software
19:12 11 mar 2026
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.
- 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
- hell: configure go home.
- samurai: better than ninja %
- muon: better than meson %
- elftoolchain: better than libelf
- carl: curl patched past 8.5.0 to support bearssl (patch courtesy of me)
- appbundles : the easiest way to get firefox on a statically linked musl system.