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internal refactors, so too is 3.3.13 a significant Graphics upgrade, featuring
significant upgrades to Wayland (and Xvesa/TinyX!) support, and allowing for
much more granular output controls. The legacy -Ga showing
Display/Screen/Monitors is now split apart, and can now work for some features
in and out of display.
This upgrade should be of significant interest to any Wayland using distro, as
well as the tiny Xvesa based distros like TinyCore, Slitaz, and Puppy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE TO MAINTAINERS AND PACKAGERS:
If you had Cpanel::JSON::XS or JSON::XS Perl modules as dependencies, you can
remove those, inxi now can use JSON::PP, which is in Core Modules since Perl
5.14 (unless for some reason your distro removed that module from Core Modules).
Basically inxi will simply look for whichever of the 3 is installed, and use
that one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KNOWN ISSUES:
1. The free drivers for xorg like amdgpu, modesetting, alter the the internal
kernel IDs for monitors/gfx device ports, which is somewhat bizarre since the
ideal role of any ID is to be an identifier that always works. Due to this
situation, inxi has to map the kernel ids to the x driver monitor IDs in order
to show the advanced monitor data, like model: mapped: and modes:. This may not
always work as expected since if the mapping fails, the data will fail to match
to the monitors. While not enough data is in to make any conclusions, hoping
that this issue does not exist on Wayland compositors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUGS:
1. Not sure if this was a bug, but I believe RAM vendor ID matches would never
have generated results, and might have generated errors. That's corrected as
part of Code fix 1.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIXES:
1. Tiny indentation level issue, for -Ga, Monitor was not set to be a container
for its data. This would only impact -y 1 or json and xml output cases, and would
be subtle, but it was an oversight.
2. Small fix for monitor dimensions, failed to switch the mm dimensions for
monitors placed in a vertical, portait mode, instead of standard landscape mode.
Now switches mm x and y if that is detected, which corrects dpi as well.
3. For Xvesa:
* Show vesa as display driver, Xvesa == vesa, dugh,lol.
* Show better Interface and Screen resolution data missing messages.
* See FIX 5 for adding in display-ID:.
* Show TinX Xvesa string for server data, not just Xvesa.
4. For Wayland, which currently has no EGL support in inxi, if no glxinfo
present, show EGL Wayland specific Messsage: for advanced EGL data, not the
generic glxinfo that were shown previously.
5. Display was relying on xdpyinfo or a Wayland environmental variable to set
display-ID:, now falls back always to $ENV{DISPLAY} if nothing else was found
and that exists. I hadn't realized how much was depending on those x tools,
which many people never had installed in the first place. This also supplies
that for Xvesa as well, which has features that need the Display-ID to use.
6. Intel family 6, model 17h, supposed to be yorkfield, was penryn, fixed.
7. Small fix for remove_duplicates, it was not case insensitive so missed things
like DELL Dell in strings.
8. Failed to detect or get Xfree86 X server version number.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENHANCEMENTS:
1. Extensive Graphics Upgrades:
* -Gxx Devices: For some gpus / drivers, show vram total and used for -Gxx.
amdgpu supports this, I believe it's the only one, but don't know for sure.
* -Gxx Devices: (Linux only): Show active, off (connected but disabled, like a
closed laptop screen with attached moniitor), and empty ports on devices. Not
tested for USB yet.
* -Gxx Devices: Show device ports (like VGA-1, DVI-I-1, HDMI-A-1), active, off
(off is connected but disabled) and empty (linux only).
* -G Display/Screen: Removed strict dependency on xdpyinfo to show advanced xorg
screen and display data. Now it will show most of the data if xrandr is
available, and all if xrandr and xdpyinfo are installed. More granular error
messages as well.
* -G Wayland Display: new type, d-rect: for > 1 monitor Wayland display layouts.
