simple-mtpfs
FUSE filesystem driver for MTP devices
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
simple-mtpfs [options] [device] mountpoint
DESCRIPTION
simple-mtpfs is a FUSE-based filesystem driver that exposes files on MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) devices over USB as a normal directory tree on Linux, macOS, and other systems with FUSE support. Once mounted, you can browse, copy, rename, and delete files on phones, cameras, and other MTP-capable hardware using standard shell tools.The driver uses libmtp to communicate with devices and FUSE to present their storage as a userspace filesystem. Temporary files downloaded from the device are stored in a configurable directory (default /tmp). When multiple MTP devices are connected, use --list-devices to see their order numbers, then pass --device or a /dev/libmtp-* special file to choose which one to mount.Unmount with fusermount -u on the mountpoint. The project is no longer actively maintained upstream; many distributions still package it, but alternatives such as jmtpfs or gvfs-mtp may be preferable for new setups.
PARAMETERS
-l, --list-devices
List available MTP devices with order numbers and names.--device number
Select which attached device to mount by its order number.-h, --help
Print help and exit.-V, --version
Print version and exit.-o options
Comma-separated mount options. SIMPLE-MTPFS-specific options include enable-move (allows move operations, which can be slow). Standard FUSE options such as allow_other, allow_root, default_permissions, uid=, gid=, and umask= are also supported.-f
Run in the foreground.-d
Enable debug output (implies -f).
INSTALL
CAVEATS
Move operations are disabled by default because they can be very slow on MTP devices; enable them with -o enable-move if needed. Performance is slower than a native block-device mount because every file access goes through the MTP protocol. The upstream project is unmaintained and deprecated in some package managers. Requires libfuse (version 2.7.3 or later) and libmtp at build time.
HISTORY
simple-mtpfs was written by Peter Hatina and first released around 2013 as a lightweight alternative to heavier MTP browser tools. Version 0.2 shipped with a manual page in January 2015. The project reached 0.4.0 but has seen little upstream activity since; Homebrew and several Linux distributions still distribute it while marking it deprecated.
SEE ALSO
fusermount(1), mount(8), sshfs(1), mtp-detect(1)
