software(1) software software(1)

there is very little good software in the world. i try an limit my usage of software to the small amount of it that there is.

i primarily use linux based operating systems. linux is not really good software, but sometimes we have to make pragmatic compromises. i also try and avoid pragmatic compromises, though. occasionaly i use netbsd, and i always have one machine reserved for 9front.

my linux distributions of choice are alpine linux and dérive linux.

on these systems, i use either hevel or tohu depending on whether it is a desktop or a laptop.

i use musl libc on most of my systems. sometimes i use my musl fork, shrusl.

i also have various software nitpicks, i will list them here.

  • i do not use software that does not support musl
  • i do not use software that refuses to statically link
  • i do not use GNU software
  • i refuse to compile software that requires a nonstandard yacc version, (eg bison). sometimes i patch it to support a better yacc, like byacc.
  • i refuse to use software that is overly large and needlessly complicated, like X11.
  • i do not use software written in languages i do not like, such as rust.

a lot of people think i am stupid and/or crazy for these things. i would like to remind those people that you are not required to do any of this, although you really should.

here are some various peices of software i use/approve of. this list is updated somewhat regurlarly. things marked with % have the shrub seal of approval, and you should start using them right now, no matter what. things with two of them are almost-perfect peices of software. this list is focused on libraries and low level tools, not window managers and editors.

  • u-config : smaller than pkgconf (which is smaller than pkg-config), and faster, too %
  • sortix libz : better than zlib.
  • libedit : better than readline.
  • nitro : probably the best init, works on Linux and netbsd, which is fun
  • dropbear : better than OpenSSH. by a lot. %
  • quasar m4 : fork of some BSD m4 that implements some GNU m4 features. useful if you are ever unfortunate enough to require an m4
  • LibreSSL : better than OpenSSL
  • BearSSL : better than LibreSSL %%
  • libtls-bearssl : makes libtls programs work on bearssl, which opens the door to using bearssl as the main system ssl library a little %
  • tlsrp : tls reverse proxy using libtls
  • openrsync : better than rsync
  • eiwd : better than wpa-supplicant. better than iwd, no dbus. readme lies about needing gcc and glibc, likely works with compiler and libc of your choice
  • tcc : better than Clang
  • reflex : better than flex
  • byacc : better than bison %
  • mandoc : better than groff %
  • mksh : Thank God It’s Not Yash™
  • netbsd-curses : better than ncurses
  • musl : your favourite software’s favourite software %%
  • make-ext4fs : better than e2fsprogs. thanks google
  • samurai : better than ninja %
  • muon : better than meson %
  • elftoolchain : better than libelf
March 11, 2026 shrub