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Justin's Digital Garden

Applications - Free and/or Open Source Software

Free/Libre and/or Open Source Software

Section titled “Free/Libre and/or Open Source Software”

Source: Fight for your freedom in computing. Don’t let proprietary programs control you plus my additions

  • 7zip - file archiver, a utility used to place groups of files within compressed containers known as “archives”
  • Aegis - free, secure and open source app for Android to manage your 2-step verification tokens
  • age - secure encryption tool and Go library with small explicit keys, no config options, and UNIX-style composability
  • Ansible - software tools that enables infrastructure as code
  • Ardour - digital audio workstation
  • Audacity - digital audio editor and recording application software
  • Autogen - A programming framework for agentic AI
  • Bash - Unix shell and command language written by Brian Fox for the GNU Project as a free software replacement for the Bourne shell
  • Bitwarden - password management service
  • Blender - Blender 3D computer graphics software tool set
  • Bruno - Opensource IDE For Exploring and Testing API’s (lightweight alternative to Postman/Insomnia)
  • BusyBox - a software suite that provides several Unix utilities in a single executable file
  • Calibre - cross-platform suite of e-book software
  • Ceph - software-defined storage platform that implements object storage
  • Clonezilla - drive cloning, drive imaging and system deployment utilities used to simplify deployment and maintenance of a group of computers
  • Cockpit - web based interface for servers, intended for everyone like Linux admins and new users
  • croc - Easily and securely send things from one computer to another
  • ctags, etags - Generate tag files for source code
  • Data Display Debugger DDD - graphical front end for GDB and CUDA-GDB
  • DB Browser for SQLite - SQLite management, editing browser
  • Drupal - web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License
  • Espanso - Privacy-first, cross-platform text expander
  • Fairmail - privacy oriented email app for Android
  • Faker - Test/fake data generation, also a Python package
  • F-Droid - app store and software repository for Android, serving a similar function to the Google Play store
  • Firefox - web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation, see also Firefox Shortcuts - Firefox Shortcuts
  • Flatpak - formerly known as xdg-app is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. Offers a sandbox environment in which users can run application software in isolation
  • FreeTube - private YouTube viewer
  • frp - Fast reverse proxy to help you expose a local server behind a NAT or firewall to the internet
  • GCC - GNU Compiler Collection is an optimizing compiler produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages, hardware architectures and operating systems
  • GDB - GNU Project Debugger for various languages
  • gImageReader - Optical Character Recognition (OCR), A Gtk/Qt front-end to tesseract-ocr
  • Gimp - GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open-source raster graphics editor[5] used for image manipulation (retouching) and image editing, free-form drawing, transcoding between different image file formats
  • Git - Git Version Control System - distributed version control
  • Gnome - GNU Network Object Model Environment desktop environment for Linux/Unix like
  • GNU Boxes - virtualization
  • GNU - “GNU is Not Unix” core software to GNU/Linux systems
  • GNU/Linux - operating system
  • Gopeed - Lightweight download manager (HTTP, BitTorrent, Magnet, others)
  • GRASS GIS - Geographical Information System software used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/map production, spatial modelling, and visualization
  • grex - Generate a matching regular expression from the test cases you provide, also has Rust library and Python bindings
  • Grub - GNU project’s bootloader software
  • Handbrake - video converter, transcoder for digital video files
  • headlamp - Kubernetes web UI for local or in cluster use
  • htop - interactive system-monitor process-viewer and process-manager
  • ImageMagick - editing and manipulating digital images. It can be used to create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images, and supports a wide range of file formats, including JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and Ultra HDR
  • ImageMagick - mogrify - resize an image, blur, crop, despeckle, dither, draw on, flip, join, re-sample, and more
  • Jellyfin - suite of multimedia applications designed to organize, manage, and share digital media files to networked devices
  • Kamal - Application deployment anywhere from bare metal, VMs, to cloud, will work with any type of web app that can be containerized
  • Kanata - cross-platform software keyboard remapper
  • KDE Connect - facilitates wireless communications and data transfer between devices over local network
  • KDE Desktop environment for Linux/Unix like
  • Kdenlive - Video Editor, Can also do music editing and output.
  • kondo - Cleans dependencies and build artifacts from your projects
