Modern Linux tools

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Modern vs classic tools & longevity

  • Some see “modern” tools as fragile: exa being unmaintained is cited as evidence that trendy replacements don’t last like coreutils (Lindy effect).
  • Others counter that exa was successfully community-forked into eza, framing this as “good open source.”
  • Several argue modern tools mainly offer better UX and sane defaults, not fundamentally new capabilities.

“What problem does it solve?” & Rust rewrites

  • Multiple commenters want an explicit “problem solved” column; “modern”, “written in Rust/Go”, or “non-GPL” are criticized as non-benefits.
  • Debate over whether implementation language is a real differentiator: some say language choice matters for performance/distribution; others insist benefits must be framed in concrete outcomes, not in “it’s Rust/Go.”

Classic tools, portability, and muscle memory

  • A significant camp prefers mastering classic tools (grep/find/sed/awk/vi) because they exist everywhere: servers, minimal containers, random SSH targets.
  • Opposing camp: you spend most of your time on your own machine, so optimizing with better tools (fd, rg, fzf, etc.) is worth it; when dropped into a barebones shell, you can still fall back to the basics.
  • Many mitigate the “uphill battle” with config management and reproducible setups (Ansible, Chef, Nix, dotfiles, chezmoi, local ~/bin, sshfs).

Specific tools praised

  • ripgrep (rg): repeatedly cited for dramatic speed vs grep, gitignore-awareness, and optional JSON output.
  • fd: simpler find semantics, fast, handy -x/placeholder syntax for batch operations.
  • jq (and qq/dasel): widely seen as solving a genuinely new problem for JSON/structured data.
  • fzf: major productivity boost for fuzzy-searching history and files; used both standalone and via shell/editor integrations.
  • Others mentioned positively: zoxide, ncdu/duf, zellij, helix, btop, hyperfine, tldr, difftastic, f2.

Critiques of specific replacements

  • ls/eza/lsd and “modern cat” (bat) draw skepticism: often seen as cosmetic (colors, icons) or less pipeline-friendly; bat is useful as a viewer, not a true cat replacement.
  • Some “smart defaults” (e.g., ripgrep ignoring hidden/gitignored files) are controversial; good for many workflows but surprising if aliased as a drop-in.

Ecosystem, funding, and UX

  • Some dislike ads in READMEs; others argue sponsorship is necessary if we want sustainable open source.
  • Desire expressed for a coherent, consistent suite of modern tools; Nushell is suggested as such an ecosystem.
  • A few note accessibility issues with the article’s dark color scheme.