4mo ago

Ftp mounting doesn't seem to work

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58872408

Hey,
So I've been connecting to an ftp server which I worked on with apps like GNOME Builder, and backed up the contents of with Pika Backup, connecting to it via the GNOME Files application, Nautilus, from the Network tab.
Recently, apps stopped being able to read files I opened with the file picker hosted on the ftp server, and after a lot of debugging I realised that was because Nautilus had for some reason switched from mounting the files under /run/user/1000/gvfs/ftp_address to the more abstract path ftp://ftp_address, under the virtual directory computer:///. Now apps can't read those files as they are not mounted under an actual path.
I couldn't find a way in Nautilus, FileZilla, or Dolphin to mount the ftp server files under a specified path /mnt/ftp_username, or even to put it back to the unwieldy but still working path it was under before, using a GUI.
I was recommended by an LLM assistant to use the curlftpfs command, but even with several variations of a command such as the following
 
    
sudo curlftpfs -v -o "uid=$UID,gid=$GID" ftp://username:correct%20password@ftp_address /mnt/ftp_username

  
it always gave the same error
 
    
Error setting curl: 

  
I'm not sure what else to try, could I have some advice please?

9 comments

Never heard of curlftpfs but this feature is built into rclone;

rclone mount ftp:path/to/remote/ /run/user/1000/gvfs/ftp_address --network-mode
- Thanks, I tried that and it gave a different error
  
  aarvi@fedora:~$ rclone mount ftp://jack101:correct%20password@oncilla.mythic-beasts.com /mnt/jack101 --network-mode 2025/03/19 14:59:22 NOTICE: Config file "/home/aarvi/.config/rclone/rclone.conf" not found - using defaults 2025/03/19 14:59:22 CRITICAL: Failed to create file system for "ftp://jack101:correct%20password@oncilla.mythic-beasts.com": didn't find section in config file
  but I will try to fix it
  
  So rclone remotes I have to be added through the rclone configuration. I'm not 100% sure you can Mount a remote the way that you're trying to.
  You'll have to run rclone config and then add your FTP server as a remote. Then you'll be able to use it as a mount point. For example if in the configuration you add it as jack_ftp you will then be able to mount it like so:
  
  rclone mount jack_ftp:/ /mnt/jack --network-mode
  But as far as I know you first have to add the remote to the rclone configuration.
- Alright, I added the config, and could use an app such as Rclone shuttle to view the files, but at no point could I set a mount point and I'm still not sure how to do that.
kagis for error message
What version of curl are you using?
https://github.com/curl/curl/discussions/14299
- Yeah, might well be there's an error with this version - 0.9.2/8.9.1
  
  aarvi@fedora:~$ curlftpfs --version curlftpfs 0.9.2 libcurl/8.9.1 fuse/2.9 aarvi@fedora:~$ curl --version curl 8.9.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/8.9.1 OpenSSL/3.2.4 zlib/1.3.1.zlib-ng libidn2/2.3.8 nghttp2/1.62.1 Release-Date: 2024-07-31 Protocols: file ftp ftps http https ipfs ipns Features: alt-svc AsynchDNS GSS-API HSTS HTTP2 HTTPS-proxy IDN IPv6 Kerberos Largefile libz SPNEGO SSL threadsafe UnixSockets
  
  aarvi@fedora:~$ sudo dnf dg curl-8.7.1 Updating and loading repositories: Repositories loaded. Failed to resolve the transaction: No match for argument: curl-8.7.1 You can try to add to command line: --skip-unavailable to skip unavailable packages aarvi@fedora:~$
  But it also doesn't seem the old version is available for download...
  
  I haven't ever used curlftpfs, but I imagine that if this is the problem and if Fedora doesn't have a fix, it's probably possible to build it out of tarball and use a wrapper around curlftpfs as a temporary workaround. It doesn't look like curlftpfs lets you specify the path to the curl binary, so probably need to modify PATH prior to invoking curlftpfs.
  Like, something along the lines of:
  build curl 8.8.0 from tarball, stick curl binary in directory (say, in /opt/curl/)
  Create curlftpfswrapper.sh:
  
  #!/bin/bash export PATH=/opt/curl/:"$PATH" exec curlftpfs "$@"
  Drop curlftpfswrapper.sh somewhere in your PATH.
  Use curlftpfswrapper.sh instead of curlftpfs as long as it's broken.

9 comments