  • Kottster - Instant Node.js admin panel. Secure, self-hosted, and easy to set up
  • Krita - raster graphics editor designed primarily for digital painting and 2D animation
  • KVM - virtualization module in the Linux kernel that allows the kernel to function as a hypervisor
  • Lazarus - Delphi compatible cross-platform IDE for Rapid Application Development, uses Free Pascal
  • LibreOffice - office Prod software suite
  • Mailvelope - OpenPGP encryption for web email
  • MariaDB - community-developed, commercially supported fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License
  • Mastodon - running self-hosted social networking services. It has microblogging features similar to the Twitter service
  • MicroG - Implementation of proprietary Google libraries that serves as a replacement for Google Play Services on the Android operating system
  • mpv - media player software based on MPlayer, mplayer2 and FFmpeg
  • Neovim - hyperextensible Vim-based text editor
  • Netbox - platform for network and infrastructure management and automation
  • Newsboat - RSS/Atom feed reader for text terminals
  • Nextcloud - suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services
  • Notepad++ - text editor
  • OBS - cross-platform screencasting and streaming app
  • Onlyoffice - office suite
  • Openshot - video editor
  • Open Street Map - geographical and map information
  • Pangolin - Identity-based VPN and proxy for remote access to anything anywhere
  • Pass - the standard unix password manager, stores, retrieves, generates, and synchronizes passwords securely. Git and GPG with it can be a shared password manager.
  • PeaZip - cross platform file manager and file archiver
  • PeerTube - decentralized, ActivityPub federated video platform powered by WebTorrent, that uses peer-to-peer technology to reduce load on individual servers when viewing videos
  • Persepolis Download Manager - Download manager in Python
  • Pihole - Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application which acts as a DNS sinkhole and optionally a DHCP server, intended for use on a private network
  • Piped - YouTube viewer
  • Podman desktop - Manage Podman and other container engines from a single UI and tray
  • Podman TUI - Podman terminal user interface
  • Proton tools - Mail, VPN, Drive open source
  • Qemu - emulator (Quick EMUlator). It emulates the machine’s processor through dynamic binary translation and provides a set of different hardware and device models for the machine, enabling it to run a variety of guest operating systems
  • Recoll - Full-text search for desktop, covering files, contents, messages, and other document formats
  • Remmina - Remote access screen and file sharing to your desktop
  • RStudio - IDE for R
  • Session - decentralized messaging platform
  • Shotcut - Non-linear video editor
  • Signal - cross-platform centralized encrypted instant messaging service developed by the non-profit Signal Foundation
  • Smallstep CLI - general purpose for working with PKI systems and workflows with X509, OAuth, JWT, OATH OTP, etc.
  • Spyder - IDE for scientific programming in the Python language
  • sqlc - generates fully type-safe idiomatic code from SQL in various programming language
  • superfile - terminal file manager cross platform
  • systemd - provides an array of system components for Linux operating systems - aim is to unify service configuration and behavior across Linux distributions
  • Termux - terminal emulator for Android
  • Terraform - infrastructure as code build and maintenance (Mozzila Public License 2.0, weak copyleft)
  • Thunderbird - cross-platform email client, personal information manager, news client, RSS and chat client
  • Tor Browser
  • Transmission - BitTorrent client which features a variety of user interfaces on top of a cross-platform back-end
  • ttyd - Share your terminal over the web
  • Ublock Origin - Browser ad and annoyance blocker
  • Varia - Download manager that supports regular downloads, torrents and videos
  • video2x - machine learning-based video super resolution and frame interpolation framework, upscaling tool
  • Vim - text editor
  • Virtman - Virtual Machine manager
  • Visidata - tool for tabular data which combines the clarity of a spreadsheet and efficiency of the terminal
  • VLC - portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media server
  • Wine - Wine Is Not an Emulator, now just “Wine” is a free and open-source compatibility layer that aims to allow application software and computer games developed for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems
  • Wireguard - communication protocol and free and open-source software that implements encrypted virtual private networks (VPNs), and was designed with the goals of ease of use, high speed performance, and low attack surface
  • Wireshark - packet analyzer. It is used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education
  • WordPress - content management system (CMS) written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS
  • zotero - Manage bibliographic data and research materials by helping you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.