Works roughly the same as Screen: s-res: does, except since Wayland has no
'Screen' concept, that goes into Display. This is sort of a rough algo,
basically it takes either the dimensions of the total of x and y resolutions, or
the greatest x or y resolution found for any monitor, whichever is greater, and
uses that to create the display rectangle resolution composite value.
* -G Display, Monitors: Extended display tool options from just xrandr to
swaymsg, wlr-xrandr, weston-info, wayland-info. Still nothing on kwin_wayland or
gnome-shell and mutter data.
*. -S, -G: compositors, full redo of list, now supported:
asc awc cage cagebreak cardboard chameleonwm clayland comfc dwc dwl epd-wm
fireplace feathers fenestra glass gamescope greenfield grefson hikari hopalong
inaban japokwm kiwmi kwinft labwc laikawm lipstick liri mahogany marina maze
motorcar newm nucleus orbital perceptia phoc pywm qtile river rustland simulavr
skylight sommelier sway swc swvkc tabby taiwins tinybox tinywl trinkster velox
vimway vivarium wavy waybox way-cooler wayfire wayhouse waymonad westeros
westford weston wio+ wio wxrc wxrd xuake
* -G Enhanced Interfaces/GL item, previously only type OpenGL forX, now has:
* X - OpenGL, requires glxinfo , same as before.
* Wayland - EGL, currently no tool available, stub in place. Allegedly this
data can be found but have no idea how or if a tool does that yet
* Xvesa - Interface: interface type (VBE/GOP). GOP not confirmed, no data
samples; v:, source:, dac: (no idea what it is, show it though), controller:,
and ram: items.
This is based on TinyX/Xvesa as found in TinyCore, but should work in Slitaz
and Puppy TinyX as well if those projects are still around.
* -G Display/Screen/Monitor data: Created structures and abstractions that allow
for Wayland/Xorg/Xvesa data, most new features will work with any of these. Or
Arcan, if that actually makes it, and we get data for it. We'll wait on Arcan,
heh.
* -G Display server: For Xvesa, added type TinyX to server if detected. Added
Xwayland, which was not handled previously. For Xwayland, if wayland running,
and if Xorg also installed, shows:
server: X.org
v: 1.20.14
with: Xwayland
v: 21.01
Otherwise shows:
server: Xwayland
v: 21.01
* -G Compositors: fixed a long standing weak spot, if > 1 compositor detected
running, not common, but could happen, shows all detected compositors.
Display: x11
server: X.Org
v: 1.20.13
compositors:
1: Mutter
v: 41.1
2: xfwm
v: 4.16.1
driver:
X:
loaded: modesetting
gpu: radeon
* -G drivers: now shows if X or gpu driver, in each its own section. This makes
it more obvious what is going on:
Display: x11
server: X.Org
v: 1.20.13
driver:
X:
loaded: modesetting
gpu: radeon
resolution:
* -Gxx Monitors: Show primary monitor with pos: primary,right. Uses either
xrandr 'primary' value, or if no 'primary' found in an Xorg Screen, uses +0+0
positioned monitor. Position is based on the row and column number in the
rectangular grid of monitors when monitors per Xorg Screen are > 1.
For most common multi-monitor layouts, text positions are used, which are in
general more clear and easy to understand than their internal numeric
counterparts, that is, unless the layout is too complicated, it will show left,
or top-left, instead of 1-1, and so on.
Text mode positions are available for the following grid styles currently: 1x2,
1x3, 1x4, 2x1, 2x2, 2x3, 3x1, 3x2, 3x3. 'top' means the top row if > 1 row,
'bottom' means the bottom row, 'middle' is the middle row if 3 rows, 'left' is
the first column, 'right' the last, 'center' if 3 columns, and 'center-l' (1-2),
'center-r' (1-3) are the 2 center columns if 4 columns. 'bottom-l', 'bottom-c',
'bottom-r'; 'middle-l', 'middle-c', 'middle-r'; 'top-left', 'top-center',
'top-right' complete the possible values.
