In hunt of productivity tools in bash (to list in devreal.org)

Modern software development feels like chasing smoke, frameworks rise and fall, GUIs shift faster than we can learn them, and the tools we depend on are often opaque, bloated, or short-lived.

I think the terminal is where real development will happen. The long-lasting inventions on how to work with the computer will be made in the terminal. Now even more, with AI, it is easier for an agent to execute a command than to click buttons to do a task.

*I am creating a list productivity applications* in "devreal.org". Do you know of any applications that meet the criteria? Do you have any good idea to add to the project?

* [https://devreal.org](https://devreal.org)

https://redd.it/1m2y6br
@r_bash

Ncat with -e

Hi all


I have used **netcat (nc)** in the past,
and then switched to **ncat**, which is newer, has more features,
and was created by the person who also created nmap.

I wrote this command for a simple server that runs a noscript file per every client that connects to it:

ncat -l 5000 -k -e 'server_noscript'

The `server_noscript` file contains this code:

read Line
echo 'You entered: '$Line

and to connect, the client code is:

ncat localhost 5000


It works good, but has a small problem:

After I connect as a client to the server and then enter a line,
the line is displayed back to me, by the `echo 'You entered: '$Line` command, as expected,
but the connection is not closed, as it should.
(the `server_noscript` file ends after that line)

Instead,
I can press another [Enter], and nothing happens,
and then I can press another [Enter], which then displays (on the client side) **"Ncat: Broken pipe."**,
and then the connection is finally closed.

See it in this screenshot:

https://i.ibb.co/84DPTrcD/Ncat.png


Can you please tell me what I should do in order to make the Server disconnect the client
right after the server noscript ends?


Thank you

https://redd.it/1m37kxa
@r_bash

Bash one liner website

Sorry for the weird post. I remember visiting a website in the early 2010s which was a bit like twitter, but for bash one liners. It was literally just a feed of one liners, some useful, some not, some outright dangerous.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. Does it ring a bell for anyone?

https://redd.it/1m3dgc8
@r_bash

How to make "unique" sourcing work?

(Maybe it works already and my expectation and how it actually works don't match up...)

I have a collection of noscripts that has grown over time. When some things started to get repetitive, I moved them to a separate file (base.sh). To be clever, I tried to make the inclusion / source of base.sh "unique", e.g.if

`A.sh` sources `base.sh`
B.sh sources base.sh AND A.sh

B.sh should have sourced base.sh only once (via A.sh).

The guard for sourcing (in base.sh) is [ -n ${__BASE_sh__} ] && return || __BASE_sh__=.

While this seems to work, I now have another problem:

`foobar.sh` sources `base.sh`
main.sh sources base.sh and calls foobar.sh

Now foobar.sh knows nothing about base.sh and fails...

# Update

It seems the issue is my assumption that [ -n ${__BASE_sh__} ] and [ ! -z ${__BASE_sh__} ] would be same is wrong. They are NOT.

The solution is to use [ ! -z ${__BASE_sh__} ] and the noscripts work as expected.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

# base.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# prevent multiple inclusion
-n ${__BASE_sh__} && return || BASEsh=.

function errcho() {
# write to stderr with red-colored "ERROR:" prefix
# using printf as "echo" might just print the special sequence instead of "executing" it
>&2 printf "\e[31mERROR:\e[0m "
>&2 echo -e "${@}"
}

# `foobar.sh`

#!/usr/bin/env bash

SCRIPTPATH=$(readlink -f "$0")
SCRIPTNAME=$(basename "${SCRIPTPATH}")
SCRIPTDIR=$(dirname "${SCRIPTPATH}")

source "${SCRIPTDIR}/base.sh"

errcho "Gotcha!!!"