KDE Applications

Section titled “KDE Applications”

Source: Documentation: Windows - KDE Applications and personal experience.

KDE Applications on Windows and Unix/Linux platforms:

  • Ark - file archiver
  • Dolphin - file manager
  • Elisa - music player
  • Kate - text editor
  • KCachegrind - profile data visualization tool
  • KDE Connect - data transfer between devices on local networks
  • Kdenlive - video editor
  • KDiff3 - file and folder diff and merge tool
  • Kleopatra - certificate manager and GUI for GnuPG, handle encryption, decryption, and verification of text and files
  • Konsole - terminal
  • Konversation - IRC chat client
  • Krita - painter
  • KTouch - typing tutor
  • Lokalize - locational tool, translation
  • Okular - document viewer supporting PDF, images, books, epub, and more

Install KDE applications on Windows with Package installers: MSYS2 and Scoop.

Modern Terminal Commands and Programs

Section titled “Modern Terminal Commands and Programs”
  • ag - A code searching tool similar to ack, but faster.
  • alacritty - terminal emulator, URLs can open, search, VI bindings
  • asciinema - record and share terminal sessions
  • atuin - interactive shell history
  • bacon - re-runs cargo clippy, build, test, or run
  • bat - cat with colours, line numbers, git integration, paging
  • bob-nvim - nvim version manager
  • bottom - like htop with widgets, cross platform
  • broot - directory and file navigation with directory sizes, search
  • btop - like top, system monitoring
  • cargo-info - shows info about cratesS
  • cheat - cheat sheets
  • choose - human-friendly and fast alternative to cut and (sometimes) awk
  • collima - container runtimes on macOS, Linux with minimal setup
  • coreutils - GNU coreutils in Rust, cross platform, can alias to run rust coreutils instead of OS ones like alias usort = “coreutils sort”
  • crush - coding CLI with artificial intelligence (AI) models
  • ctop - top like interface for container metrics
  • curl - command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs since 1998. See similar utilities: xh, nushell’s http
  • curlie - user friendly curl, good also for API tests
  • delta - syntax-highlighting pager for git, diff, grep, and blame output
  • Difftastic - structural diff tool that compares files based on their syntax.
  • dive - exploring container image layers
  • doggo - Command-line DNS Client, user friendly
  • dua - disk usage analyzer, parallel and can analyze specific directories
  • duf - df alternative
  • dust - file and folder size tree, du (disk usage) with colours like subdirectories, intuitive interface
  • evcxrjupyter - rust kernel for jupyter, requires Jupyter framework to be installed
  • eza - ls with colours, icons
  • fd - find with shorter syntax, some limitations compared to find, colours
  • findutils (uutils) - Rust implementation of GNU find, locate, xargs run commands on files
  • fish shell - command line shell
  • fselect - Find files with SQL-like queries
  • fzf - fuzzy finder
  • gdbgui - Browser based front end for GNU Debugger (GDB)
  • gitui - terminal client for git, good for small git operations
  • gum - tool to create nice glamorous (nice looking) shell scripts
  • Helix - modal editor like vim with modern defaults and more built in features
  • httpie - user friend HTTP client
  • hurl - for repeatable tests and plain text files for requests, API testing
  • hyperfine - command line benchmarking tool, check run times
  • irust - interactive rust REPL
  • jq - sed for JSON
  • Just - like make, command runner
  • k6 - loading testing tool for application and infrastructure
  • k9s - Kubernetes TUI, manage pods
  • kubectx and kubens - Switch between Kubernetes clusters and namespaces
  • Kubescape - Kubernetes security platform checking security in clusters, YAML, and Helm and using different security frameworks
