fuse4x/fuse — Issue #2: Make install doesn't complain when files cannot be overwritten
Author: mcamiano
Created: 2011-11-17 04:29:33+00:00
State: open

If a previous install of MacFuse or a similar package was made, and not fully uninstalled, the make install action does not detect the leftover files and may not update them when run under normal user permissions.

After installing, when this problem scenario occurs, the following error may be seen:
$ sshfs myname@mysite.me: ~/mnt/mysite.me
/Library/Filesystems/fusefs.fs/Support/fusefs.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) link error; check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8).
the MacFUSE file system is not available (71)

Investigating turned up that the fusefs.fs file was left-over from MacFUSE that had been installed in a previously uninstalled tool:
$ ls -ld /Library/Filesystems/fusefs.fs
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 Dec 19 2008 /Library/Filesystems/fusefs.fs

I found this when attempting to install fuse4x through homebrew, but since homebrew is just invoking make install, I'm logging this here to provide some notice. (A more full explanation is at http://www.unityisplural.com/2011/11/getting-fuse4x-installed-on-osx-lion.html)

It would be helpful and perhaps save someone a bit of grief if the make install directive checked and reported whenever the files it is attempting to install cannot be written.