oppi.li
mount jetstream as a userspace character device on linux
clippy
Signed-off-by: oppiliappan <me@oppi.li>
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readme.md
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readme.md
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# excuse
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mount jetstream as a userspace character device on linux.
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## usage
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```
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λ cargo b
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λ sudo RUST_LOG=info ./target/debug/excuse
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# -- in another shell --
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λ cat /dev/jetstream | jq
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```
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## motivation
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> People who think that userspace filesystems are realistic
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> for anything but toys are just misguided
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>
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> Linus Torvalds
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readme.txt
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readme.txt
···
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excuse - mount jetstream as a character device on linux
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CUSE is FUSE's little brother, and it allows mounting a
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single character device file in /dev, with the device driver
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being implemented in userspace.
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unlike typical files, character devices like /dev/urandom
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are not seekable. they only support a streaming interface:
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λ cat /dev/urandom # random numbers
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excuse simply mounts a websocket connection to an atproto
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jetstream as a userspace character device:
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λ sudo RUST_LOG=info excuse
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[2025-09-21 INFO excuse] Initializing CUSE at /dev/jetstream
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[2025-09-21 INFO excuse] /dev/jetstream is now 0644
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in another terminal:
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λ cat /dev/jetstream | jq
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{
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"did": "did:plc:s6zjj6aw652mmvsrs573j6ti",
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"time_us": 1758442606746247,
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"kind": "commit",
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"commit": { ... }
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}
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.
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.
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.
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you will notice a couple of optimizations:
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- the websocket is only opened when the file has readers,
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and is closed when all readers are closed
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- the same connection is shared by all readers
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- the data is buffered and not sent byte by byte
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it is a bit of a gimmick however, you can do this easily
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with websocat:
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λ websocat wss://jetstream1.us-east.fire.hose.cam/subscribe
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src/main.rs
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src/main.rs
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break;
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}
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Some(Err(e)) => {
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error!("websocket error: {}", e);
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error!("websocket error: {e}");
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break;
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}
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None => {
···
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}
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}
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Err(e) => {
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error!("failed to connect to websocket: {}", e);
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error!("failed to connect to websocket: {e}");
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}
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}
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···
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reply: fuser::ReplyEmpty,
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) {
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info!(
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"release(ino: {:#x?}, fh: {}, flags: {:#x?}, lock_owner: {:?}, flush: {})",
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ino, fh, flags, lock_owner, flush
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"release(ino: {ino:#x?}, fh: {fh}, flags: {flags:#x?}, lock_owner: {lock_owner:?}, flush: {flush})"
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);
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self.end_stream();
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reply.ok();
···
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let handle = thread::spawn(|| {
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fuser::cuse(device).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
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error!(
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"failed to start cuse device: {}. try run this example as privileged user",
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e
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"failed to start cuse device: {e}. try run this example as privileged user"
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);
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std::process::exit(1);
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})
···
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// make the device readable without sudo
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let output = Command::new("chmod")
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.args(&["644", &format!("/dev/{DEV}")])
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.args(["644", &format!("/dev/{DEV}")])
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.output();
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match output {