  • lazydocker - manage docker, TUI
  • lnav - log file navigator, log directory manager, analysis
  • lsd - ls with more accessible output, colours, icons
  • macchina: A system information frontend
  • mask - like make and just, tasks are defined in a markdown file
  • mcfly - better history search
  • monolith: CLI tool for saving complete web pages as a single HTML file
  • mosh - remote terminal allowing roaming, intermittent connectivity, like SSH
  • mprocs - running multiple process, like tmux, but useful for long running non-interactive single processes to give them status
  • n8n - workflow automation tool
  • navi - interactive cheatsheets
  • ncspot - spotify client terminal UI
  • nu - shell with pipelines and everything is data, has plugins
  • Ouch: Painless compression and decompression for your terminal with autodetection of file types
  • pgcli - postgresql interface
  • podman - tool for managing OCI containers and pods
  • porsmo - pomodoro timer
  • posting - API TUI, good for API tests
  • presenterm - markdown terminal slideshow tool
  • procs - ps with colours and more accessible output, search
  • ripgrep-all - ripgrep but also search in compressed files, PDF, ebooks, office docs
  • ripgrep (rg) - faster grep, grep with default recursive search, filters
  • rtx-cli - version manager of programming languages like python, node, ruby, like program asdf
  • sccache - cache for compiler tools, support for Rust code, see usage for set up
  • sd - Intuitive find & replace CLI (sed alternative)
  • skim - command fuzzy finder
  • speedtest-rs - network speedtesters
  • starship prompt - cross platform/shell configurable prompt
  • stern - multi pod and container log tailing for Kubernetes
  • tig - git log viewer
  • tldr (tealdeer) - shortened man pages with examples
  • tokei - code statistics, lines of codes summary by language
  • topgrade Upgrade all the things by detecting the tools you use and running the appropriate commands to update them.
  • typst - markup-based typesetting system with programming logic, like a modern LaTex, Word, Google docs, good for academic and technical documentation, example use cases: math papers, resume, documents, diagrams, presentations
  • usql - Universal command-line interface for SQL databases
  • wiki-tui - wikipedia terminal ui
  • wormhole - private file transfer from computer to computer
  • wttr.in - using curl to query weather like curl wttr.in/toronto
  • xh - send HTTP requests, like HTTPie
  • Yazi - terminal file manager with previews and async I/O
  • yt-dlp - audio/video downloader
  • zellij - terminal multiplexer like tmux and screen, no Windows implementation as of 2023-06-14
  • zoxide - smart cd to jump to frequently used directories

nix package manager on Linux, MacOS and scoop on Windows covers most of these programs

Support Summary as of 2026-02-25

Section titled “Support Summary as of 2026-02-25”

Source: pkgs.org and MSYS2 Packages

Key commands I use regularly and packaging support:

ProgramArchDebianFedoraFreeBSDUbuntuVoidMSYS2scoopopenSUSE
atuinxxxxxxxxx
batxxxxxxxxx
brootxxxxxxx
carapacex (AUR)xxxxxx
fdxxxxxxxxx
fzfxxxxxxxxx
helixxxxxxxx
lazygitxxxxxxxx
mprocsx (AUR)xx
nushellxxxxx
ripgrepxxxxxxxxx
starshipxxxxxxxxx
topgradexxxxxx
vcstool (pipx)xxxxxxxxx
yazixxxxxxx
zoxidexxxxxxxxx
  • Ubuntu - might be latest version

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

Most packages above can be installed using cargo with cargo install <command> and using Nix.

Installation - The Cargo Book

Mobile Android

Section titled “Mobile Android”

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/freesoftware/comments/15cp6ff/all_my_open_source_app_alternatives/ and see also GitHub - offa/android-foss: A list of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Android

App → Alternative

See Also

Section titled “See Also”