Linux tool to show progress for cp, mv, dd (github.com)

Article summary

The article discusses a Linux tool called progress that displays the progress of coreutils commands such as cp, mv, and dd. The tool works by scanning /proc for interesting commands and looking at directories fd and fdinfo to find opened files and seek positions. It provides a simple way to monitor the progress of file operations. The tool is available on Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS.

Main themes

• Linux tools
• progress indicators
• coreutils
• file operations
• network management
• UNIX philosophy
• QoS and SQM

What commenters say

• Some commenters argue that coreutils should have progress bars built-in, while others think it's better to have separate tools for this purpose.
• There are differing opinions on whether progress indicators should be enabled by default or only as an explicit option.
• Some users appreciate the existence of tools like pv and progress, which can be used to monitor and control file operations.
• Others point out that progress indicators can be useful even if they're not always accurate, as they provide some feedback to the user.
• It's suggested that the lack of progress indicators in some tools may be due to the UNIX philosophy of only providing output when necessary.
• The use of QoS and SQM is discussed as a way to manage network bandwidth and prevent saturation.
• Some commenters share their own use cases for tools like pv and progress, such as slowing down file transfers to prevent network congestion or disk failures.