inxi :: a full featured system information script

Page Version: 3.1
Page Updated: 2024-03-07

• Installation – different ways of installing inxi.
• Feedback and bug reports
• Code Repository (inxi) – post issues, clone, or just look at the inxi source code. Includes other branches etc. This is the stable version of inxi, what distros package, that is.
• Code Repository (pinxi) – active development version of inxi. Post issues, clone, or just look at the future inxi source code. This is the unstable development version, if you want the stable version, get inxi. Includes backend tools and useful data for development.
• Main Documentation
  • Man page – html version of man page
  • Program options – supported options you can use with inxi
  • Changelog page – html version of complete current changelog
  • Core mission/requirements – core mission statement, includes coding, primary requirements (like run on Perl 5.008 or newer)
  • Program configuration – change display and output defaults; setup configuration files/ setup /etc/sudoers
  • How to use inxi (shell and IRC)
  • FAQs – some answers on issues related to using inxi
  • Tech info – technical inxi matters, including the following:
    • dependencies – required programs
    • recommends – recommended but not required programs to run inxi
    • programming conventions
    • xml/json output handling
    • irc client information
• Samples/About
  • Screenshots/Examples
  • About inxi (history, reviews, videos)
  • Basic inxi information
  • Origins and current status of inxi

Basic inxi information

inxi -b output with --usb added (see screenshots for more examples):

inxi is developed to work on most GNU/Linux distributions. The program comes pre-installed in SolusOS, Crunchbang, Epidemic, Linux Mint and AntiX. Arch Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, OpenSUSE, Redhat Epel, and many others have inxi packaged in either their primary or secondary repositories. We hope, as more maintainers and users discover and find inxi a nice tool, it will find its place in more distributions.

Some distributions are very bad about ever updating inxi, so you might be better off running inxi from the git sources instead if that's the case, since new features and bug fixes are released all the time. Hint: if your inxi version is a major release version lower than current inxi (like current is 3.0.12, and your repo version is 2.2.35), you probably want the git version. Current inxi will always run fine on your system, no matter how old it is.

inxi works on Konversation, Xchat, irssi, Quassel, as well as on most other IRC clients. Quassel includes (usually an older version of) inxi.

See inxi options here for list of options. Always check inxi -h to get the full list of the latest options (the wiki page may become outdated).

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Feedback and bug reports

For us to help you the best, please make sure to include all relevant system data and output when you post bug reports. inxi includes built in data collection tools you can run that create either log files or more full system data. See inxi -h debugger options for more information. Usually the more of your system data we can get, the more easily we can fix the failed case, which is our goal.

But please read the information here on the documentation pages first, almost everything you need to know should be available on this site.

• Github Issue: For more technical matters, create an issue to post bug reports or feature requests.
• Support Forums: Post any inxi related question's you may have on the inxi support forums or the main inxi support thread .
• Developer Forums: Post any related issues or developer type questions in the developer forums or the inxi dev thread.
• IRC: server: irc.oftc.net channel: #smxi - be prepared to wait a while for a response.

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Origins and current status of inxi

inxi is a full rewrite of locsmif's infobash script. h2 is the primary author, with a few contributions from trash80, damentz (of Liquorix fame), and various other contributors.

The original infobash scripting methods were not debuggable, readable, or maintainable, so we forked it.

We started with a set of bug fixes and code readability updates. Then, once the potential became exposed, we added more features. The rewrites far exceeded the original utility, thus the inxi project began.

Version 3.0.0 was another full rewrite, this time to Perl 5.xx (5.08 minimum supported version). Once it had become obvious that Perl 6 was its own language, and Perl 5 was healthy and being developed actively, I decided that the headache of dealing with the Gawk/Bash mix was not worth it long term

The replacement language had to check all the following boxes:

1. Has been around a long time.
2. Doesn't break its language features all the time.
3. Supports complex data structures.
4. Can run on old systems without breaking.
5. Fast (Perl 5 is VERY fast).
6. Is a native Practical Extraction and Reporting Language.

The latter is, conveniently, exactly what Perl 5 is, and what inxi does (extract and report system data). So in early 2018 inxi Perl, v 3.0.0 was released, and inxi 2.3.56 was put into the inxi-legacy git repo as an historical oddity, maybe a warning against abusing bash/gawk in this way.

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