I wouldn’t install a program for this if your use case is simple. You will end up relying on it when there are already some built in tools that can get you 99% of the way there.
Bash scripts placed in ~/bin or ~/.local/bin
Can have simple or complex scripts setup to do whatever you want
Easily called from terminal or automated through cron or systemd
Environment variables set in -/.bashrc
Great for storing common paths, strings, etc.
Can be easily incorporated into bash scripts
Aliases set in ~/.bashrc
Ideal (IMO) for common commands with preferred options
for example you could setup your most used rsync command to an alias: alias rsync-cust=“rsync -avuP”
Edit: rephrased to not discount the tools shared. I am sure if you had a specific reason to use them they could be helpful. But I think for many users the above options are more than enough and are supported pretty universally.
Yeah, potentially overkill, but all the power to anyone who wants to try them out. Freedom of choice is one of the best parts of Linux.
And sorry for the long response. It’s hard to gauge the proficiency that someone might have with Linux, so I tend to lean towards detailed explanations just in case
I did not know any of the programs mentioned in the post, but some of them seem really nice. Can someone who thinks aliases are a better solution please explain why they think so and what is their advantage over these projects? Do they have any pitfalls that you are aware of?
I believe that if I use a command sparsely enough, I will forget the created alias name just a few days later than the actual command.
I think that there are definitely valuable/valid use cases for the software in the OP, but I think that the built in bash tools can get most people most of the way there. And learning the common bash/shell conventions is way more valuable than learning a custom tool that some distros/environments won’t support.
If someone already uses aliases, creates some custom scripts, and sets some useful environment variables (along with effective use of piping and redirection) and still needs something more specialized, then getting a new tool could help.
The downsides are a reliance on another piece of software to use the terminal. So I would only use something like this if I had a really solid and specific use case I couldn’t accomplish with what I already use.
Bash is a shell but it’s also a programming language, so between functions, aliases and scripts you can do anything you want without depending on an external program that might break, not be maintained anymore and you need to install everytime you reinstall, a machine.
Bash scripts kept in the home directory or another place that’s logical for them specifically.
history | grep whatever (or other useful piping), though your older commands are forgotten eventually. You can mess with the values of HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE environment variables in your system.
Yeah, it has its downsides. zsh with some addons is probably better overall. Or if you’re at least aware of it’s differences from bash and can work with that.
An alias file is what I’ve found to be the simplest. Just have to add one line to either .zshrc or .bashrc that links to the file. I store the alias file and some custom scripts that a few aliases call in a git repo so it’s literally just a matter of git pull, add one line to the rc file and then close and reopen the terminal and everything is ready to go.
I have a file in my ~ called .alias and it is sourced by any shell I might use (currently just zsh) in it are common aliases like s => sudo and “sudo” => "sudo " (just put this as an alias if you use them a lot, you’ll thank me when you’re trying to use them with sudo)
Add comment