s3fs allows Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD to mount an S3 bucket via FUSE(Filesystem in Userspace).s3fs makes you operate files and directories in S3 bucket like a local file system.s3fs preserves the native object format for files, allowing use of other tools like AWS CLI.

GitHub

Install s3fs-fuse:

1

sudo pacman -S s3fs-fuse

Create credentials file (optional if using environment variables):

12

echo "$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID:$AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY" > ~/.passwd-s3fschmod 600 ~/.passwd-s3fs

Mount the sspaeti bucket:

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112

# Create mount point in home directory (no sudo needed)mkdir -p ~/mnt/s3/sspaeti# Mount the bucket - specify correct endpoint for your regions3fs sspaeti ~/mnt/s3/sspaeti -o endpoint=eu-central-1# Alternative: using credentials file explicitlys3fs sspaeti ~/mnt/s3/sspaeti -o passwd_file=~/.passwd-s3fs,endpoint=eu-central-1# For system-wide mount (requires sudo):sudo mkdir -p /mnt/s3/sspaetisudo s3fs sspaeti /mnt/s3/sspaeti -o passwd_file=/home/$(whoami)/.passwd-s3fs,endpoint=eu-central-1,allow_other,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g)

Unmount when done:

12345

# For home directory mountfusermount -u ~/mnt/s3/sspaeti# For system mountsudo umount /mnt/s3/sspaeti

Important Notes:

Use home directory (~/) to avoid needing sudo - mounting to /mnt/ or other system directories requires root permissionsSpecify the correct endpoint - use endpoint=eu-central-1 for EU buckets, endpoint=us-west-2 for US West, etc.If your AWS credentials are already in environment variables, s3fs-fuse will pick them up automatically without needing the .passwd-s3fs fileWhen using sudo, the ~ path doesn’t expand correctly - use full paths like /home/$(whoami)/

AWS S3 setup see AWS S3.

Above solution is gone after reboot, if you want persistence, we need to use fstab.

1234

# Create mount points if they don't existsudo mkdir -p /mnt/s3/sspaetisudo mkdir -p /mnt/synology/backupsudo mkdir -p /mnt/synology/photo

Above credentials still need to be created or are been used here - check if they exist:

12

ls ~/.passwd-s3fssudo cat /etc/cifs-credentials

Edit fstab config with sudo nvim /etc/fstab and add e.g. for my synology (Adding Network Drive - NAS Synology) and S3 drive the following configs:

123456

# S3 mount via s3fssspaeti /mnt/s3/sspaeti fuse.s3fs _netdev,allow_other,use_path_request_style,url=https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com,endpoint=eu-central-1,uid=1000,gid=1000,passwd_file=/home/sspaeti/.passwd-s3fs 0 0# Synology CIFS mounts//192.168.1.111/backup /mnt/synology/backup cifs _netdev,credentials=/etc/cifs-credentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0//192.168.1.111/photo /mnt/synology/photo cifs _netdev,credentials=/etc/cifs-credentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0

Enable allow_other for s3fs with:

Edit fuse config sudo nvim /etc/fuse.conf

12

# Uncomment this line (remove the # if present):user_allow_other

What does user_allow_other do?

The user_allow_other setting in /etc/fuse.conf allows non-root users to use the allow_other mount option with FUSE filesystems. By default, FUSE mounts are only accessible by the user who mounted them. allow_other makes the mount accessible to all users on the system

Single user system? You don’t need allow_other

If you’re the only user on your system, you can skip the allow_other option and the fuse.conf change for better security.

Check your user ID with:

12	id -u # Should return 1000id -g # Should return 1000

If your uid/gid match what’s in the fstab entry (1000), simply remove allow_other from the s3fs line:

1	sspaeti /mnt/s3/sspaeti fuse.s3fs _netdev,use_path_request_style,url=https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com,endpoint=eu-central-1,uid=1000,gid=1000,passwd_file=/home/sspaeti/.passwd-s3fs 0 0

And keep user_allow_other commented in /etc/fuse.conf. The mount will still work perfectly and be more secure.

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011

# Test mounting all entries in fstabsudo mount -a# Verify they're mountedmount | grep s3fsmount | grep cifs# Check if you can see filesls /mnt/s3/sspaetils /mnt/synology/backupls /mnt/synology/photo

Origin: stu
References: On MacOS see Mounting Amazon S3 as a File System, Adding Network Drive - NAS Synology
Created 2025-09-19