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System Core

This category covers essential system components: shells, init systems, system monitoring tools, and core utilities.

Shells

Bash

Bash is the GNU Project’s shell and command language, enabled by default in Asterinas NixOS.

fish

fish is a user-friendly shell with autosuggestions and web-based configuration.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.fish ];

Verified Usage

# Execute a script
fish script.sh

Zsh

Zsh is a powerful shell with extensive customization options.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.zsh ];

Verified Usage

# Execute a script
zsh script.sh

Init & Service Management

BusyBox

BusyBox provides many common UNIX utilities in a single small executable, enabled by default in initramfs of Asterinas NixOS.

systemd

systemd is a software suite for system and service management, enabled by default in rootfs of Asterinas NixOS.

System Monitoring

fastfetch

fastfetch is a system information tool similar to neofetch.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.fastfetch ];

Verified Usage

# Show system information with default configuration
fastfetch

# Save current output to a file
fastfetch > fastfetch-output.txt

htop

htop is an interactive process viewer.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.htop ];

Verified Usage

# Start htop
htop

# Inside htop:
# Up/Down       - Select process
# Left/Right    - Move between columns or UI sections
# h or F1       - Help
# q             - Quit

lsof

lsof lists open files and the processes that opened them.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.lsof ];

Verified Usage

# Show all files opened by a process with a given PID
lsof -p 1

# Show all files opened by processes with a given command name
lsof -c bash

# Show all files opened by a specific user
lsof -u root

# Show files opened under a directory
lsof +D /dev

ncdu

ncdu is a disk usage analyzer with an interactive TUI.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.ncdu ];

Verified Usage

# Analyze a specific directory
ncdu /var/log

# Save scan results to a file
ncdu -o result.ncdu /var/log

procps

procps provides system utilities for process management and system information.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.procps ];

Verified Usage

# Display memory in human readable format
free -h

# Kill process by PID
kill 1234

# Display processes with custom format
ps -eo pid,ppid,cmd,pcpu,pmem

# Find processes with full command line
pgrep -f "python script.py"

# Kill processes by pattern
pkill firefox

# Display memory map of a process
pmap 1234

# Monitor processes in real-time
top

# Display system uptime
uptime

Essential Tooling

coreutils

coreutils includes basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.coreutils ];

Verified Usage

# BLAKE2 checksum
b2sum file.txt > checksums.b2
b2sum --check checksums.b2

# Base64 encode/decode
base64 file.txt > encoded_file.b64
base64 -d encoded_file.b64

# Strip directory and suffix from filenames
basename /path/to/file.txt

# Concatenate and display files
cat file1.txt file2.txt

# Change file permissions
chmod 755 script.sh
chmod +x script.sh
chmod -R 755 directory/

# Run command or interactive shell with special root directory
chroot /newroot /bin/bash

# Copy files and directories
cp file1.txt file2.txt
cp -r dir1 dir2

# Split a file into sections determined by context lines
csplit file.txt '/pattern/' '{*}'

# Remove sections from each line of files
cut -d':' -f1 /etc/passwd

# Convert and copy a file
dd if=input.txt of=output.txt
dd if=/dev/zero of=disk.img bs=1M count=100

# Strip last component from file name
dirname /path/to/file.txt

# Display a line of text
echo "Hello World"

# Evaluate expressions
expr 2 + 3
expr 10 \* 5    # Escape * for shell

# Output the first part of files
head -n 20 file.txt

# Make links between files
ln -s target_file symlink
ln target_file hardlink

# Make directories
mkdir -p path/to/nested/dir

# Move (rename) files
mv old.txt new.txt
mv file.txt /destination/

# Dump files in octal and other formats
od file.txt
od -c file.txt  # Character format
od -x file.txt  # Hexadecimal format

