SysForge – Rebuilding the Unix Core

Welcome to SysForge, a challenge where you step into the shoes of a system explorer, diving deep into the broken-down world of Unix. The core command-line tools that once powered this world (ls, wc, cat, and grep) are gone.

Your mission: Rebuild them from scratch using C, and bring order back to the terminal!

Instead of just using these tools, you’ll create simplified versions of them, give them custom names, and make them work just like the originals.

Objective

Recreate the following core Unix commands with your own C programs:

Custom Command	Original Equivalent	Description
listit	ls	List files in a directory
showtext	cat	Display contents of a file
countit	wc	Count lines, words, and characters
finder	grep	Search for text inside files

Each command should be a separate executable and should work from the terminal just like real commands.

Flags to Implement

listit

• -a : Show all files, including hidden ones
• -1 : List one file per line

showtext

• -n : Number all lines
• -s : Squeeze multiple blank lines into one

countit

• -l : Count lines
• -w : Count words

finder

• -n : Show line numbers for matches
• -v : Show only non-matching lines

Requirements

• Each command must be implemented as a separate C file

• Your commands must be runnable from anywhere in the terminal, like the original Unix tools.

• Support for multiple files and combined flags is optional. You may choose to handle only one flag or file at a time for simplicity.

Writeups

Along with your code, include a brief writeup for each command that covers:

• Your approach to building it
• Any challenges or bugs you encountered
• What you learned during the process

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Happy forging, and may your terminal tools shine bright again!