If the grid of monitors is greater than the supported rows or columns, it will
switch to numeric row-column mode, with column-row numbering starting at 1-1,
top left.
* -Gxx Monitors: show (if detected, Linux only) monitor model, and if the
display ID (from Xorg or Wayland) is different from the /sys monitor ID, show
mapped: to show the /sys id.
* -Gxxx Monitors: show modes: max: XxY min: XxY, or mode: XxY (if only 1 mode
found). Shows hz:
* -Ga Monitors: shows serial, built year, gamma, ratio, if detected.
2. Added impish 21-10 and jammy 22-04 to ubuntu id. That's for Mint base ID. Not
huge point in updating if Mint doesn't update inxi, but there it is.
3. For -Axx, -Exx, -Gxx, -Nxx, shows PCIe speed and lanes. With -a, shows max
speed / lanes if different than current speeds/lanes. Note that for unknown
reasons not all devices in a PCIe slot show this data.
4. -Ixx: terminals added: foot, ate
5. -Sxx: login/display managers added: emptty, greetd, qingy, tbsm. See CODE 5
for more info on how this change was done.
6. -Sxxx: status/dock/panel bars added: i3-status-rs, luastatus, nwg-bar,
nwg-dock, nwg-panel, rootbar, sfwbar, wapanel, waybar, yambar
7. Added a Tyan board IPMI sensor data set.
8. Added support for fruid_print for Elbrus -M Machine data. Those boards don't
have dmi tables, but do ship with Elbrus OS which has fruid_print.
9. More disk vendors! Yes, you know the drill, the world turns, and with every
turn, a flock of new vendors appears, like baby rabbits emerging from their
warren, endlessly, a stream that is the life essence itself... or something.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES:
1. When xdpyinfo is not installed, user will still see advanced -Ga Monitor and
Screen data as long as xrandr at least is installed. Better error messages as
well now to explain which tool or tools missing caused the missing data.
2. -Gxx will show basic Screen and Monitors, id, mapped, pos:, model, res, dpi,
diag; -Gxxx adds Monitor modes; --Ga adds screen/monitor size, Screen diag.
3. -ba/-v2 no longer show the full screens/monitor report, now it remains basic
mode output, which it should have always done, unless -G is also explicitly
added.
4. Split apart x-server version to v:, which should always have been the case.
5. Xvesa and Wayland no longer show glxinfo messages for no glxinfo for GL data.
Now they show their own custom messages, appropriate to the case.
6. json features now test for JSON::PP, JSON::XS, or Cpanel::JSON::XS modules,
and use whichever is found. Note I did not realize JSON::PP was in core modules
as of 5.14 so that makes sense to use, and will allow inxi to start using json
data sources, which are a lot easier to parse.
7. Changed -G drivers to show subsections for X and gpu drivers, and updated
missing driver messages to account for this change. X drivers now show the sub
sets of loaded/unloaded/failed/alternate, and gpu shows active gpu drivers,
assuming such are detected.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOCUMENTATION:
1. Help and man page updates for -G Display/Screen/Monitor changes. Redid -G,
-Gx, -Gxx, -Gxxx, -Ga. Added monitor layout position feature.
2. Updated -Ga for xrandr/xdpyinfo changes.
3. Updated --recommends to more accurately show function of xdpyinfo and xrandr
for -G and -Ga.
4. Reorganized and added complete table of contents to docs/inxi-data.txt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CODE:
1. Slightly optimized use of array loads on disk_vendor() and ram_vendor() based
on how it's now done for monitor layouts, which is more efficient, use a scalar
to hold a reference to the array, that avoids having the array ever exist in
more than 1 place. Part of the ongoing process of avoiding extra hash and array
copies globally.
