anylinuxfs

anylinuxfs provides a seamless solution for mounting any Linux-supported filesystem in read/write mode on macOS using NFS and a microVM. Traditional methods for accessing third-party filesystems on macOS can be cumbersome, with limited official support and a reliance on experimental solutions. This tool eliminates those hurdles by allowing the user to execute a simple command in the terminal to mount filesystems reliably.

Key Features

• Effortless Mounting: Choose a drive, run anylinuxfs, and the specified filesystem is mounted as an NFS share on localhost.
• MicroVM Efficiency: Utilizes a lightweight microVM, resulting in quick setup times—typically just a few seconds—compared to traditional virtual machines.
• Comprehensive Filesystem Support: Access a broad range of Linux filesystems, including ext* and btrfs, with full support for various mount options, such as read-only or read-write access.
• Fast Initialization: On the first run, anylinuxfs downloads an Alpine Linux image from Docker Hub for quick VM setup, caching it for future mount operations, ensuring speed and efficiency.

Usage Example

To utilize anylinuxfs, simply execute:

anylinuxfs /path/to/drive

After use, the mounted drive can be ejected from Finder or unmounted via the terminal using umount, automatically powering down the virtual machine.

Important Notes

• Currently supports only one drive mounted at a time.
• Limited to Apple Silicon Macs due to underlying technology constraints.

Acknowledgments

The functionality of anylinuxfs is made possible by several key projects:

• libkrun - a microVM hypervisor for Linux and Mac.
• libkrunfw - dynamic library version of the Linux kernel packaged with libkrun.
• gvproxy - user space networking solution for virtual machines.
• docker-nfs-server - serves as a launcher for the NFS server within a container.

With anylinuxfs, managing Linux filesystems on macOS becomes straightforward and efficient.