How can I mount a remote directory on my computer?

Question

I have all my code and data on my computer at work. But often I work from home, so I ssh into the work computer, connect to my GNU screen session (which includes a text-based emacs) and start hacking, compiling, etc.

This can get a bit annoying sometimes, especially if my connection is slow, and the remote emacs lags behind my typing. Also, it would be nice to use an IDE to work on the code.

Is there a solution? Sure, I could sync the code with rsync or svn, but then I think I have too many directories scattered around, lots of data that I don't want to copy around etc. And I always want to compile and run remotely (because the work computers are fast and plenty), but coding and typing itself would be better on my home computer.

Can I mount my remote home directory on my local computer? What do I need for this to work? Would I need my sysadmin for this? (I'd rather not, because he usually doesn't reply e-mails, or is unwilling to do anything that people ask him.) Can I do something with VPN? How do you do it when you work from home?

(As for the security restrictions, right now I can ssh and scp, but not telnet or ftp.)

UPDATE: I have a Mac at home, and Linux at work.

Answer 1

I have a similar situation and I use Netdrive. You may be interested in that!

From the site : With NetDrive, managing your remote FTP and WebDAV servers will be as easy as any old file folders on your PC.

Once you mount the local drive, you don't need to run an application or an FTP client interface but a simple drag-and-drop in your Windows Explorer will be sufficient to transfer and manage files.

Update : Sorry just now read the update that you use mac.

Answer 2

Check this Lifehacker article: Mount a file system on your Mac over SSH. As long as you have SSH to your workstation you do not need sysadmin for this. However, you need to install MaceFUSE and SSHFS on your Mac. Check the article for details.