2. Moved to consistent undef behaviors.
* For lists of variables use () to undefine, changed all of the the following:
1. (@a,$b,$c,%d) = (undef,undef,undef,undef);
2. (@a,$b,$c,%d) = (undef);
3. (@a,$b,$c,%d) = undef;
to use: (@a,$b,$c,%d) = (); This undefines all the variables in the list.
Note that assigning undef to @a in the first example creates an array of 1
key, with the value undef, and (@a,@b) = (undef,undef) creates arrays of 2
indexes, or something like that. Not what was wanted.
Examples 2 and 3 assign undef to @a: an array of 1 index, value undef, and
undefine the others variables in the list. This was not the desired behavior!
* For most scalars, arrays, and hashes, use: undef @a; undef $s; undef %h.
* For some hash and array index values, use $h{a} = undef. These cases may want
the key itself to exist, with the value of undef, though I believe:
undef $h{a};
is synonymous, but still have to verify that.
I did some testing, and realized that some of the undef I had used in the
various previous ways of using undef were not actually resulting in the expected
behaviors.
3. Refactored display_data_x into 3 functions, added display_data_xdpyinfo and
display_data_xrandr, which allows for more granular handling of those
dependencies, now inxi can show most advanced display data with only xrandr
installed.
4. Significantly improved all error handling and missing data for Wayland/Xorg.
5. Refactored get_display_manager() to better handle corner case dm file or
directory names, and to avoid endless loops. Much cleaner now. Required because
greetd had varying file names, greetd.run, or just greet-546.sock. With some
other dm's that use similar, or unreadable directories in /run, now just doing
a glob of /run/ /var/run, /var/run/rc.d as detected and checking for the dms
in the names, then just using the dms that were found. Simpler.
6. Massively simplified and integrated compositor logic in Graphics, now using
program_values() and program_data() as appropriate, and simple matching list
to ps_gui data to get detected compositor[s], much simpler, far more efficient
code, less to maintain. Also fixed long-standing weak spot of exiting on first
detected compositor, now shows all detected, with version etc for each if
available.
7. With 6. also significantly simplified and optimized get_ps_de_data() for
desktop data, that's the ps aux fallback case for wm desktop detections.
8. Made $wl compositors list global to avoid having to update each section,
that's now used in -G compositor, -S desktop/wm, and wm sections. It is set
in ps_gui() on initial load.
7. Settled on one and only way to do multiline conditionals, now use no space,
use same indent level as starting if/elsif etc. I've been debating this one, but
can't find any real way to handle that elegantly so I think best to just not
try, and leave it up the code flow to show when it's wrapped condition tests.
8. Refactored previous gl_output, expanded it to handle all interface types,
OpenGL, EGL (not currently active due to no known tool to get EGL data for
Wayland, and Interface: VBE type data for Xvesa. This roughly completed the
breaking apart of the X.org centric logic for Display, Monitors, and GL data,
and make all sections now fully agnostic to display server or protocol type.
Should new display servers appear, it will now be far more simple to add support
for them, since they would just plug into the existing abstraction layers.
9. Added --debug-arg to allow for passing specific custom args to the debugger.
10. Refactored display_server version, now works much better, creates lists of
server/version, and xwayland as well if found.
