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GmailFS - The Google File System

Posted by timothy on from the never-meant-to-be dept.

Scott Granneman writes "Looking to use that new Gmail account for something really innovative? How about combining it with a brand new filesystem for Linux? Then GmailFS might be the answer: 'GmailFS provides a mountable Linux filesystem which uses your Gmail account as its storage medium. ... GmailFS supports most file operations such as read, write, open, close, stat, symlink, link, unlink, truncate and rename.'"

5 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. Re:3rd party software by doofusclam · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you bothered to read that thread, or actually used gmail yourself, you'd know that they aren't cracking down on third party addons (although they'd be in the rights to do so) - they're just adding captcha style logons in situations where an incorrect password has been entered too many times. It's simply to stop programs brute forcing gmail accounts.

  2. does it support the "account yanked" operation? by Daniel+Ellard · · Score: 5, Informative
    This is a cute hack, but practical? No.

    If you want google to paw through all your files and risk having your account yanked for violating the user agreement, feel free to use it... (heck, maybe google won't yank your account in return for the opportunity to index your files...)

    Mail-based file systems are nothing new, nor are http-based file systems (or WebDAV, for that matter).

    --
    Disclaimer: I work for a company, but I don't speak for them.
  3. Useless. Use GMX.net instead by killbill! · · Score: 5, Informative

    GMX has been offering 1 GB of storage for email and files for free for some time now.
    Expand this to 5 GB for 3 EUR / month or 10 GB for 5 EUR / month.

    You can also share your uploaded files with other GMX members, and mount your GMX account as a network drive using a WebDAV client (they provide a pre-configured Windows client but you may use another one) .

    By the way, their e-mail features totally 0wn any other e-mail service: automated e-mail retrieval from all your other POP-enabled mailboxes, custom filters for automatic redirection, SMS/MMS alerts, up to 15 aliases...

    I knew all that time spent learning German at school would come in handy some day! ;p

  4. FYI: German webmail provider GMX offers 1GB WebDAV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It has to be about Google to be newsworthy, hasn't it? GMX, a German webmail provider, offers free 1GB mail accounts which are accessible by web, POP3 and WebDAV. You can also share your files with other GMX users. Transfer volume is limited to twice the storage amount per month.

  5. Re:where's the evidence? by yuting · · Score: 5, Informative

    Google's Terms of Use:

    http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/terms_of_use.ht ml

    "You also agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automated device, or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Service"

    On GMail-User newsgroup there have been reports of Google temporarily disabling accounts who use software to check GMail. Having said that, Google's own mail checker checks mail every 2 minutes. And most people who use third-party software to access GMail don't seem to have problems. Google's reaction to the breach of their ToS seems to be as random as the way they give out GMail invites...