The GNU Core Utilities or coreutils is a collection of GNU software that implements many standard, Unix-based shell commands. See list. The utilities generally provide POSIX compliant interface when the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is set, but otherwise offers a superset to the standard interface. For example, the utilities support long options and options after parameters. This environment variable enables a different functionality in BSD.
Similar collections are available in the FOSS ecosystem, with a slightly different scope and focus (less functionality), or license. For example, BusyBox which is licensed under GPL-2.0-only, and Toybox which is licensed under 0BSD.
History
In 1990, David MacKenzie announced GNU fileutils.1
In 1991, MacKenzie announced GNU shellutils and GNU textutils.23 Moreover, Jim Meyering became the maintainer of the packages (known now as coreutils) and has remained so since.4
In September 2002, the GNU coreutils were created by merging the earlier packages textutils, shellutils, and fileutils, along with some other miscellaneous utilities.5
In July 2007, the license of the GNU coreutils was updated from GPL-2.0-or-later to GPL-3.0-or-later.6
See also
- Free and open-source software portal
- GNU Binutils
- List of GNU Core Utilities commands
- List of POSIX commands
- Toybox, a 0BSD licensed, all-in-one Linux command-line utility used in Android.
- util-linux, a set of approximately 100 basic Linux system utilities not included in GNU Core Utilities, such as mount, fdisk, more, and kill.
Notes
External links
- Official website
- The Heirloom Toolchest - An alternative set of utilities
- opensource.com article: gnu-core-utilities on 4 Apr 2018 by David Both (Correspondent)
References
"GNU file utilities release 1.0". groups.google.com. https://groups.google.com/g/gnu.utils.bug/c/CviP42X_hCY/m/YssXFn-JrX4J ↩
"GNU shell programming utilities released". groups.google.com. https://groups.google.com/g/gnu.utils.bug/c/xpTRtuFpNQc/m/mRc_7JWZ0BYJ ↩
"new GNU file and text utilities released". groups.google.com. https://groups.google.com/g/gnu.utils.bug/c/iN5KuoJYRhU/m/V_6oiBAWF0EJ ↩
"GNU's Who". https://www.gnu.org/people/people.html#j ↩
Meyering, Jim (2003-01-13). "README-package-renamed-to-coreutils". Archived from the original on 2019-12-25. Retrieved 2018-08-15. https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/tree/README-package-renamed-to-coreutils ↩
Meyering, Jim (2007-07-23). "COPYING: Update to Version 3". Archived from the original on 2019-12-25. Retrieved 2018-08-15. https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/commit/COPYING?id=5f606e6f1f0552c8af7b9cfbbafe3aad048bb99e ↩