|
||
|---|---|---|
| inxi | ||
| inxi.1 | ||
| inxi.changelog | ||
| LICENSE.txt | ||
| README.txt | ||
README for inxi - a command line system information tool The new faster, more powerful Perl inxi is here! File all issue reports with the master branch. All support for versions prior to 3.0 is now ended, sorry. Make sure to update to the current inxi from the master branch before filing any issue reports. The code in pre 2.9 versions literally no longer exists in inxi 3. Bugs from earlier versions cannot usually be solved in the new version since the pre 2.9 and the 2.9 and later versions are completely different internally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DONATE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help support the project with a one time or a sustaining donation. Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=77DQVM6A4L5E2 Open Collective: https://opencollective.com/inxi ================================================================================ DEVELOPMENT AND ISSUES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make inxi better! Expand supported hardware and OS data, fix broken items! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HELP PROJECT DEVELOPMENT! SUBMIT A DEBUGGER DATASET -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is easy to do, and only takes a few seconds. These datasets really help the project add and debug features. You will generally also be asked to provide this data for non trivial issue reports. Note that the following options are present: 1. Generate local gz'ed debugger dataset. Leaves gz on your system: inxi version 3: inxi --debug 20 inxi version <= 2.3: inxi -@14 2. Generate, upload gz'ed debugger dataset. Leaves gz on your system: inxi version 3: inxi --debug 21 inxi version <= 2.3: inxi -xx@14 3. Generate, upload, delete gz'ed debugger dataset: inxi version 3 only: inxi --debug 22 You can run these as regular user, or root/sudo, which will gather a bit more data, like from dmidecode, and other tools that need superuser permissions to run. ARM (plus MIPS, SPARC, PowerPC) and BSD datasets are particularly appreciated because we simply do not have enough of those. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FILE AN ISSUE IF YOU FIND SOMETHING MISSING, BROKEN, OR FOR AN ENHANCEMENT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- inxi strives to support the widest range of operating systems and hardware, from the most simple consumer desktops, to the most advanced professional hardware and servers. The issues you post help maintain or expand that support, and are always appreciated since user data and feedback is what keeps inxi working and supporting the latest (or not so latest) hardware and operating systems. See INXI VERSION/SUPPORT/ISSUES/BUGS INFORMATION for more about issues/support. See BSD/UNIX below for qualifications re BSDs, and OSX in particular. ================================================================================ SOURCE VERSION CONTROL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://github.com/smxi/inxi MAIN BRANCH: master DEVELOPMENT BRANCHES: inxi-perl, one, two inxi-perl is the dev branch, the others are rarely if ever used. inxi itself has the built in feature to be able to update itself from anywhere, including these branches, which is very useful for development and debugging on various user systems. PULL REQUESTS: Please talk to me before starting to work on patches of any reasonable complexity. inxi is hard to work on, and you have to understand how it works before submitting patches, unless it's a trivial bug fix. Please: NEVER even think about looking at or using previous inxi commits, previous to the current master version, as a base for a patch. If you do, your patch / pull request will probably be rejected. Developers, get your version from the inxi-perl branch, pinxi, otherwise you may not be current to actual development versions. inxi-perl pinxi is always equal to or ahead of master branch inxi. Man page updates, doc page updates, etc, of course, are easy and will probably be accepted, as long as they are properly formatted and logically coherent. When under active development, inxi releases early, and releases often. PACKAGERS: inxi has one and only one 'release', and that is the current commit/version in the master branch (plus pinxi inxi-perl branch, of course, but those should never be packaged). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MASTER BRANCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the only supported branch, and the current latest commit/version is the only supported 'release'. There are no 'releases' of inxi beyond the current commit/version in master. All past versions are not supported. git clone https://github.com/smxi/inxi --branch master --single-branch OR direct fast and easy install: wget -O inxi https://github.com/smxi/inxi/raw/master/inxi OR easy to remember shortcut (which redirects to github): wget -O inxi https://smxi.org/inxi wget -O inxi smxi.org/inxi NOTE: Just because github calls tagged commits 'Releases' does not mean they are releases! I can't change the words on the tag page. They are tagged commits, period. A tag is a pointer to a commit, and has no further