# Merge lines of files
paste -d ',' file1.txt file2.txt    # Use comma as delimiter

# Print value of a symbolic link or canonical file name
readlink symlink

# Print the resolved path
realpath file.txt

# Remove files or directories
rm file.txt
rm -rf directory/

# Print a sequence of numbers
seq 0 2 10  # Start, increment, end

# SHA2 checksums
sha256sum file.txt > checksums.sha256
sha256sum --check checksums.sha256

# Display file or file system status
stat -c "%U %G" file.txt  # Custom format

# Flush file system buffers
sync

# Output the last part of files
tail -n 20 file.txt

# Change file timestamps
touch -t 202601011200 file.txt

# Print newline, word, and byte counts for each file
wc -l file.txt  # Lines only
wc -w file.txt  # Words only
wc -c file.txt  # Bytes only

diffutils

diffutils compares files line by line.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.diffutils ];

Verified Usage

# diff - Compare files line by line
diff -u file1.txt file2.txt

# Compare three files line by line
diff3 file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
diff3 -m file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt
diff3 -E file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

findutils

findutils provides the basic directory searching utilities.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.findutils ];

Verified Usage

# Search for files in a directory hierarchy
find /path -name "*.txt"           # Find by name
find /path -iname "*.TXT"          # Case insensitive
find /path -type f                 # Find files only
find /path -type d                 # Find directories only
find /path -type l                 # Find symbolic links only

# Execute commands on found files
find /path -name "*.tmp" -delete
find /path -name "*.log" -exec rm {} \;
find /path -name "*.bak" -exec cp {} {}.bak \;

# Build and execute command lines from standard input
find /path -name "*.txt" | xargs rm
find /path -name "*.log" | xargs -I {} cp {} {}.bak

grep

grep searches for patterns in text.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.gnugrep ];

Verified Usage

# Search for a pattern in a file
grep "pattern" file.txt

# Search recursively in a directory
grep -r "pattern" src/

# Case-insensitive search
grep -i "pattern" file.txt

# Show line numbers
grep -n "pattern" file.txt

# Show only the matching part of the line
grep -o "pattern" file.txt

# Invert match: show lines that do NOT match
grep -v "pattern" file.txt

# Use extended regular expressions
grep -E "foo|bar" file.txt

hostname

hostname shows or sets the system host name.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.hostname ];

Verified Usage

# Show current hostname
hostname

# Set hostname
hostname test

# Show NIS/YP domainname
hostname -y

# Set NIS domainname
domainname test

# Show ip address for the hostname
hostname -i

less

less is a terminal pager program for viewing text files.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.less ];

Verified Usage

# Opposite of more (better file viewer)
less file.txt

# Navigation commands (while in less):
#   j or Enter    - Move down one line
#   k             - Move up one line
#   f or Space    - Forward one window
#   b             - Backward one window
#   d             - Forward half window
#   u             - Backward half window

man-pages

man-pages provides the Linux manual pages.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.man-pages ];

Verified Usage

# Display manual page in specific section
man 1 ls        # User commands
man 2 read      # System calls
man 3 printf    # Library functions
man 4 tty       # Special files
man 5 fstab     # File formats
man 6 banner    # Games
man 7 regex     # Miscellaneous
man 8 mount     # System administration

# Display manual page with pager
man -P less ls

# Display manual page without pager
man -P cat ls

Texinfo

Texinfo is the official GNU documentation system.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.texinfoInteractive ];

Verified Usage

# Display info documentation for a topic
info bash

# Navigate within info viewer:
#   Space       - Scroll forward
#   Backspace   - Scroll backward
#   n           - Next node
#   p           - Previous node
#   u           - Up node
#   l           - Last visited node
#   g           - Go to specific node
#   s           - Search forward
#   q           - Quit

util-linux

util-linux provides a set of system utilities for any Linux system.

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.util-linux ];

Verified Usage

# Display system information
uname -a

# Display disk space usage
df -h

# Mount a file system
mount -t ext2 /dev/vdb /ext2

# Unmount a file system
umount /ext2

# Find mounted file systems
findmnt

# Display date in custom format
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"

# Display calendar for specific month
cal 01 2026

# Display user and group information
id

# Display login history
last

# Display file in hexadecimal
hexdump -C file.bin

# Display where program is located
whereis ls

which

which shows the full path of (shell) commands

Installation

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.which ];

Verified Usage

# Locate a command
which ls