# `main.sh`

#!/usr/bin/env bash

SCRIPTPATH=$(readlink -f "$0")
SCRIPTNAME=$(basename "${SCRIPTPATH}")
SCRIPTDIR=$(dirname "${SCRIPTPATH}")

source "${SCRIPTDIR}/base.sh"

"${SCRIPTDIR}/foobar.sh"

# Result

❯ ./main.sh
foobar.sh: line 9: errcho: command not found

https://redd.it/1m3dwu0
@r_bash

Estou criando um pré-processador de shell baseado em comentários de arquivos shell
https://github.com/KiamMota/shellmake

https://redd.it/1m4eavj
@r_bash

Insufficiently known POSIX shell features
https://apenwarr.ca/log/20110228

https://redd.it/1m4ixon
@r_bash

What makes Warp 2.0 different than other agentic systems - Comparing Warp 2.0 with other terminal-based AI-assisted coding
https://medium.com/vibecodingpub/what-makes-warp-2-0-different-than-other-agentic-systems-3a3f53479bdb?sk=4d596b69ced965d3182d8908438f8cf5

https://redd.it/1m4wbhd
@r_bash

Ok, made a little Network checker in bash

May not be the best but kinda works lol

Though the main point can be done via just
nmap -v -sn 192.168.0.1/24 | grep "Host is up" -B1

Thoughts guys?

https://pastebin.com/BNHDsJ5F




https://redd.it/1m50k62
@r_bash

Synlinks - When do you use a "hard" link

I use ln -s a lot . . . i like to keep all my files i don't want to lose in a central location that gets stored on an extra drive locally and even a big fat usb lol.


I know that there are hard links. And I have looked it up, and read about it . . . and i feel dense as a rock. Is there anyone who can sum up quickly, what a good use case is for a hard link? or . . . point me to some explanation? Or . . . is there any case where a soft link "just won't do"?

https://redd.it/1m5283v
@r_bash

Definitive way to set bash aliases on reboot or login?

Hello friends,

I have a handful of bash aliases that I like to use.



Is there a way to set these up by running some kind of noscript on a freshly set up Debian server so that they persist over reboots and are applied on every login?



I’ve tried inserting the alias statements into /home/$USER/.bashrc but keep running into permissions issues.





I’ve tried inserting the alias statements into /etc/bash.bashrc but keep running into permissions issues.



I’ve tried inserting the alias statements into /home/$USER/.bash_aliases but I’m clearly doing something wrong there too



I’ve tried putting an executable noscript e.g. '00-setup-bash-aliases.sh' in /etc/profile.d, I thought this was working but it seems to have stopped.



It has to be something really simple but poor old brain-injury me is really struggling here.

Please help! :)

Thanks!

https://redd.it/1m5j662
@r_bash

Exit pipe if cmd1 fails

cmd1 | cmd2 | cmd3, if cmd1 fails I don't want rest of cmd2, cmd3, etc. to run which would be pointless.

cmd1 >/tmp/file || exit works (I need the output of cmd1 whose output is processed by cmd2 and cmd3), but is there a good way to not have to write to a fail but a variable instead? I tried: mapfile -t output < <(cmd1 || exit) but it still continues presumably because it's exiting only within the process substitution.

What's the recommended way for this? Traps? Example much appreciated.

-----------

P.S. Unrelated, but for good practice (for noscript maintenance) where some variables that involve calculations (command substitutions that don't necessarily take a lot of time to execute) are used throughout the noscript but not always needed--is it best to define them at top of noscript; when they are needed (i.e. littering the noscript with variable declarations is not a concern); or have a function that sets the variable as global?

I currently use a function that sets the global variable which the rest of the noscript can use--I put it in the function to avoid duplicating code that other functions would otherwise need to use the variable but global variable should always be avoided? If it's a one-liner maybe it's better to re-use that instead of a global variable to be more explicit? Or simply doc that a global variable is set implicitly is adequate?

https://redd.it/1m5kle9
@r_bash

nsupdate noscript file

Sorry not sure how to describe this.

for bash noscript file i can start the file with

\#!/bin/bash


I want to do the same with nsupdate ... it has ; as a comment char

I'm thinking

;!/usr/bin/nsupdate

<nsupdate commands>

or ?




https://redd.it/1m68h73
@r_bash

Bash completion: how/where to configure user created commands?

