install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install libfuse

local Homebrew formula metadata

overview

Package summary

Reference implementation of the Linux FUSE interface

Project links

Homepage

Commands and aliases

fusermount3
mount.fuse3

history

Project history and usage

libfuse is the reference userspace library for Linux FUSE, the interface that lets standalone programs implement filesystems while the kernel FUSE module forwards VFS requests to them.

Project history

The libfuse README describes FUSE as two pieces: the kernel module maintained in the regular Linux kernel repositories and the libfuse userspace library maintained in the libfuse repository. The same README describes high-level synchronous and low-level asynchronous APIs, mount and unmount helpers, request handling, and response functions.

The repository history reaches back to an imported-sources commit dated 2001-10-23. Its kernel interface header carries copyright notices for Miklos Szeredi from 2001 onward, and the project changelog for FUSE 2.9.5 on 2016-01-14 thanks Szeredi while naming Nikolaus Rath as the new maintainer. libfuse 3.x later moved packaging and development toward Meson/Ninja and the fuse3 command set.

Adoption history

FUSE became a central Linux packaging dependency because it let SSH, archive, cloud, virtual, encrypted, and application-specific filesystems ship as ordinary user-space programs. The README states that libfuse is shipped by all major Linux distributions and has been in production use across a wide range of systems for many years.

How it is used

A FUSE filesystem normally links against libfuse, mounts a userspace daemon, receives kernel requests through callbacks, and sends replies through the library. The package also provides fusermount3 and mount.fuse3 for mounting user filesystems with controlled privilege boundaries.

Why package nerds care

libfuse is one of the packages that changed what a filesystem package can be: a userspace daemon, not a kernel module. Its formulae are unusually sensitive to Linux-only behavior, setuid helpers, /etc/fuse.conf policy, kernel ABI expectations, and the split between older FUSE 2 consumers and newer FUSE 3 consumers.

Timeline

2001-10-23: GitHub commit metadata records the imported-sources commit later tagged start.
2016-01-14: The changelog records FUSE 2.9.5 and the maintainer change to Nikolaus Rath.
2017-09-12: The changelog records libfuse 3.2.0 dropping autotools build support.
2026-03-18: GitHub release metadata records fuse-3.18.2.

Related projects

The Linux kernel FUSE module is the kernel-side peer of libfuse.
macFUSE is the macOS-oriented related project named by the libfuse README for macOS users.
SSHFS and many other userspace filesystems are built on the FUSE model.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

library-like package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

library-like package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:library-like

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`fusermount3`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mount.fuse3`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version3.18.2

manager updated

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:libfuse
Version	3.18.2
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://github.com/libfuse/libfuse
Repository	https://github.com/libfuse/libfuse
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/libfuse.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
pkg.so package database
pkgdb category and tag curation

Install libfuse with Homebrew