Coreutils is a cross-platform Rust implementation designed to replicate the functionality of GNU coreutils, providing developers and system administrators with consistent command-line tools across various platforms such as Linux, macOS, and Windows. This software aims to offer a seamless experience for users who require reliable CLI utilities without platform-specific issues.
Key features of Coreutils include precise compatibility with GNU output and error codes, enhanced error messages for clarity, robust UTF-8 support for internationalization, optimized performance for efficiency, and platform-specific extensions that enhance functionality while maintaining core utility behavior. These features ensure that scripts developed on one system can be effectively transferred to another without modification.
Ideal for developers and system administrators seeking cross-platform consistency, Coreutils allows users to execute their scripts uniformly across different operating systems. This capability streamlines workflow processes and reduces the need for platform-specific adjustments, making it an invaluable tool for maintaining a consistent CLI experience.
README
uutils coreutils
uutils coreutils is a cross-platform reimplementation of the GNU coreutils in
Rust. While all programs have been implemented, some
options might be missing or different behavior might be experienced.
To install it:
cargo install coreutils
~/.cargo/bin/coreutils
Goals
uutils coreutils aims to be a drop-in replacement for the GNU utils. Differences with GNU
are treated as bugs.
Our key objectives include:
Matching GNU's output (stdout and error code) exactly
Better error messages
Providing comprehensive internationalization support (UTF-8)
uutils aims to work on as many platforms as possible, to be able to use the same
utils on Linux, macOS, Windows and other platforms. This ensures, for example,
that scripts can be easily transferred between platforms.
Documentation
uutils has both user and developer documentation available:
uutils follows Rust's release channels and is tested against stable, beta and
nightly. The current Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) is 1.85.0.
Building
There are currently two methods to build the uutils binaries: either Cargo or
GNU Make.
> Building the full package, including all documentation, requires both Cargo
> and GNU Make on a Unix platform.
For either method, we first need to fetch the repository:
git clone https://github.com/uutils/coreutils
cd coreutils
Cargo
Building uutils using Cargo is easy because the process is the same as for every
other Rust program:
cargo build --release
This command builds the most portable common core set of uutils into a multicall
(BusyBox-type) binary, named 'coreutils', on most Rust-supported platforms.
Additional platform-specific uutils are often available. Building these expanded
sets of uutils for a platform (on that platform) is as simple as specifying it
as a feature:
cargo build --release --features macos
# or ...
cargo build --release --features windows
# or ...
cargo build --release --features unix
To build SELinux-specific features, including chcon and runcon, ensure that libselinux
and libclang are installed on your system. Then, run the following command:
If you don't want to build every utility available on your platform into the
final binary, you can also specify which ones you want to build manually. For
example:
Each utility is contained in its own package within the main repository, named "uu_UTILNAME". To
build selected individual utilities, use the --package [aka -p] option. For example:
To build all but a few of the available utilities:
make SKIP_UTILS='UTILITY_1 UTILITY_2'
To build only a few of the available utilities:
make UTILS='UTILITY_1 UTILITY_2'
Installation
Install with Cargo
Likewise, installing can simply be done using:
cargo install --path . --locked
This command will install uutils into Cargo's bin folder (e.g.$HOME/.cargo/bin).
This does not install files necessary for shell completion or manpages. For
manpages or shell completion to work, use GNU Make or see
Manually install shell completions/Manually install manpages.
Install with GNU Make
To install all available utilities:
make install
To install using sudo switch -E must be used:
sudo -E make install
To install all but a few of the available utilities:
make SKIP_UTILS='UTILITY_1 UTILITY_2' install
To install only a few of the available utilities:
make UTILS='UTILITY_1 UTILITY_2' install
To install every program with a prefix (e.g. uu-echo uu-cat):
make PROG_PREFIX=PREFIX_GOES_HERE install
To install the multicall binary:
make MULTICALL=y install
Set install parent directory (default value is /usr/local):
# DESTDIR is also supported
make PREFIX=/my/path install
Installing with make installs shell completions for all installed utilities
for bash, fish and zsh. Completions for elvish and powershell can also
be generated; See Manually install shell completions.
To skip installation of completions and manpages:
make COMPLETIONS=n MANPAGES=n install
Manually install shell completions
The uudoc binary generates completions for the bash, elvish,
fish, powershell and zsh shells to stdout.
So, to install completions for ls on bash to
/usr/local/share/bash-completion/completions/ls, run:
uudoc completion ls bash > /usr/local/share/bash-completion/completions/ls.bash
Completion for prefixed cp with uu- on zsh is generated by
env PROG_PREFIX=uu- uudoc completion cp zsh
Manually install manpages
To generate manpages, the syntax is:
uudoc manpage
So, to install the manpage for ls to /usr/local/share/man/man1/ls.1 run:
uudoc manpage ls > /usr/local/share/man/man1/ls.1
Un-installation
Un-installation differs depending on how you have installed uutils. If you used
Cargo to install, use Cargo to uninstall. If you used GNU Make to install, use
Make to uninstall.
Uninstall with Cargo
To uninstall uutils:
cargo uninstall coreutils
Uninstall with GNU Make
To uninstall all utilities:
make uninstall
To uninstall every program with a set prefix:
make PROG_PREFIX=PREFIX_GOES_HERE uninstall
To uninstall the multicall binary:
make MULTICALL=y uninstall
To uninstall from a custom parent directory:
# DESTDIR is also supported
make PREFIX=/my/path uninstall
GNU test suite compatibility
Below is the evolution of how many GNU tests uutils passes. A more detailed
breakdown of the GNU test results of the main branch can be found
in the user manual.
