Best way of sharing files over network with linux

Question

I have an iMac running Mac OS 10.7.3 which is connected to wifi network, there is also a linux laptop connected to the same network. I want to share a folder with this laptop, I cannot use ftp since it was removed from system preferences. I don't want to share everything, so remote login is not option, unless there are settings to restrict it, so what is the best way of sharing this folder?

Answer 1

Simply use the File Sharing option in the System Preferences.

It will give you the option to share using AFP or SMB, both of which are supported in Linux.

You didn't specify which Linux distribution you are using specifically, but most graphical distributions such as Ubuntu have SMB support out of the box (just go to Places->Network and find your share). AFP support can be obtained by installing afpfs-ng.

Answer 2

In addition to AFP, and SMB, both of which are reasonably non-unixy, you can also use NFS.

AFP also has issues in Lion with other OSs using netatalk libraries.

NFS is very well supported on Linux.

See this for a comparison: NFS, AFP, SMB... Advantages and drawbacks on a Mac OS system