If you are a Linux enthusiast or a developer, you know the importance of quickly checking your system’s health, hardware specifications, and resource usage. SysLens is a lightweight, terminal-based tool written in C that provides a real-time snapshot of your system by reading the Linux /proc filesystem.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through installing SysLens on your Linux machine, compiling it from source, and optionally installing it system-wide.
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure you have:
A Linux-based operating system (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch, etc.)
gcc or clang compiler installed
make utility
Basic terminal knowledge
Step 1: Clone the Repository
First, clone the SysLens GitHub repository to your local machine:
git clone https://github.com/mahmudul626/syslens.git
cd syslens
Step 2: Build from Source
SysLens uses a simple Makefile for compilation. To build the project:
make
If successful, this will create an executable named syslens in the project directory.
Step 3: Run SysLens
Run the tool directly from the terminal:
./syslens
You’ll see three sections:
System Info: OS name, kernel version, CPU model, uptime, and current user.
Resource Usage: RAM, swap usage, and load averages with visual progress bars.
Active Processes: Total tasks, running, sleeping, and zombie processes.
You can also use flags to display specific sections:
./syslens -s # System info only
./syslens -m # Resource usage only
./syslens -p # Active processes only
./syslens --version
./syslens --help
Step 4: Optional System-wide Installation
To make SysLens accessible from anywhere on your system:
sudo make install
This will copy the executable to /usr/bin/syslens. Now you can simply run:
syslens
To uninstall:
sudo make uninstall
Step 5: Testing & Validation
SysLens has been designed to work on multiple Linux distributions. You can validate its performance using tools like:
valgrind – for memory leak detection
cppcheck – for static code analysis
These are already integrated in the CI/CD workflow if you are contributing or compiling from the source.
Conclusion
SysLens is a lightweight, fast, and reliable Linux CLI tool to monitor your system. Whether you are a developer, sysadmin, or hobbyist, it provides an instant overview of your system’s health and performance.
Try it out, contribute, or suggest improvements on GitHub.
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