meaning. If your distribution has blocked -U self updater and you want a newer version: Open /etc/inxi.conf and change false to true: B_ALLOW_UPDATE=true -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEVELOPMENT BRANCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All active development is now done on the inxi-perl branch (pinxi): git clone https://github.com/smxi/inxi --branch inxi-perl --single-branch OR direct fast and easy install: wget -O pinxi https://github.com/smxi/inxi/raw/inxi-perl/pinxi OR easy to remember shortcut (which redirects to github): wget -O pinxi https://smxi.org/pinxi wget -O pinxi smxi.org/pinxi Once new features have been debugged, tested, and are reasonably stable, pinxi is copied to inxi in the master branch. It's a good idea to check with pinxi if you want to make sure your issue has not been corrected, since pinxi is always equal to or ahead of inxi. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGACY INXI (in inxi-legacy repo) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you'd like to look at the Gawk/Bash version of inxi, you can find it in the inxi-legacy repo, as binxi in the /inxi-legacy directory: Direct fast and easy install: wget -O binxi https://github.com/smxi/inxi-legacy/raw/master/inxi-legacy/binxi OR easy to remember shortcut (which redirects to github): wget -O binxi https://smxi.org/binxi This version will not be maintained, and it's unlikely that any time will be spent on it in the future, but it is there in case it's of use or interest to anyone. This was kept for a long time as the inxi-legacy branch of inxi, but was moved to the inxi-legacy repo 2021-09-24. ================================================================================ SUPPORT INFO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do not ask for basic help that reading the inxi -h / --help menus, or man page would show you, and do not ask for features to be added that inxi already has. Also do not ask for support if your distro won't update its inxi version, some are bad about that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOCUMENTATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://smxi.org/docs/inxi.htm (smxi.org/docs/ is easier to remember, and is one click away from inxi.htm). The one page wiki on github is only a pointer to the real resources. https://github.com/smxi/inxi/tree/inxi-perl/docs Contains specific Perl inxi documentation, of interest mostly to developers. Includes internal inxi tools, values, configuration items. Also has useful information about Perl version support, including the list of Core modules that _should_ be included in a distribution's core modules, but which are unfortunately sometimes removed. INXI CONFIGURATION: https://smxi.org/docs/inxi-configuration.htm HTML MAN PAGE: https://smxi.org/docs/inxi-man.htm INXI OPTIONS PAGE: https://smxi.org/docs/inxi-options.htm NOTE: Check the inxi version number on each doc page to see which version will support the options listed. The man and options page also link to a legacy version, pre 2.9. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can go to: irc.oftc.net channel #smxi but be prepared to wait around for a while to get a response. Generally it's better to use github issues. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://github.com/smxi/inxi/issues No issues accepted for non current inxi versions. See below for more on that. Unfortunately as of 2.9, no support or issues can be accepted for older inxi's because inxi 2.9 (Perl) and newer is a full rewrite, and legacy inxi is not being supported since our time here on earth is finite (plus of course, one reason for the rewrite was to never have to work with Gawk->Bash again!). Sys Admin type inxi users always get the first level of support. ie, convince us you run real systems and networks, and your issue shoots to the top of the line. As do any real bugs. Failure to supply requested debugger data will lead To a distinct lack of interest on our part to help you with a bug. ie, saying, oh, it doesn't work, doesn't cut it, unless it's obvious why. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORT FORUMS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://techpatterns.com/forums/forum-33.html This is the best place to place support issues that may be complicated. If you are developer, use: DEVELOPER FORUMS: https://techpatterns.com/forums/forum-32.html ================================================================================ ABOUT INXI -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- inxi is a command line system information tool. It was forked from the ancient and mindbendingly perverse yet ingenius infobash, by locsmif. That was a buggy, impossible to update or maintain piece of software, so the fork fixed those core issues, and made it flexible enough to expand the utility of the original ideas. Locmsif has given his thumbs up to inxi, so don't be fooled by legacy infobash stuff you may see out there. inxi is lower case, except when I create a text header here in a file like this, but it's always lower case. Sometimes to follow convention I will use upper case inxi to start a sentence, but i find it a bad idea since invariably, someone will repeat that