diff --git a/src/calibre/devices/udisks.py b/src/calibre/devices/udisks.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ba26c2b56c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/devices/udisks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=UTF-8:ts=4:sw=4:sta:et:sts=4:ai
+
+__license__   = 'GPL v3'
+__copyright__ = '2010, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
+__docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
+
+import dbus
+import os
+
+def node_mountpoint(node):
+
+    def de_mangle(raw):
+        return raw.replace('\\040', ' ').replace('\\011', '\t').replace('\\012',
+                '\n').replace('\\0134', '\\')
+
+    for line in open('/proc/mounts').readlines():
+        line = line.split()
+        if line[0] == node:
+            return de_mangle(line[1])
+    return None
+
+
+class UDisks(object):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        if os.environ.get('CALIBRE_DISABLE_UDISKS', False):
+            raise Exception('User has aborted use of UDISKS')
+        self.bus = dbus.SystemBus()
+        self.main = dbus.Interface(self.bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.UDisks',
+                        '/org/freedesktop/UDisks'), 'org.freedesktop.UDisks')
+
+    def device(self, device_node_path):
+        devpath = self.main.FindDeviceByDeviceFile(device_node_path)
+        return dbus.Interface(self.bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.UDisks',
+                        devpath), 'org.freedesktop.UDisks.Device')
+
+    def mount(self, device_node_path):
+        d = self.device(device_node_path)
+        try:
+            return unicode(d.FilesystemMount('',
+                ['auth_no_user_interaction', 'rw', 'noexec', 'nosuid',
+                'sync', 'nodev', 'uid=1000', 'gid=1000']))
+        except:
+            # May be already mounted, check
+            mp = node_mountpoint(str(device_node_path))
+            if mp is None:
+                raise
+            return mp
+
+    def unmount(self, device_node_path):
+        d = self.device(device_node_path)
+        d.FilesystemUnmount(['force'])
+
+    def eject(self, device_node_path):
+        parent = device_node_path
+        while parent[-1] in '0123456789':
+            parent = parent[:-1]
+        devices = [str(x) for x in self.main.EnumerateDeviceFiles()]
+        for d in devices:
+            if d.startswith(parent) and d != parent:
+                try:
+                    self.unmount(d)
+                except:
+                    import traceback
+                    print 'Failed to unmount:', d
+                    traceback.print_exc()
+        d = self.device(parent)
+        d.DriveEject([])
+
+def mount(node_path):
+    u = UDisks()
+    u.mount(node_path)
+
+def eject(node_path):
+    u = UDisks()
+    u.eject(node_path)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    import sys
+    dev = sys.argv[1]
+    print 'Testing with node', dev
+    u = UDisks()
+    print 'Mounted at:', u.mount(dev)
+    print 'Ejecting'
+    u.eject(dev)
+
+
diff --git a/src/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py b/src/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py
index 6fcfb9e7f0..6f938cbcbd 100644
--- a/src/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py
+++ b/src/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py
@@ -530,16 +530,8 @@ class Device(DeviceConfig, DevicePlugin):
         return drives
 
     def node_mountpoint(self, node):
-
-        def de_mangle(raw):
-            return raw.replace('\\040', ' ').replace('\\011', '\t').replace('\\012',
-                    '\n').replace('\\0134', '\\')
-
-        for line in open('/proc/mounts').readlines():
-            line = line.split()
-            if line[0] == node:
-                return de_mangle(line[1])
-        return None
+        from calibre.devices.udisks import node_mountpoint
+        return node_mountpoint(node)
 
     def find_largest_partition(self, path):
         node = path.split('/')[-1]
@@ -585,6 +577,13 @@ class Device(DeviceConfig, DevicePlugin):
                 label += ' (%d)'%extra
 
             def do_mount(node, label):
+                try:
+                    from calibre.devices.udisks import mount
+                    mount(node)
+                    return 0
+                except:
+                    pass
+
                 cmd = 'calibre-mount-helper'
                 if getattr(sys, 'frozen_path', False):
                     cmd = os.path.join(sys.frozen_path, cmd)
@@ -617,6 +616,7 @@ class Device(DeviceConfig, DevicePlugin):
         if not mp.endswith('/'): mp += '/'
         self._linux_mount_map[main] = mp
         self._main_prefix = mp
+        self._linux_main_device_node = main
         cards = [(carda, '_card_a_prefix', 'carda'),
                  (cardb, '_card_b_prefix', 'cardb')]
         for card, prefix, typ in cards:
@@ -732,6 +732,11 @@ class Device(DeviceConfig, DevicePlugin):
                     pass
 
     def eject_linux(self):
+        try:
+            from calibre.devices.udisks import eject
+            return eject(self._linux_main_device_node)
+        except:
+            pass
         drives = self.find_device_nodes()
         for drive in drives:
             if drive:
diff --git a/src/calibre/manual/customize.rst b/src/calibre/manual/customize.rst
index c35defc0b0..e0f799f572 100644
--- a/src/calibre/manual/customize.rst
+++ b/src/calibre/manual/customize.rst
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Environment variables
     * ``CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH`` - allows you to specify the full path to metadata.db. Using this variable you can have metadata.db be in a location other than the library folder. Useful if your library folder is on a networked drive that does not support file locking.
     * ``CALIBRE_DEVELOP_FROM`` - Used to run from a calibre development environment. See :ref:`develop`.
     * ``CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_LANG`` - Used to force the language used by the interface (ISO 639 language code)
+    * ``CALIBRE_DISABLE_UDISKS`` - Used to disable the use of udisks for mounting/ejecting. Set it to 1 to use calibre-mount-helper instead.
     * ``SYSFS_PATH`` - Use if sysfs is mounted somewhere other than /sys
     * ``http_proxy`` - Used on linux to specify an HTTP proxy