Module loading is performed by modprobe, which is run by udev. Modules can only be automatically loaded if they have associated hardware, which the fuse modules does not. This means you either need to add it to /etc/modules by hand, or arrange for the module to be loaded by some means (often by creating a device in /lib/udev/devices)
fuse-utils could do either of these things for you; I'm pretty sure it did at some point -- fuse module not loaded https://launchpad.net/bugs/62861 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
