profile
This project aims to create an advanced bash profile. It includes aliases, a customized prompt and several functions for different purposes. It's mostly targeted to system administrators but might satisfy some regular users.
1. Requirements
profile requires Bash 4.3 or higher (for associative arrays and namerefs). It will refuse to load on older versions and will also refuse to load if the current shell is not bash.
2. Getting started
Download and extract (or use git clone) the profile archive into your home
directory. You will have to modify your ~/.bashrc and/or ~/.profile file to
add at the end (preferably):
source <installpath>/profile/profile.sh
You may also set the PROFILE_PATH environment variable before sourcing if you
want to override the automatic path detection:
export PROFILE_PATH=/opt/profile
source /opt/profile/profile.sh
It's not recommended to load that profile in /etc/profile as users' .bashrc
files might interfere with some aliases and functions defined in profile.
2.1. Initial configuration
Copy the example configuration file and customise it to your needs:
cp <installpath>/profile/doc/profile.conf.example <installpath>/profile/profile.conf
profile.conf is git-ignored so your personal settings will never be
accidentally committed. All keys are optional — sensible defaults apply when
unset. See section 4 for the full reference.
3. What's the purpose?
profile gives access to numerous functions, aliases and to an advanced prompt.
All functions are organized into modules under the profile.d/ directory and
are loaded automatically at startup.
3.1. Prompt
A bar-style prompt showing current time, execution time of the last command (with sub-millisecond precision), and the exit code of the last command.
3.2. Functions reference
| Function | Module | Description |
|---|---|---|
busy |
fun | Monitor /dev/urandom for a hex pattern — look busy |
check_updates |
updates | Check whether a newer profile version is available online |
clean |
filefct | Erase backup files in given directories, optionally recursive |
disp |
disp | Display formatted info / warning / error / debug messages |
dwl |
net | Download a URL using curl, wget, or fetch transparently |
expandlist |
filefct | Expand glob expressions into a quoted, separated list |
file_stats |
filefct | Display file size statistics for a path |
findbig |
filefct | Find the biggest files in the given or current directory |
finddead |
filefct | Find dead symbolic links in the given or current directory |
findzero |
filefct | Find empty files in the given or current directory |
genpwd |
pwd | Generate one or more random secure passwords with configurable constraints |
gpid |
processes | Give the list of PIDs matching the given process name(s) |
help |
help | Display the list of available functions and basic usage |
isipv4 |
net | Tell if the given parameter is a valid IPv4 address |
isipv6 |
net | Tell if the given parameter is a valid IPv6 address |
ku |
processes | Kill all processes owned by the given user name or ID |
matrix |
rain | Console screensaver with Matrix-style digital rain (binary, kana, ascii charset) |
mcd |
filefct | Create a directory and immediately move into it |
meteo |
info | Display weather forecast for the configured or given city |
myextip |
net | Get information about your public IP address |
pkgs |
packages | Search for a pattern in installed package names (dpkg/rpm, supports -i) |
ppg |
processes | Look for the given pattern in running processes |
ppn |
processes | List processes matching an exact command name |
ppu |
processes | List processes owned by a specific user |
profile_upgrade |
updates | Upgrade profile to the latest version (git pull or archive) |
pwdscore |
pwd | Calculate the strength score of a given password |
rain |
rain | Console screensaver with falling-rain effect (multiple color themes) |
rmhost |
ssh | Remove host (name and IP) from SSH known_hosts; supports --all-users as root |
rmspc |
filefct | Replace spaces in filenames with underscores (or a custom character) |
setc |
lang | Set locale to standard C (POSIX) |
setlocale |
lang | Set console locale to any installed locale |
settrace |
debug | Activate or deactivate ERR trap to display backtrace on script errors |
showinfo |
info | Display welcome banner and system information (figlet + neofetch/fastfetch) |
ssr |
ssh | SSH into a server as root, forwarding extra ssh options |
taz |
compress | Compress files and directories into a chosen archive format |
urlencode |
net | URL-encode a string |
utaz |
compress | Smartly uncompress archives (zip, tar.gz/bz2/xz/lz, rar, arj, lha, ace, 7z, zst, cpio, cab, deb, rpm) |
ver |
info | Display the installed profile version |
Locale shortcut functions (setfr, setus, etc.) are dynamically generated at
startup from the SET_LOCALE configuration key (see section 4).
4. Configuration
profile uses an INI-style configuration file (profile.conf) located in the
same directory as profile.sh. Sections are declared with [section_name] and
keys follow key = value syntax. Each module calls load_conf "<section>" at
load time, which exports every key in that section as an environment variable.
