Gary’s Shell (gash) - Version 0.0.6.3

A comprehensive Unix/Linux-like shell environment for Windows, implemented entirely in C++ without external dependencies. Gary’s Shell brings the power and familiarity of bash commands to native Windows, with full NTFS support and Windows API integration.

🌟 Overview

Gary’s Shell (gash) is a standalone bash-like console application for Windows that provides:

• 110+ commands with 95+ fully implemented and 15+ informational guides
• Native Windows integration using NTFS file system and Windows APIs
• No external dependencies - no WSL, Git Bash, Cygwin, or other installations required
• Full bash compatibility for common command-line workflows
• Comprehensive documentation with man pages for every command

✨ Key Features

Core Capabilities

• 🔧 110+ Unix/Linux commands implemented natively in C++
• 📁 Native NTFS support with Windows ACL integration
• 🔀 Full pipe operations (|) for command chaining
• ⌨️ Interactive tab completion for commands and file paths
• 📜 Persistent command history with search capabilities
• 🔖 Configurable command aliases for personalized workflows
• 📖 Comprehensive man page system for detailed command documentation
• ❓ Context-sensitive help (--help flag for all commands)

Advanced Features

• 🔐 Windows ACL integration via chmod, chown, chgrp
• 🔗 Hard and symbolic links with native NTFS support
• 🌐 Network operations including SSH, SCP, rsync, wget, curl
• 📦 Archive management with tar, gzip, zip support
• 💻 Process management with ps, top, kill, nice commands
• 👥 User/group management with Windows account integration
• 🔄 Service control for Windows services
• 🚀 Shell scripting with sh command and source support
• 🧮 Built-in calculators (bc, calc, qalc)

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Windows 7 or later (Windows 10/11 recommended)
• C++ compiler (MSVC, MinGW, or Clang)

Building

Using PowerShell build script (recommended):

.\build.ps1

Using CMake:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release

Using MSVC directly:

cl /EHsc /O2 garyscon.cpp /Fe:garyshell.exe user32.lib shell32.lib advapi32.lib ws2_32.lib iphlpapi.lib netapi32.lib

Running

garyshell.exe

Or for single command execution:

garyshell.exe -c "ls -la"

📚 Command Reference

Navigation & File Viewing (8 commands)

• pwd - Print working directory
• cd [dir] - Change directory
• ls [-la] [path] - List directory contents
• cat <file>... - Display file contents
• less <file> - View file with paging
• head [-n N] - Display first N lines
• tail [-n N] - Display last N lines
• tac <file> - Print files in reverse line order

File Operations (12 commands)

• touch, mkdir, rm, rmdir, mv - Basic file operations
• ln [-s] - Create hard/symbolic links
• chmod, chown, chgrp - Permission management
• dd - Low-level file copy
• file - Determine file type

Text Processing (14 commands)

• grep, sed, awk - Pattern matching and text processing
• sort, cut, paste, uniq - Text manipulation
• wc, tee, diff, patch - Text utilities
• rev, printf, echo - Text output

File Search (4 commands)

• find - Find files/directories
• locate - Recursive search
• which - Locate command in PATH
• file - Determine file type

System Info (14 commands)

• df, du - Disk usage
• uptime, uname, date - System information
• cal, ncal - Calendar display
• free, vmstat, iostat, mpstat - System statistics
• hostname, neofetch - Host information

User & Group (18 commands)

• whoami, who, w, last, id - User information
• finger, user, groups - User details
• passwd - Password management
• useradd, userdel, usermod - User administration
• groupadd, groupmod, groupdel - Group administration
• gpasswd, getent - Account management

Process Management (18 commands)

• ps, proc, htop, top - Process viewing
• kill, killall, pkill, xkill - Process termination
• nice, renice - Priority management
• jobs, bg, fg - Job control (info guides)
• strace, lsof - Debugging (info guides)
• sleep, wait - Delays and process waiting

Archives & Compression (10 commands)

• tar - Archive management
• gzip/gunzip - Gzip compression
• zip/unzip - ZIP archives
• bzip2/bunzip2 - Bzip2 (info guides)
• dd - Low-level copy

Network & Remote (18 commands)

