[GH-ISSUE #1324] Do local files remain accessible offline? #709

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-03-04 01:48:06 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-03-04 01:48:06 +03:00

Owner

Originally created by @yashgt on GitHub (Jul 6, 2020).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/s3fs-fuse/s3fs-fuse/issues/1324

If I mount a local directory and point it to an S3 bucket using s3fs, does it eventually receive the files stored in S3 and do the files remain accessible for reading even if S3 or internet is not accessible? Is there an alternative to s3fs that can serve the above requirement if s3fs does not serve it?

Originally created by @yashgt on GitHub (Jul 6, 2020). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/s3fs-fuse/s3fs-fuse/issues/1324 If I mount a local directory and point it to an S3 bucket using s3fs, does it eventually receive the files stored in S3 and do the files remain accessible for reading even if S3 or internet is not accessible? Is there an alternative to s3fs that can serve the above requirement if s3fs does not serve it?

kerem closed this issue

2026-03-04 01:48:06 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-03-04 01:48:07 +03:00

Author

Owner

@ngbranitsky commented on GitHub (Jul 6, 2020):

Answers inline.

Norman Branitsky

On Jul 6, 2020, at 01:07, yashgt notifications@github.com wrote:
If I mount a local directory and point it to an S3 bucket using s3fs, does it eventually receive the files stored in S3 and do the files remain accessible for reading even if S3 or internet is not accessible?

I believe s3fs will display a transport error if the mount point is inaccessible.

Is there an alternative to s3fs that can serve the above requirement if s3fs does not serve it?

Perhaps this might meet your requirements.
AWS Storage Gateway with local caching:
https://aws.amazon.com/storagegateway/file/
I believe the File Gateway will still serve files while it tries to reconnect to S3 in the background.

@ngbranitsky commented on GitHub (Jul 6, 2020): Answers inline. Norman Branitsky > On Jul 6, 2020, at 01:07, yashgt <notifications@github.com> wrote: > If I mount a local directory and point it to an S3 bucket using s3fs, does it eventually receive the files stored in S3 and do the files remain accessible for reading even if S3 or internet is not accessible? > I believe s3fs will display a transport error if the mount point is inaccessible. > Is there an alternative to s3fs that can serve the above requirement if s3fs does not serve it? > Perhaps this might meet your requirements. AWS Storage Gateway with local caching: https://aws.amazon.com/storagegateway/file/ I believe the File Gateway will still serve files while it tries to reconnect to S3 in the background.

kerem commented

2026-03-04 01:48:07 +03:00

Author

Owner

@gaul commented on GitHub (Jul 7, 2020):

s3fs is not intended as an offline file system. However, metadata (-o max_stat_cache_size, -o stat_cache_expire) and data caching (-o use_cache) may allow s3fs to work offline in a limited capacity.

catfs also has an open issue requesting offline support although this is not implemented.

@gaul commented on GitHub (Jul 7, 2020): s3fs is not intended as an offline file system. However, metadata (`-o max_stat_cache_size`, `-o stat_cache_expire`) and data caching (`-o use_cache`) may allow s3fs to work offline in a limited capacity. [catfs](https://github.com/kahing/catfs) also has an [open issue](https://github.com/kahing/catfs/issues/41) requesting offline support although this is not implemented.