Mount a tar file as a virtual file system

[Steven Susbauer]

Jim Byrnes wrote:
> Nils Kassube wrote:
>> Peng Yu wrote:
>>> It seems that there are more than one way to mount a tar file (say
>>> .tar.bz2) as a virtual file system. Could anybody let me know what
>>> might be the best solution so that I can try?
>> Usually I just click on the icon for the archive file in my file manager
>> (konqueror). The archive isn't mounted though, the file manager just
>> looks inside the archive and displays the contents as if it was a normal
>> directory. But I can't tell you if that is possible with the Gnome file
>> manager as well.
>>
>>
>> Nils
>>
>
> It is possible in Gnome also by double clicking the file in Natulius.

This really depends what OP means by mounting a tar file as a virtual 
filesystem. Both KDE and Gnome (file-roller) do not actually mount the 
archive as a filesystem, they simply open in the same way that Windows 
Explorer opens a zip file.

fuse and libarchive can mount and write to tar archives. There is a 
howto at http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/132196 but I don't know 
how up to date it is.