System Administration

Essential System Tools: inxi – CLI system information tool

Last Updated on May 28, 2022

This is the fifth in our series of articles highlighting essential system tools. These are small utilities, useful for system administrators as well as regular users of Linux based systems. The series examines both graphical and text based open source utilities. For details of all tools in this series, please check the table in the summary section.

The first tools under the spotlight were ps_mem, a small utility that accurately reports memory consumption of software, and gtop, a system monitoring dashboard. The third tool we showcased was pet, a simple command-line snippet manager. We then covered Alacritty, an innovative graphical utility.

This time, we’ll take a look at inxi, a Perl script that interrogates your system.

Installation

inxi is available in most Linux distribution repositories, and also runs on BSD. The software is included in the community repository in Manjaro.

If the software is not included in your distribution’s repositories, you can download the script from the project’s GitHub repository.

In operation

inxi is a command line system information script built for the console as well as Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The software also crops up in forum technical support for debugging purposes. It helps people to determine users’ system configurations and hardware without having to ask a lot of questions.

inxi shows a lot of useful information. This information includes system hardware, CPU, drivers, Xorg, desktop, kernel, gcc version(s), processes, memory data, audio, partitions, sensor output, and a wide variety of other information. It even shows present CPU hardware vulnerabilities and applied mitigations.

In order to maintain basic privacy and security, inxi used on IRC automatically filters out a user’s network device MAC address, WAN and LAN IP, their \fB/home\fR username directory in partitions, and a few other items. These can be enabled in private chats if necessary.

Extra data options can be conveniently triggered by one or more -x flags. For example, in the image below, inxi is reporting with extra, extra, extra data.

inxi

inxi seeks to support a wide range of operating systems and hardware, from basic consumer desktops, to professional hardware and servers.

Summary

If you need help from the Linux community, inxi is an essential utility that lets others help you debug issues. By providing concise information about a system, while filtering out sensitive data, it’s a time-saver for all participants.

Website: smxi.org
Support: GitHub code repository, Forums
Developer: Harald Hope, Scott Rogers, Horst Tritremmel, Steven Barrett, Jarett Stevens
License: GNU GPL v3 or greater

inxi is written in Perl. Learn Perl with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


All the essential tools in this series:

Essential System Tools
AlacrittyInnovative, hardware-accelerated terminal emulator
BleachBitSystem cleaning software. Quick and easy way to service your computer
bottomGraphical process/system monitor for the terminal
btop++Monitor usage and stats for CPU, memory, disks, network and processes
catfishVersatile file searching software
ClonezillaPartition and disk cloning software
CPU-XSystem profiler with both a GUI and text-based
CzkawkaFind duplicate files, big files, empty files, similar images, and much more
ddrescueData recovery tool, retrieving data from failing drives as safely as possible
dustMore intuitive version of du written in Rust
f3Detect and fix counterfeit flash storage
Fail2banBan hosts that cause multiple authentication errors
fdupesFind or delete duplicate files
FirejailRestrict the running environment of untrusted applications
GlancesCross-platform system monitoring tool written in Python
GPartedResize, copy, and move partitions without data
GreenWithEnvyNVIDIA graphics card utility
gtopSystem monitoring dashboard
gWakeOnLANTurn machines on through Wake On LAN
hyperfineCommand-line benchmarking tool
inxiCommand-line system information tool that's a time-saver for everyone
journalctlQuery and display messages from the journal
kmonManage Linux kernel modules with this text-based tool
KrusaderAdvanced, twin-panel (commander-style) file manager
NeofetchSystem information tool written in Bash
NmapNetwork security tool that builds a "map" of the network
nmonSystems administrator, tuner, and benchmark tool
nnnPortable terminal file manager that's amazingly frugal
petSimple command-line snippet manager
PingnooGraphical representation for traceroute and ping output
ps_memAccurate reporting of software's memory consumption
SMCMulti-featured system monitor written in Python
TimeshiftReliable system restore tool
QDirStatQt-based directory statistics
QJournalctlGraphical User Interface for systemd’s journalctl
TLPMust-have tool for anyone running Linux on a notebook
UnisonConsole and graphical file synchronization software
VeraCryptStrong disk encryption software
VentoyCreate bootable USB drive for ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), EFI files
WTFPersonal information dashboard for your terminal
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