Mount FTP-servers using CurlFTPFS in Linux

Tux FTP Server

Allot of us server/website administrators use FTP to quickly upload new files and changes to the server. But when you are tinkering with something on the server, and you quickly want to see the effect. It can be quite hectic when you have to login, upload changes and check several times. Especially when the FTP daemon on the server-side has some pesky login timeout enabled.

A much comfortable solution, rather than using a graphical application like FileZilla, is to simply mount the FTP server. Just like you mount any other file system in Linux. And that can be accomplished with an application called CurlFTPFS.

“Mounting” the server is simple, just type:
~$ curlftpfs [FTP-SERVER] [MOUNTPOINT]
Example: Mounting the Scientific Linux dist FTP:
(root) ~$ curlftpfs ftp://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6.3 /mnt
If the server isn’t public, doesn’t allow anonymous login or uses account access. Type:
~$ curlftpfs [USERNAME]:[PASSWORD]@[FTP-SERVER] [MOUNTPOINT]

TIP:
CurlFTPFS is available from the default Ubuntu-repo. Type
~$ sudo apt-get install -y curlftpfs to install.

Happy mounting!

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