and type it in as the command name, then someone will copy that, and complain that the command: Inxi doesn't exist... The primary purpose of inxi is for support, and sys admin use. inxi is used widely for forum and IRC support, which is I believe it's most common function. If you are piping output to paste or post (or writing to file), inxi now automatically turns off color codes, so the old suggestion to use -c 0 to turn off colors is no longer required. inxi strives to be as accurate as possible, but some things, like memory/ram data, depend on radically unreliable system self reporting based on OEM filling out data correctly, which doesn't often happen, so in those cases, you want to confirm things like ram capacity with a reputable hardware source, like crucial.com, which has the best ram hardware tool I know of. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMITMENT TO LONG TERM STABILITY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The core mission of inxi is to always work on all systems all the time. Well, all systems with the core tools inxi requires to operate installed. What this means is this: you can have a 10 year old box, or probably 15, not sure, and you can install today's inxi on it, and it will run. It won't run fast, but it will run. I test inxi on a 200 MHz laptop from about 1998 to keep it honest. That's also what was used to optimize the code at some points, since differences appear as seconds, not 10ths or 100ths of seconds on old systems like that. inxi is being written, and tested, on Perl as old as 5.08, and will work on any system that runs Perl 5.08 or later. Pre 2.9.0 Gawk/Bash inxi will also run on any system no matter how old, within reason, so there should be no difference. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- inxi's functionality continues to grow over time, but it's also important to understand that each core new feature usually requires about 30 days work to get it stable. So new features are not trivial things, nor is it acceptable to submit a patch that works only on your personal system. One inxi feature (-s, sensors data), took about 2 hours to get working in the alpha test on the local dev system, but then to handle the massive chaos that is actual user sensors output and system variations, it took several rewrites and about 30 days to get somewhat reliable for about 98% or so of inxi users. So if your patch is rejected, it's likely because you have not thought it through adequately, have not done adequate testing cross system and platform, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORTED VERSIONS / DISTRO VERSIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Important: the only version of inxi that is supported is the latest current master branch version/commit. No issue reports or bug reports will be accepted for anything other than current master branch. No merges, attempts to patch old code from old versions, will be considered or accepted. If you are not updated to the latest inxi, do not file a bug report since it's probably been fixed ages ago. If your distro isn't packaging a current inxi, then file a bug report with your packager, not here. inxi is 'rolling release' software, just like Debian Sid, Gentoo, or Arch Linux are rolling release GNU/Linux distributions, with no 'release points'. Distributions should never feel any advantage comes from using old inxi versions because inxi has as a core promise to you, the end user, that it will never require new tools to run. New tools may be required for a new feature, but that will always be handled internally by inxi, and will not cause any operational failures. This is a promise, and I will never as long as I run this project violate that core inxi requirement. Old inxi is NOT more stable than current inxi, it's just old, and lacking in bug fixes and features. For pre 2.9 versions, it's also significantly slower, and with fewer features. Your distro not updating inxi ever, then failing to show something that is fixed in current inxi is not a bug, and please do not post it here. File the issue with your distro, not here. Updating inxi in a package pool will NEVER make anything break or fail, period. It has no version based dependencies, just software, like Perl 5.xx, lspci, etc. There is never a valid reason to not update inxi in a package pool of any distro in the world (with one single known exception, the Slackware based Puppy Linux release, which ships without the full Perl language. The Debian based one works fine). