lxmount

LXMount is an open-source, user-space mount management framework for Linux and Unix-like systems. It provides centralized control over mounting local devices, network shares, and FUSE-based resources, offering an alternative to traditional fstab-driven mounting with policy-driven automounting and session awareness.

LXMount uses a client-server model comprised of a privileged daemon, lxmountd, that performs mounts, and a user-facing client, lxmount, for interaction. Communication occurs over a lightweight API and commonly via D-Bus, with polkit used to authorize mount actions. The design supports per-user namespaces and session isolation, enabling different users to manage mounts without elevated privileges.

Key features include a declarative configuration language (YAML), per-user and system-wide policies, automatic remount on reconnection, lazy unmount, and clean unmount behavior. It supports local block devices and remote file systems such as NFS, SMB/CIFS, SSHFS, and other FUSE-based filesystems. The system can integrate with credential managers for network shares and offers optional encryption integration with LUKS or key vaults. Performance optimizations such as caching and efficient mount handling are also provided.

Configuration and usage are organized around both global and per-user files. Global settings reside in /etc/lxmount/config.yaml, while per-user overrides appear in ~/.lxmount/config.yaml. Common commands include lxmount status, lxmount mount <source>, lxmount umount <target>, and lxmount list. Desktop environment integrations allow file managers and panels to trigger mounts through familiar UI actions.

History and status: LXMount was initiated in 2019 by the LXOpen initiative and has seen multiple releases in the 2.x line, with ongoing community development and adoption in several Linux distributions as an alternative to traditional mounting mechanisms.

See also: fstab, systemd automount, udev, PolicyKit, SSHFS.