten a few
mergerfs users.
Some of these also affect the use of mergerfs from container platforms
such as Docker.
.SS Why use FUSE? Why not a kernel based solution?
.PP
As with any two solutions to a problem there are advantages and
disadvantages to each one.
.PP
A FUSE based solution has all the downsides of FUSE:
.IP \[bu] 2
Higher IO latency due to the trips in and out of kernel space
.IP \[bu] 2
Higher general overhead due to trips in and out of kernel space
.IP \[bu] 2
Double caching when using page caching
.IP \[bu] 2
Misc limitations due to FUSE\[cq]s design
.PP
But FUSE also has a lot of upsides:
.IP \[bu] 2
Easier to offer a cross platform solution
.IP \[bu] 2
Easier forward and backward compatibility
.IP \[bu] 2
Easier updates for users
.IP \[bu] 2
Easier and faster release cadence
.IP \[bu] 2
Allows more flexibility in design and features
.IP \[bu] 2
Overall easier to write, secure, and maintain
.IP \[bu] 2
Ability to run without root access or need to change the kernel
.IP \[bu] 2
Much lower barrier to entry (getting code into the kernel takes a lot of
time and effort initially)
.PP
FUSE was chosen because of all the advantages listed above.
The negatives of FUSE do not outweight the positives.
.SS Is my OS\[cq]s libfuse needed for mergerfs to work?
.PP
No.\ Normally \f[C]mount.fuse\f[R] is needed to get mergerfs (or any