What can `inxi` be used for? [closed]

There are several questions and answers here that include the output of inxi. What can inxi be used for?

inxi

inxi

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2 Answers
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inxi is a package available in the Universe repository. The version of inxi in 18.04.1 is 2.3.56. It uses Gawk/Bash to examine your system to extract a variety of information that could be helpful in describing your system when seeking help.

inxi

2.3.56

From the man page:

inxi is a command line system information script built for console
and IRC. It is also used a debugging tool for forum technical support
to quickly ascertain users' system configurations and hardware. inxi
shows system hardware, CPU, drivers, Xorg, Desktop, Kernel, gcc
version(s), Processes, RAM usage, and a wide variety of other useful
information.

The man page lists numerous inxi options but to summarize the uppercase options:

man

inxi

-A

-B

-C

-D

-G

-I

inxi

-M

-N

-P

-R

-S

-W

And here's just a few of the lowercase ones:

-c0

-c

inxi -t c10

-m

inxi -t m10

-n

-t

-cN

-mN

N

-r

-s

Privacy considerations

Since inxi output is often posted in public fora, the -z option filters out data such as MAC addresses. If the hostname (normally generated by -S), is to be hidden, -! 31 can be used.

inxi

-z

-S

-! 31

The -x factor

The following example illustrates the use of -x, -xx, and -xxx and should be self-explanatory:

-x

-x

-xx

-xxx

dkb@dkb-xubu:~$
dkb@dkb-xubu:~$ inxi -S
System: Host: dkb-xubu Kernel: 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3
Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
dkb@dkb-xubu:~$ inxi -Sx
System: Host: dkb-xubu Kernel: 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.31) Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
dkb@dkb-xubu:~$ inxi -Sxx
System: Host: dkb-xubu Kernel: 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.31) dm: lightdm Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
dkb@dkb-xubu:~$ inxi -Sxxx
System: Host: dkb-xubu Kernel: 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.31) info: xfce4-panel dm: lightdm Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
dkb@dkb-xubu:~$


Conclusion:
So, what's a convenient command for someone wanting to present information concisely?

inxi -Fxxxz

-F

-s

-n

inxi -t cm10

inxi -r

Footnote: a newer Perl-based version of inxi is available via:

inxi

sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/inxi https://github.com/smxi/inxi/raw/master/inxi
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/inxi


after which

sudo inxi -U will, when run for the first time, install the corresponding man pages and, on subsequent runs, will install newer versions of inxi and its man page. The changelog is very good reading for those interested in the inner workings of inxi.

sudo inxi -U

man

inxi

man

inxi

Another option is to add Unit 193's personal package archive which closely tracks the github version.

apt policy inxi

apt-get changelog inxi > inxi.txt

To add to the answer from DK Bose, and focusing on current inxi, not the legacy 2.3 or 2.2 versions, which are technically EOL, and unsupported:

Easy way to see if you have legacy or current inxi: inxi -v8
If you get an error, you have legacy inxi, if you get a huge page of output, you have current inxi. -v8 level was added in 2.9, the beta test release for 3.0. It's the 'everything plus the kitchen sink option'. Almost everything anyway.

inxi -v8

Interesting options:

There are also some specific options that are useful now and then. All the -! and -@ options from legacy inxi were given long option names.

Basically all options are enhanced in 3.x, some more than others. Dynamic line wrap is much better as well, and some old glitches like not removing color codes when piping or redirecting were corrected, which removed the requirement to use the -c 0 flag to force color code removal. All option names have long forms in 3.x.

There are also some more obscure options, like being able to export to xml or json if users want.

Support for ARM and ARM SOC (system on chip, or SBC, single board computer) devices (like rasberry pi) is hugely upgraded in 3.0, along with various other obscure architectures like MIPS and SPARC which recently saw basic support added.

The most common use of inxi I believe is for forum/irc support for distro users, and for sys admin use, particularly when you ssh into a machine and need to know what it is. The most common option seems to be, at least on forums, -Fxz, though some prefer the shorter -bxxz

As noted, the Unit193 PPA can be added, there are never any dependency issues so you can install current inxi on a 10 year old system and it should all 'just work'. You can also just directly install it, there's a shortcut url to the github location: wget -Nc smxi.org/inxi which I find easier to remember than the longer github url path. If you are not using the packaged version, the options sudo inxi -U will update inxi and the man page using github sources.

wget -Nc smxi.org/inxi

sudo inxi -U

sudo inxi -U