rar2fs For Mac

rar2fs is a FUSE-based file system callable of mounting a RAR archive, or a folder containing multiple RAR archives, and read their contents as normal files. If other types of files are present in the target directory, they will be handled transparently. Compressed and non-compressed archives can be read, but indexing is only available for plaintext, non-compressed archives.

The RAR format supports encryption, and rar2fs is capable of processing these archives, with a major caveat: the archive’s password needs to be stored in plaintext format on the local file system, since rar2fs is entirely non-interactive. This, of course, is a major security issue, which is why the feature’s use is best limited. Encryption on file system level can be considered is security is important.

The Portable UnRAR C++ library and some extensions are used. A complete version of the UnRAR source tree is needed to build the API extensions. In order to build rar2fs, you will need a copy of the FUSE development files on the host system. MacFUSE is also supported by the more recent versions of rar2fs, with support for FUSE for OS X added in version 1.15.2.