Keyboard shortcuts

Press or to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

inutils

inutils is a set of core system utilities written in Go. It handles everyday file management and basic system tasks in Vesper Linux.

Think of it as a clean alternative to GNU coreutils with a BusyBox mindset. It keeps compatibility with common flags and provides symlinks for familiar tools like cp and rm so your muscle memory still works, while dropping decades of legacy bloat.

Naming

When you see the utility names for the first time, you might wonder, “Where is mkdir?” - the names are completely different from standard GNU coreutils.

This approach stems from the project’s origins as an experimental rewrite of coreutils for fun, which eventually evolved into a core system layer.

But don’t worry! The system still ships standard symlinks to make your life easier and to support scripts.

Utilities list

There are currently 23 utilities implemented in inutils:

Utility (GNU alias)Description
am (rm)Remove files or directories
crea (mkdir)Create directories
dm (pwd)Print current working directory
dom (chown)Change file owner and group
ego (whoami)Print effective user ID
grex (groups)Print group memberships
im (cp)Copy files and directories
inu (cat)Concatenate and print files
inv (find)Search for files in a directory hierarchy
mons (mount / umount)Mount and unmount filesystems
mov (mv)Move or rename files
nomen (hostname)Show system host name
non (yes)Output a string repeatedly until killed
nx (ln)Make links between files
perm (chmod)Change file mode bits (permissions)
rf (ls)List directory contents
scruta (grep)Print lines matching a pattern
spat (df / du)Show file space and disk usage
summa (sha256sum)Compute and check SHA-256 message digest
tango (touch)Change file timestamps / create empty files
vera (realpath)Print resolved absolute file path
vita (ps / kill)Process status and signal termination
vox (echo)Display a line of text

Codebase

The code is dead simple. No crazy abstractions or deep rabbit holes, you can open any file and read it like a book.

Source code

Source code is available at Codeberg