• ssh, scp, rsync - Remote access
• wget, curl - File downloads
• ping, traceroute - Diagnostics
• ip, ifconfig, iptables - Network config
• dig, nslookup, netstat, ss - Network info
• nmap, tcpdump, lspci, lsusb - Network/hardware tools

Services & System (5 commands)

• service - Windows service control
• shutdown, reboot - Power management
• sync - File system sync

Shell & Scripting (14 commands)

• sh, source, exec - Script execution
• echo, printf - Output
• bc, calc, qalc - Calculators
• xargs - Argument processing
• alias/unalias - Command shortcuts
• history - Command history
• umask - File mode mask
• case - Pattern matching (info)

Editing & Display (3 commands)

• nano - Text editor
• clear - Clear screen
• screen - Terminal multiplexer (limited)

Admin & Help (6 commands)

• sudo, su - Privilege elevation
• man - Manual pages
• help - Command listing
• version - Version information
• exit, quit - Exit shell

📖 Documentation

Getting Help

<command> --help    # Quick command help
man <command>       # Full manual page
help                # List all commands
version             # Show version and features

Man Pages

Every command has a comprehensive manual page with:

• Name and description
• Usage synopsis
• Detailed options
• Examples
• Related commands

🔧 Usage Examples

File Operations

ls -la                        # List all files with details
cat file.txt | grep "error"   # Search in file
find . -name "*.log"          # Find log files
tar -czf backup.tar.gz data/  # Create archive

Text Processing

grep -i "warning" *.log       # Case-insensitive search
sed 's/old/new/g' file.txt    # Replace text
awk '{print $1}' data.txt     # Extract column
sort file.txt | uniq          # Sort and remove duplicates

System Operations

ps | grep chrome              # Find Chrome processes
df -h                         # Show disk usage
uptime                        # System uptime
neofetch                      # System info display

Network Operations

ssh user@server.com           # SSH connection
scp file.txt user@host:/tmp/  # Secure copy
wget https://example.com/file # Download file
ping google.com               # Network test

Process Management

ps                            # List processes
kill 1234                     # Kill by PID
killall chrome                # Kill by name
nice -n 10 command            # Run with priority

🎯 Advanced Features

Piping

ls -la | grep ".txt" | sort
cat log.txt | grep "error" | wc -l
ps | grep "chrome"

Aliases

alias ll="ls -la"
alias ..="cd .."
unalias ll

Shell Scripts

# Create and execute script
cat > script.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
echo "Starting..."
mkdir -p backup
cp -r data backup/
echo "Done!"
EOF

sh script.sh

Tab Completion

• Press Tab to auto-complete commands and paths
• Works for file names, directory names, and commands

Home Directory

cd ~                  # Go to home
ls ~/Documents        # List home documents

🔐 Administrator Operations

Commands requiring admin privileges:

sudo service apache start
sudo passwd username
sudo useradd newuser
sudo shutdown -r now

Run as Administrator or use built-in sudo command.

📊 Performance

• Startup: Instant (native executable)
• Execution: Native Windows API performance
• Memory: ~5-10 MB
• Size: ~4.4 MB executable

🔄 Version History

v0.0.6.3 (Current)

• Added internal sleep and wait commands
• Updated help, man pages, and version banner

v0.0.6.2

• Added sh command for shell scripts
• Enhanced scripting capabilities

v0.0.6.1

• Added bzip2/bunzip2 guides
• Improved compression support

v0.0.6.0

• Added tac, mpstat, cal, lspci, lsusb
• Enhanced system commands

📄 License

GNU General Public License v3.0

📝 Notes

Informational Commands: Some commands provide guidance rather than full implementation:

• bzip2/bunzip2 - External tool guides
• lspci/lsusb - Hardware enumeration guides
• strace/lsof - System inspection guides
• jobs/bg/fg - Job control guides
• at/cron/crontab - Scheduling guides
• tcpdump - Network capture guide

See command help (--help) and man pages for Windows alternatives and recommendations.

🔗 Links

• Full command reference: Type help in shell
• Manual pages: Type man <command>
• Version info: Type version

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Gary’s Shell - Bringing Unix power to Windows! 🚀