Unknown keys are silently ignored; all keys are optional — sensible defaults
apply when unset.
profile.conf is listed in .gitignore so personal values (API keys, cities,
compiler flags, …) are never accidentally staged. Start from the annotated
template at doc/profile.conf.example (see section 2.1).
4.1. Core sections
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
[system] |
Bash history size, pager, and other shell behaviours |
[general] |
General-purpose variables (e.g. compilation flags, MAKEFLAGS) |
[aliases] |
User command aliases, loaded for interactive shells only |
4.2. Module defaults
Each module exposes its hardcoded defaults as configuration keys. Set a key to change the default without having to pass flags every time.
[compress] — taz / utaz
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
TAZ_DEFAULT_FORMAT |
tar.gz |
Archive format for taz (tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz, zip, …) |
TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS |
0 |
Compression threads (0 = auto-detect) |
TAZ_DEFAULT_LEVEL |
6 |
Compression level (1–9) |
UTAZ_DEFAULT_DELETE |
0 |
Set to 1 to delete the source archive after extraction |
UTAZ_DEFAULT_DIR_MODE |
0 |
Set to 1 to always extract into a subdirectory |
[filefct] — file utilities
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
EXPANDLIST_DEFAULT_SEPARATOR |
(space) |
Separator used by expandlist |
CLEAN_DEFAULT_RECURSIVE |
0 |
Set to 1 to make clean recurse into subdirectories |
RMSPC_DEFAULT_CHAR |
_ |
Replacement character used by rmspc |
FINDBIG_DEFAULT_LIMIT |
10 |
Number of results returned by findbig |
[rain] — screensavers
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
RAIN_DEFAULT_SPEED |
0.1 |
Falling speed for rain |
RAIN_DEFAULT_COLOR |
Green |
Colour for rain |
MATRIX_DEFAULT_SPEED |
0.05 |
Falling speed for matrix |
MATRIX_DEFAULT_COLOR |
Green |
Colour for matrix |
MATRIX_DEFAULT_CHARSET |
binary |
Character set for matrix (binary, kana, ascii) |
[ssh]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
SSH_DEFAULT_OPT |
(empty) | Extra options passed to ssr (e.g. -Y for X forwarding) |
[pwd] — password tools
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
GENPWD_DEFAULT_LENGTH |
16 |
Generated password length |
GENPWD_DEFAULT_OCCURS |
1 |
Number of character class occurrences |
GENPWD_DEFAULT_COUNT |
1 |
Number of passwords to generate |
GENPWD_DEFAULT_SYMBOLS |
1 |
Include symbols (0/1) |
GENPWD_DEFAULT_UPPERCASE |
1 |
Include uppercase letters (0/1) |
GENPWD_DEFAULT_LOWERCASE |
1 |
Include lowercase letters (0/1) |
GENPWD_DEFAULT_NUMBERS |
1 |
Include digits (0/1) |
PWDSCORE_DEFAULT_VERBOSE |
0 |
Set to 1 for detailed scoring output from pwdscore |
[fun]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
BUSY_DEFAULT_PATTERN |
[0-9a-f] |
Hex pattern matched by busy |
BUSY_DEFAULT_DELAY |
0.1 |
Polling delay (seconds) for busy |
[info]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
METEO_DEFAULT_CITY |
(empty) | Default city for meteo when no argument is given |
[net]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
DWL_PREFERRED_TOOL |
(empty) | Force dwl to use curl, wget, or fetch (auto-detected when unset) |
MYEXTIP_DEFAULT_URL |
https://ip-api.com/json |
API endpoint used by myextip |
[packages]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
PKGS_DEFAULT_IGNORE_CASE |
0 |
Set to 1 to make pkgs case-insensitive by default |
[processes]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
PPU_DEFAULT_FORMAT |
pid,user,comm,args |
ps output format used by ppu |
KU_DEFAULT_SIGNAL |
TERM |
Default signal sent by ku |
[updates]
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
UPDT_DEFAULT_BRANCH |
master |
Git branch used for update checks and profile_upgrade. Changing this value causes profile_upgrade to automatically switch the local checkout to the new branch on the next run and display a warning. |
4.3. Locale shortcuts
The [general] key SET_LOCALE accepts a comma-separated list of
alias:locale pairs. Each pair generates a function of that name at startup:
SET_LOCALE = fr:fr_FR.UTF-8, us:en_US.UTF-8
This creates setfr and setus. Use setlocale <locale> to switch to any
installed locale directly.
