gnu-on

Run GNU tools by default on Mac in an easily switchable way

Features

• Makes it easy to run the most common GNU (linux-like) versions of command line tools on the Mac by default without having to use Homebrew's g-prefixes (for example gsed to run GNU's sed... you can have the same sed as linux)
• Loads all tools into one directory for easy enabling/disabling in $PATH
• Provides a shell extension to make switching between GNU and default MacOS CLI tools
• Also sets up symlinks so the man command for help works as well
• Compatibility with both bash and zsh
• Compatibility with new M-series MacOS machines

Tools Installed

MacOS tools:

• brew

GNU tools:

• coreutils (many CLI utils)
• findutils (find, locate, updatedb, xargs)
• grep (egrep, fgrep)
• awk
• sed
• tar
• which

Install

This will install all of the above, and make symlinks into /usr/local/gnu or /opt/gnu for all gnu tools, so you have one path to add.

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://githubraw.com/kilna/gnu-on/main/install.sh)"

Usage

USAGE: gnu [command] [options]

Options:

  --verbose : Show debugging information
         -v

Commands:

  * load    : Enable shell extension
              (Running 'gnu' after does not require sourcing or eval)

  * unload  : Disable shell extension

  * on      : Loads the shell extension, and includes the GNU CLI tool in your
              $PATH, overriding default MacOS CLI utils

  * off     : Remove GNU from your $PATH, re-enabling MacOS CLI utils

    status  : Show the status of gnu shell extension and path

    env     : Display shell text that can enable GNU CLI utils, without
              extension

    bashrc : Adds 'eval "$(gnu on)"' to ~/.bashrc if it isn't there
    zshrc   : ^ Same for ~/.zshrc

    help    : Show usage

* = Command will display shell code to run if not sourced or within an eval.
    If sourced, the commands will be run directly in the current shell.

For usage examples see https://github.com/kilna/gnu-on

Examples

First, enable in your shell after install, if you haven't already:

$ gnu rcfile

Fire up a new shell session (or run eval "$(gnu on)" yourself) and check:

$ gnu status
/usr/local/bin/gnu shell extension function is loaded
/usr/local/gnu/bin is not in PATH (gnu is off)
/usr/local/gnu/share/man is not in MANPATH (gnu man pages are off)
$ sort --version
sort (GNU coreutils) 9.4
...

To disable GNU utils and return to standard MacOS CLI commands:

$ gnu off
/usr/local/bin/gnu shell extension function is loaded
/usr/local/gnu/bin is not in PATH (gnu is off)
/usr/local/gnu/share/man is not in MANPATH (gnu man pages are off)
$ gnu status
$ sort --version
2.3-Apple (165.80.1)

Manual enabling

You can optionally run the install and never use gnu itself; you can enable gnu tools in your shell by adding the following to your path on an Intel-based Mac:

export PATH="/usr/local/gnu/bin:$PATH"
export MANPATH="/usr/local/gnu/share/man:$MANPATH"

Or for M-series processor Macs:

export PATH="/opt/gnu/bin:$PATH"
export MANPATH="/opt/gnu/share/man:$MANPATH"

Author

Kilna, Anthony kilna@kilna.com