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEMANTIC VERSION NUMBERING -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- inxi uses 'semantic' version numbering, where the version numbers actually mean something. The version number follows these guidelines: Using example 3.2.28-6 The first digit(s), "3", is a major version, and almost never changes. Only a huge milestone, or if inxi reaches 3.9.xx, when it will simply move up to 4.0.0 just to keep it clean, would cause a change. The second digit(s), "2", means a new real feature has been added. Not a tweaked existing feature, an actual new feature, which usually also has a new argument option letter attached. The second number goes from 0 to 9, and then rolls over the first after 9. It could also be adding a very complicated expansion of existing features, like Wayland. It depends. The third, "28", is for everything small, can cover bug fixes, tweaks to existing features to add support for something, pretty much anything where you want the end user to know that they are not up to date. The third goes from 0 to 99, then rolls over the second. The fourth, "6", is extra information about certain types of inxi updates. I don't usually use this last one in master branch, but you will see it in branches one,two, inxi-perl, inxi-legacy since that is used to confirm remote test system patch version updates. The fourth number, when used, will be alpha-numeric, a common version would be, in say, branch one: 2.2.28-b1-02, in other words: branch 1 patch version 2. In the past, now and then the 4th, or 'patch', number, was used in trunk/master branches of inxi, but I've pretty much stopped doing that because it's confusing. inxi does not use the fiction of date based versioning because that imparts no useful information to the end user, when you look at say, 2.2.28, and you last had 2.2.11, you can know with some certainty that inxi has no major new features, just fine tunings and bug fixes. And if you see one with 2.3.2, you will know that there is a new feature, almost, but not always, linked to one or more new line output items. Sometimes a fine tuning can be quite significant, sometimes it's a one line code fix. A move to a new full version number, like the rewrite of inxi to Perl, would reflect in first version say, 2.9.01, then after a period of testing, where most little glitches are fixed, a move to 3.0.0. These almost never happen. I do not expect for example version 4.0 to ever happen after 3.0 (early 2018), unless so many new features are added that it actually hits 3.9, then it would roll over to 4. ================================================================================ BSD / UNIX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BSD support is not as complete as GNU/Linux support due to the fact some of the data simply is not available, or is structured in a way that makes it unique to each BSD, or is difficult to process. This fragmentation makes supporting BSDs far more difficult than it should be in the 21st century. The BSD support in inxi is an ongoing process, with more features being added as new data sources and types are discovered. Note that due to time/practicality constraints, in general, only the original BSD branches will be actively supported: FreeBSD+derived; OpenBSD+derived; NetBSD+derived. Other UNIX variants will generally only get the work required to make internal BSD flags get set and to remove visible output errors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRUE BSDs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All BSD issue reports unless trivial and obvious will require 1 of two things: 1. a full --debug 21 data dump so I don't have to spend days trying to get the information I need to resolve the issue, file by painful file, from the issue poster. This is only the start of the process, and realistically requires 2. to complete it. 2. direct SSH access to at least a comparable live BSD version/system, that is, if the issue is on a laptop, access has to be granted to the laptop, or a similar one. Option 2 is far preferred because in terms of my finite time on this planet of ours, the fact is, if I don't have direct (or SSH) access, I can't get much done, and the little I can get done will take 10 to 1000x longer than it should. That's my time spent (and sadly, with BSDs, largely lost), not yours. I decided I have to adopt this much more strict policy with BSDs after wasting untold hours on trying to get good BSD support, only to see that support break a few years down the road as the data inxi relied in changed structure or syntax, or the tools changed, or whatever else makes the BSDs such a challenge to support. In the end, I realized, the only BSDs that are well supported are ones that I have had direct access to for debugging and testing. I will always accept patches that are well done, if they do not break GNU/Linux, and extend BSD support, or add new BSD features, and follow the internal inxi logic, and aren't too long. inxi sets initial internal flags to identify that it is a BSD system vs a GNU/Linux system, and preloads some data structures for BSD use, so make sure you understand what inxi is doing before you get into it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLE CORPORATION OSX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Non-free/libre OSX is in my view a BSD in name only. It is the least Unix-like operating system I've ever seen that claims to be a Unix, its tools are mutated, its data randomly and non-standardly organized, and it totally fails to respect the 'spirit' of Unix, even though it might pass some random tests that certify a system as a 'Unix'. If you want me to use my time on OSX features or issues, you have to pay me, because Apple is all about money, not freedom (that's what the 'free' in 'free software' is referring to, not cost), and I'm not donating my finite time in support of non-free operating systems. ### EOF ###