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SSHFS Desktop Application

Setup fuse

  1. Run the following in a terminal:

    modprobe fuse
    
  2. Create a FUSE usergroup and add yourself to the group

    sudo groupadd fuse
    sudo usermod -a -G fuse $USER
    
  3. Create a set of ssh-keys, press enter when asked to name the file (blank) and press enter when asked to enter a passphrase (blank):

    ssh-keygen -t rsa
    
  4. Transport the key to the remote server:

    ssh-copy-id -i .ssh/id_rsa.pub user@example.com
    
  5. Now when you run sshfs you will not need to enter your password.

Create Shell Script

  1. Run the following command to create an empty shell script:

    touch +x ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.sh
    chmod +x ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.sh
    gedit ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.sh
    
  2. Enter the command you normally run to connect to the remote server, change mount_dir to match your local mount location:

    #!/bin/bash
    mount_dir="/path/to/mount/directory"
    if (! mountpoint -q $mount_dir); then
        sshfs user@example.com:/home/[user]/ $mount_dir -o   ServerAliveInterval=15,ServerAliveCountMax=3,Compression=no,follow_symlinks
    else
        umount $mount_dir
    fi
    
  3. In the script, the filesystem will be mounted/unmounted depending on the status. Save and close the file.

Create Desktop Entry File

  1. Run the following command to create an empty shell script:

    touch ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.desktop
    chmod +x ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.desktop
    gedit ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.desktop
    
  2. Paste the following into the document, ensure you update the brackets:

    #!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
    
    [Desktop Entry]
    Version=1.0
    Type=Application
    Terminal=false
    Icon=[path/to/icon]
    Name=[Name the application]
    Exec=[path/to/sshfs_mount.sh]
    
  3. Save and close.

  4. Move the desktop entry file into the applications directory:

    sudo mv ~/Documents/sshfs_mount.desktop /usr/share/applications/
    
  5. Search in applications for the desktop entry file, right-click and add to favorites.