4.4. Prompt theming
The prompt appearance is controlled by two mechanisms that are applied in order (later values win):
- Theme file — sets a base colour palette.
[prompt]section inprofile.conf— per-key overrides on top of the theme.
Selecting a theme:
[prompt]
PROMPT_THEME = dark # bare name → profile.d/themes/dark.theme
PROMPT_THEME_DIR = ~/.mythemes # optional: custom search directory
Built-in themes: default, dark, light, solarized, solarized-light,
monokai, monochrome, abyss, plasma, adwaita.
Overriding individual prompt colour slots:
[prompt]
PROMPT_COLOR_USER_FG = $ICyan
PROMPT_COLOR_DIR_FG = $IYellow
The eleven available PROMPT_COLOR_* keys are:
| Key | Role |
|---|---|
PROMPT_COLOR_TIME_FG / TIME_BG |
Clock foreground / background |
PROMPT_COLOR_BAR_BG |
Main bar background |
PROMPT_COLOR_OK_FG / OK_MARK |
Exit-code text / checkmark on success |
PROMPT_COLOR_ERR_BG / ERR_FG / ERR_MARK |
Error bar background / text / X mark |
PROMPT_COLOR_ROOT_FG |
Username colour when running as root |
PROMPT_COLOR_USER_FG |
Username@host colour for normal users |
PROMPT_COLOR_DIR_FG |
Working directory colour |
Writing a custom theme file:
Theme files live in profile.d/themes/ and use the .theme extension. They
are parsed, not executed — no shell code runs. Only two value forms are
accepted:
# Colour variable reference (resolved from profile.d/disp.sh)
PROMPT_COLOR_DIR_FG = "$ICyan"
# Raw ANSI escape sequence (single block, 16-colour or 24-bit true-colour)
PROMPT_COLOR_BAR_BG = "\e[48;2;7;54;66m"
Any unknown key, unsafe value, or shell construct is discarded with a warning.
Theme files may also override the standard colour variables (Black, Blue,
On_IBlack, etc.) to remap the entire terminal palette used by ls, grep,
and other colour-aware tools.
True-colour themes (solarized, solarized-light) require a terminal with
24-bit colour support (Konsole, iTerm2, kitty, Alacritty, Windows Terminal).
Verify support with:
printf '\e[38;2;38;139;210mTrue colour test\e[0m\n'
5. Contact and more information
5.1. New users
If you use (or plan to use) profile, I'll be happy if you simply mail me to
let me know, especially if you don't plan to contribute. If you plan to
contribute, I'll be twice happier for sure!
5.2. Bugs
profile bug tracker is hosted on its Gitea instance. Check the https://git.geoffray-levasseur.org/fatalerrors/profile page. If you find a bug, you can also submit a bug report to the maintainer mail address mentioned at the end of that document. A bug report may contain the command line parameters where the bug happens, OS details, the module that triggered it, if any, and the log file containing the error. Cygwin users: please note that the bash implementation in Cygwin regularly triggers bugs on advanced code that works fine on Linux or BSD. Please do not send syntax error bug reports if you have not tested the same code under a real Unix environment.
Check the FAQ and the to-do list before sending any feature request or bug report, as it might already be documented.
5.3. How to contribute?
You are free to improve and contribute as you wish. If you have no idea what to do or want some direction, you can check the to-do list, containing desired future improvements. Make sure you always have the latest development version before starting your work.
Read CONTRIBUTING.md for code style conventions, branch workflow, and how to submit a patch or pull request.
It's heavily recommended to use git to obtain the latest copy of the profile tree. Make sure your git configuration is correct in order to contribute. Please contact me to obtain push authorizations, or, if you want to submit a patch, you can send it by mail to the maintainer of profile.
Code written in Python or Perl might be accepted as long as it is not mobilizing a lot of dependencies (forget big frameworks). Anything that requires installing packages not provided in a minimal Debian or CentOS installation will probably be rejected.
If you want to make a financial contribution, please contact me by mail.
5.4. License, website, and maintainer
Everything except configuration files is licensed under the BSD-3 license. Please check the license file alongside this one.
Please check https://www.geoffray-levasseur.org/profile.
You can mail the author at fatalerrors <at> geoffray-levasseur <dot> org.
Documentation (c) 2021-2026 Geoffray Levasseur.
This file is distributed under the 3-clause BSD license. The complete license agreement can be obtained at: https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause