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| author | Craig Jennings <c@cjennings.net> | 2026-06-10 18:33:52 -0500 |
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| committer | Craig Jennings <c@cjennings.net> | 2026-06-10 18:33:52 -0500 |
| commit | e89d8c82905a7c263a118ebf4d35209e4fc29037 (patch) | |
| tree | 01302da6180f03e85629358896b527ca8b6d4f7c /docs/2026-06-10-modern-cli-tools-evaluation.org | |
| parent | ced91c43c464d624b3396ae44894022fd33aecaf (diff) | |
| download | archsetup-e89d8c82905a7c263a118ebf4d35209e4fc29037.tar.gz archsetup-e89d8c82905a7c263a118ebf4d35209e4fc29037.zip | |
docs: add 2026 tool evaluations — CLI replacements, AUR helper, terminals, file managers, criteria
Five evaluation reports: modern CLI tools (adopt bat/dust/hyperfine/tealdeer/doggo, all in extra), paru vs yay (stay with yay — paru dormant 11 months with a libalpm-broken stable), terminal emulators (stay with foot; ghostty the only challenger, wezterm effectively unmaintained), Wayland file managers (keep nautilus, add yazi over porting the frozen ranger), and the standing evaluation criteria distilled from the round. Maintenance claims verified against live repo data, not aggregator articles.
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diff --git a/docs/2026-06-10-modern-cli-tools-evaluation.org b/docs/2026-06-10-modern-cli-tools-evaluation.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29031ad --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/2026-06-10-modern-cli-tools-evaluation.org @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +#+TITLE: Modern CLI Tool Replacements — 2026 Evaluation +#+DATE: 2026-06-10 +#+DESCRIPTION: Survey of modern Unix-tool replacements; what to adopt, what to skip. Adoption decisions pending. + +* Current state +Arch + Hyprland/foot/zsh, Emacs-centric. Already adopted: eza, zoxide, ripgrep, fd, +duf, difftastic, fzf, plus btop (installed already — counts as adopted). bat is in +the repos but not installed. Nothing in the adopted set has been superseded as of +mid-2026; no replacements recommended there. + +* Candidates +| tool | replaces | verdict | why | packaging | +|------------+-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------------------------+---------------| +| bat | cat/less-ish | adopt | syntax-highlit file views, git diff gutter, fzf previews | extra 0.26.1 | +| dust | du | adopt | instant visual tree of what's eating disk | extra 1.2.4 | +| dua-cli | du/ncdu | optional | interactive variant of the same job; dust covers most of it | extra 2.34.0 | +| hyperfine | time loops | adopt | statistical benchmarking with warmup; ideal for scripts | extra 1.20.0 | +| tealdeer | man (lookup) | adopt | <15ms tldr pages; active releases into 2026 | extra 1.8.1 | +| doggo | dig/dog | adopt | DoH/DoT/DoQ, table output; dog itself is dead (2020) | extra 1.1.7 | +| xh | curl/httpie | optional | httpie syntax, single fast binary; only if you do API work | extra 0.25.3 | +| jless | less+jq viewing | optional | great JSON pager; upstream quiet since ~2023 (fx is active) | extra 0.9.0 | +| sd | sed (simple) | optional | sane find/replace syntax; stable but low-activity upstream | extra 1.1.0 | +| bottom | top | skip | btop already installed and more polished | extra 0.12.3 | +| procs | ps | skip | maintained, but btop + pgrep covers it | extra 0.14.11 | +| yazi | ranger/mc | skip | excellent and very active, but dired owns this workflow | extra 26.5.6 | +| broot | tree/cd-nav | skip | overlaps dired + zoxide + eza --tree | extra 1.57.0 | +| gping | ping | skip | a graph adds little over ping/mtr | extra 1.20.1 | +| choose | cut/awk fields | skip | tiny win; awk muscle memory already there | extra 1.3.7 | +| television | fzf | skip | active and interesting, but no reason to leave fzf | extra 0.15.7 | +| ouch | tar/unzip/etc. | optional | one verb for all archive formats; small quality-of-life win | extra 0.8.0 | + +* Top recommendations +- bat — the one gap in the current stack. Highlighted file views with line numbers + and git markers, and it slots straight into fzf preview windows and as a + MANPAGER/git pager. sharkdp maintains it actively (0.26.x, 2026). Works fine in + foot; set BAT_THEME to match the dupre palette once. +- dust — answers "what filled this disk" in one command with a proportional tree, + where du -sh * | sort needs piping and rereading. Complements duf (filesystems) + exactly: duf for mounts, dust for directories. +- hyperfine — statistically sound benchmarking (warmup runs, outlier detection, + comparison mode). Directly useful for timing archsetup script changes and shell + startup (hyperfine 'zsh -i -c exit'). +- tealdeer — tldr pages with ~15ms startup, so it's actually faster than recalling + a flag. Active through 2026 (1.8.1, fixes landing Jan 2026). Pairs with man + rather than replacing it. +- doggo — dig with readable output plus DoH/DoT/DoQ support, useful when debugging + resolution across wireguard/tailscale where the resolver path is the question. + The Rust "dog" it descends from is unmaintained since 2020; doggo is the live one. + +* Skip list +- bottom/procs — btop is already installed and covers both niches better. +- yazi — superb tool, wrong user: file management lives in dired. (If ever adopted, + previews work in foot via sixel.) +- broot — tree navigation already covered by zoxide + dired + eza --tree. +- gping — novelty over ping/mtr, no daily win. +- choose — not enough over cut/awk to earn a new habit. +- television — fzf is adopted, deeply integrated (zoxide, shell widgets), and still + the ecosystem default; no migration payoff. +- jless — fine to install ad hoc, but upstream is quiescent; fx (v39, active) is the + better bet if JSON browsing becomes frequent. +- sd — works and is stable, but Emacs query-replace + sed cover the use case. + +* Sources +- https://github.com/tealdeer-rs/tealdeer +- https://github.com/mr-karan/doggo +- https://github.com/ogham/dog +- https://github.com/aristocratos/btop +- https://github.com/chmln/sd +- https://github.com/PaulJuliusMartinez/jless +- https://github.com/alexpasmantier/television +- https://itsfoss.com/rust-alternative-cli-tools/ +- https://sumguy.com/btop-vs-htop-vs-bottom-top-replacements/ +- Local verification: pacman -Si on all candidates (all in Arch extra, 2026-06-10) |
