Boxfs is an open source, free, easy to use, easy to install and simple command-line software that provides a UNIX/Linux filesystem based on the FUSE (Filesystem on User Space) project, designed from the offset to allow users to easily and quickly access their files stored on a Box.net cloud hosting account.

The program is fully compatible with well known open source file managers, including the powerful Nautilus (Files) that is used under the GNOME desktop environment. It allows the user to copy, paste, rename and remove files from a Box.net account when connected to the said file hosting service.

Unfortunately, being an independent project, Boxfs is not available on the main software repositories of many distributions of Linux, which means that you will have to compile the program using its freely distributed sources.

Access the dedicated download section above to download that latest version of Boxfs from Softpedia, save the archive on a location of your choice, unpack it with an archive manager, open a the Terminal app and use the ‘cd’ command to navigate to the location of the extracted archive files (e.g. cd /home/softpedia/boxfs-0.8).

Type the ‘make’ command to compile the software, a process that shouldn’t take more than a couple of seconds (please note that you must have the FUSE package installed on your system prior to attempting to compile Boxfs). After a successful compilation, install the program system wide with the ‘make install’ or ‘sudo make install’ commands, depending if you’re root or a privileged user.

Type the ‘boxfs’ command to view its command-line options, which will help you to connect to your Box.net account and manage your files via the graphical file manager of your Linux distribution. An example is provided for your convenience.

Box.net is a free and commercial web-based cloud storage service that is accessible through a web interface. With the Boxfs software you are now able to mount your Box.net account on your Linux-based operating system, and easily access your files.