I have bash completion on my Arch linux machine. When I am `unrar`ing something, tab completion will complete the command (from unr<TAB>) for me. Hitting tab again, lists all the options that are available. After the options are covered, hitting tab again, looks for the folders and any files with `.rar` extension. If there are no folders in the directory and there is only one file with the extension `.rar`, it picks that file to complete the tab.

When I use tab completion on a program I wrote (in C), it will complete the program name, but tabbing after that only searches for a file name when that is not the next option. And the files it displays, don't have the required extension, like `unrar` does.

How can I setup my programs to behave like `unrar`?

I have run `complete` (lists nothing of `unrar`):

[code\]complete -F _comp_complete_longopt mv

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt head

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt uniq

complete -F _comp_command else

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt mkfifo

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt tee

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt grep

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt objdump

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt cut

complete -F _comp_command nohup

complete -a unalias

complete -u groups

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt texindex

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts telnet

complete -F _comp_command vsound

complete -c which

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt m4

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt cp

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt base64

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt strip

complete -v readonly

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts showmount

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt tac

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts fping

complete -c type

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts ssh-installkeys

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt expand

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt ln

complete -F _comp_command aoss

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt ld

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt ennoscript

complete -F _comp_command xargs

complete -j -P '"%' -S '"' jobs

complete -F _comp_complete_service service

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt tail

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt unexpand

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt netstat

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt ls

complete -v unset

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt csplit

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts rsh

complete -F _comp_command exec

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt sum

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt nm

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt nl

complete -F _comp_complete_user_at_host ytalk

complete -u sux

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt paste

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts drill

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt dir

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt a2ps

complete -F _comp_root_command really

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts dig

complete -F _comp_complete_user_at_host talk

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt df

complete -F _comp_command eval

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt chroot

complete -F _comp_command do

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt du

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt wc

complete -A shopt shopt

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts ftp

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt uname

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts rlogin

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt rm

complete -F _comp_root_command gksudo

complete -F _comp_command nice

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt tr

complete -F _comp_root_command gksu

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt ptx

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts traceroute

complete -j -P '"%' -S '"' fg

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt who

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt less

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt mknod

complete -F _comp_command padsp

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt bison

complete -F

_comp_complete_longopt od

complete -F _comp_complete_load -D

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt split

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt fold

complete -F _comp_complete_user_at_host finger

complete -F _comp_root_command kdesudo

complete -u w

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt irb

complete -F _comp_command tsocks

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt diff

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt shar

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt vdir

complete -j -P '"%' -S '"' disown

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt bash

complete -A stopped -P '"%' -S '"' bg

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt objcopy

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt bc

complete -b builtin

complete -F _comp_command ltrace

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts traceroute6

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt date

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt cat

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt readelf

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt awk

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt seq

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt mkdir

complete -F _comp_complete_minimal ''

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt sort

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt pr

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt colordiff

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt fmt

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt sed

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt gperf

complete -F _comp_command time

complete -F _comp_root_command fakeroot

complete -u slay

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt grub

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt rmdir

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt units

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt touch

complete -F _comp_complete_longopt ldd

complete -F _comp_command then

complete -F _comp_command command

complete -F _comp_complete_known_hosts fping6[/code\]

https://redd.it/1m6phvu
@r_bash

How do you handle secrets in Bash when external tools aren't an option?

