What exactly is the difference between fuse2 and fuse3?

Question

FUSE = Filesystem in user space recommends that distros package both a fuse2 and a fuse3 (see here) and indeed they do.

What exactly is the reason for this? Is it just that the init code in fuse3 is different?

Directed

Answer 1

The release notes for libfuse 3.0.0 appear comprehensive. Read below the heading 'Changes (since FUSE 2.9)'. Functions have been renamed for clarity, functions dropped and parameters tidied up. Here are a few examples from the release notes to give a flavour:

• The fuse_lowlevel_new function has been renamed to fuse_session_new and no longer interprets the --version or --help options
• fuse_loop(), fuse_loop_mt(), fuse_session_loop() and fuse_session_loop_mt() now return more detailed error codes instead of just -1. See the documentation of fuse_session_loop() for details
• There are new fuse_session_unmount and fuse_session_mount functions that should be used in the low-level API. The fuse_mount and fuse_unmount functions should be used with the high-level API only
• The fuse_invalidate function has been removed

Installing libfuse2 alongside libfuse3 allows applications using libfuse2 to keep working without needing to be updated straight away.

Quintuplet

apt install libfuse2 was what I needed to be able to run the older apps without uninstalling fuse3. – Geary