inxi-rs

inxi-rs is a safety-first, read-only Rust system information tool for Linux, inspired by inxi.

It is an independent Rust reimplementation focused on:

• a reusable headless core
• deterministic screen and json output
• explicit source tracing and warnings
• a future TUI-friendly architecture

This project is maintained by Simmaco Di Maio and reflects a deliberate long-term investment in Rust as a systems language.

inxi-rs is not an official port of inxi and is not affiliated with upstream.

Italian documentation is available in README.it.md.

Status

Current status: 0.1.0-alpha.1

What this means:

• the architecture is already serious enough for public review
• the project is useful today on Linux
• the output and supported sections are still being stabilized
• the repository is not yet claiming feature parity with inxi

Why This Exists

The goal is not to produce a line-by-line translation of the original Perl code.

The goal is to build a modern Rust system information tool that keeps what is valuable in inxi:

• pragmatic section-oriented output
• robust fallback thinking
• privacy filters
• operational usefulness on real Linux systems

while replacing what would be costly to preserve:

• layout-driven internal data structures
• globally coupled state
• CLI-specific logic mixed with collection logic

Why Rust

Rust was chosen for both technical and personal reasons:

• it is strong at modeling partial, structured, fallible system data
• it supports a disciplined separation between collectors, models, and renderers
• it is a good foundation for a future TUI without rewriting the core
• it is the systems language the maintainer is actively investing in for the long term

More detail is available in docs/en/why-rust.md.

Current Scope

Supported today:

• Linux-only
• screen and json output
• System
• Machine
• CPU
• Memory
• Graphics
• Network
• Drives
• Partitions
• Swap
• Info

Important non-goals for the current release line:

• full feature parity with upstream inxi
• non-Linux platforms
• TUI implementation
• broad legacy option compatibility

See docs/en/v1-scope.md.

Safety Model

inxi-rs is designed to stay observational.

Current safety rules:

• no filesystem writes
• no writes to /proc, /sys, or /dev
• no shell execution
• no privilege escalation
• no network access
• external commands only when audited, fixed-argument, and trusted

The project exposes this policy in the report itself so users can inspect it instead of trusting undocumented behavior.

See docs/en/safety.md.

Quick Start

Build and run:

cargo run -p inxi-cli -- -b

JSON output:

cargo run -p inxi-cli -- -b --output json

Collector diagnostics:

cargo run -p inxi-cli -- --self-check

Quality checks:

cargo fmt --all --check
cargo test
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings

Documentation

English:

• Documentation Index
• Architecture
• Safety Model
• Compatibility Review
• Roadmap

Italian:

• Indice Documentazione
• Panoramica
• Sicurezza
• Roadmap

Inspiration And Attribution

inxi-rs is freely inspired by inxi, originally developed by Harald Hope and contributors.

This repository does not attempt to present itself as upstream, as a drop-in replacement, or as an official port. The intent is to learn from the design strengths of inxi while building a Rust-first implementation with different internal architecture and project goals.

License

This project is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later.

See LICENSE.