In restricted environments (no Vault, no Secrets Manager, no GPG), what's your go-to method for managing secrets securely in Bash? E.g local noscripts, CI jobs, embedded systems. Curious how others balance security and practicality here.

https://redd.it/1m75h10
@r_bash

Running group of processes parellel, wait till last is finished

I have the following problem and the following bash noscript. I need to execute the command on ln 1, wait and then execute the commands on ln3 and 4 parallel. After finishing those the command on ln 5, wait and then the commands on ln6 and 6 in paralelle:

[1] php -f getCommands.php
[2] [ -f /tmp/download.txt ] && parallel -j4 --ungroup :::: /tmp/download.txt
[3] [ -f /tmp/update.txt ] && parallel -j4 --ungroup :::: /tmp/update.txt
[4]
[5] php -f getSecondSetOfCommands.php
[6] [ -f /tmp/download2.txt ] && parallel -j4 --ungroup :::: /tmp/download2.txt
[7] [ -f /tmp/update2.txt ] && parallel -j4 --ungroup :::: /tmp/update2.txt

Without success, i tried the following:

put an & after line 2,3,6 and 7, this will start the command on line 5 prematurely.

Brackets, no effect:

php -f getCommands.php
{
[ -f /tmp/download.txt ] && parallel -j4 --ungroup :::: /tmp/download.txt
[ -f /tmp/update.txt ] && parallel -j4 --ungroup :::: /tmp/update.txt
} &

writing the parallel commands in two different txt files and call them with parallel, but this just makes the noscript so much less maintanable for such a simple problem.

Anyone has some good pointers?

https://redd.it/1m7fbcr
@r_bash

I have created a (subnoscript) translator for YouTube videos using only bash.

Why?

For some reason, YouTube's automatic translator hasn't been working for me, and the translation quality is usually not good. Anyway, this transcribes using Whisper-1 and translates using OpenAI's GPT.

What does the noscript do?

* It downloads the video
* Creates an ogg audio (ogg allows trannoscription of long videos due to its small size)
* Transcribes the audio with Whisper
* Simultaneously translates the subnoscript file (.srt) based on a Chunk\_Size
* Merges the new translation with the video, creating an MKV

How to use?

`this_noscript_file youtube_url [output_dir]`

*Note: I really didn't write this for anything beyond personal use, so don't expect anything stable or user-focused. I'm just sharing it in case it helps someone and they want to take a look at the noscript. If anyone wants to improve it, I will gladly accept any PR.*

*kinda 100 lines of bash code*
[https://gist.github.com/kelvinauta/0561842fc9a7e138cd166c42fdd5f4bc](https://gist.github.com/kelvinauta/0561842fc9a7e138cd166c42fdd5f4bc)


https://redd.it/1m7rold
@r_bash

Building A Privacy-First Terminal History Tool

After losing commands too many times due to bash history conflicts, I started researching what's available. The landscape is... messy.

The Current State:

Bash history still fights with itself across multiple sessions
Atuin is great, but it sends your commands to their servers (raising privacy concerns?)
McFly is looking for maintainers (uncertain future)
Everyone's solving 80% of the problem, but with different trade-offs

What I'm Building: CommandChronicles focuses on local-first privacy with the rich features you want. Your command history stays on your machine, syncs seamlessly across your sessions, and includes a fuzzy search that works.

The goal isn't to reinvent everything - it's to combine the reliability people want from modern tools with the privacy and control of local storage.

Question for the community: What's your biggest pain point with terminal history? Are you sticking with basic bash history, or have you found something that works well for your workflow?

Currently in early development, but would love to hear what features matter most to developers who've been burned by history loss before.

https://redd.it/1m7wmmm
@r_bash

🚀 Auto Install Docker, Portainer, Caddy & n8n — with One Bash Script!
https://redd.it/1m7z4y1
@r_bash

I expected 55 but I got 0+1+2+...

bash-3.2$ total=0

bash-3.2$ for i in {1..10};

\> do

\> total=$total+$i

\> done




bash-3.2$ echo $total

0+1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10

https://redd.it/1m7rz71
@r_bash

I built a GTK-based Bash Script Manager in C#/.NET, run and manage your bash noscripts with a simple GUI

i built an bash noscript manager if anyones interested

https://github.com/Samoreilly/BashScriptManager

https://redd.it/1m84mxd
@r_bash