Remote file access can be gained using nfs(4) or u9fs(4). U9fs can be started from a network listner, e.g. inetd(8) or via srvssh over an ssh link.

To use inetd(1) Add this line to /etc/inetd.conf:

u9fs     stream  tcp     nowait  root   /usr/etc/u9fs   u9fs

and this to /etc/services:

u9fs     564/tcp       9fs

Note: the service is defined as u9fs rather than 9pfs as some inetd implementations treat service names starting with a digit as numeric port numbers.

U9fs can be started via ssh using srvssh(4), or by launchd(8), (the Mac OS X replacement for inetd(1) and /etc/rc0-9.d/*). Launchd needs a configuration file of the form:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0"> 
<dict> 
	<key>Label</key> 
	<string>com.bell-labs.plan9.u9fs</string> 
	<key>Program</key> 
	<string>/usr/bin/u9fs</string> 
	<key>ProgramArguments</key> 
	<array> 
		<string>u9fs</string> 
		<string>-l</string> 
		<string>/var/log/u9fs.log</string> 
		<string>-a</string> 
		<string>p9any</string> 
		<string>/opt/plan9</string>
	</array> 
	<key>Sockets</key> 
	<dict> 
		<key>Listeners</key> 
		<dict> 
			<key>SockServiceName</key> 
			<string>9pfs</string> 
		</dict> 
	</dict> 
	<key>inetdCompatibility</key> 
	<dict> 
		<key>Wait</key> 
		<false/> 
	</dict> 
</dict> 
</plist>

To cause this to be run on system start, this should be installed as /Library/LaunchDaemons/9pfs.plist. Installing instead in /Library/LaunchAgents will cause it to be run only when a user is logged in, while $HOME/Library/LaunchAgents will cause it to be run only when that particular user is logged in.

In order to start the listner it must first be ``loaded''

$ sudo launchctrl load /path/to/9pfs.plist

If you are running the Mac OS X firewall you will need to add an entry pass the 9pfs protocol in:

SystemPreferences->Sharing->Firewall

The example 9pfs.plist above uses 9p authentication, described in detail in u9fs(4), and serves only /opt/plan9.

Cygwin provides a posix environment that allows u9fs and ssh to be implemented as described in the Unix section above.

Alternatively a native Windows file protocol client is available as the contrib(1) package steve/cifs. This has been tested with Windows 95, NT, 2k, and XP.

Problems have been reported with Windows Vista which is believed to be due to Vista requiring more complex authentication than cifs(1) can provide. It has been suggested that fixing this is a simply a matter of changing Vista's default configuration.

The steve/9win package contains a preliminary command line client and server. It provides slightly tighter integration than ssh, however It should be replaced by a native cpu server for windows as soon as possible.

A client for historic NetWare servers is also available in the package steve/ncpfs.