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util-linux

A set of essential Linux system utilities.

util-linux ships dozens of small commands that are nonetheless central to Linux operation: dmesg, mount, umount, fdisk, lsblk, blkid, login, su, hexdump, cal, hwclock, agetty, kill, ipcs, chrt, taskset, lscpu, lsmem, and many more. The package is maintained as a single project under the kernel.org umbrella, which keeps the cross-tool consistency tight.

Karel Zak has been the lead maintainer since the early 2010s, following older maintainers from Andries Brouwer onwards. The package is updated continuously — release notes for each version typically span dozens of bug fixes and small features across the constituent utilities.

util-linux is preinstalled on every Linux distribution and is the source of most of the "I want to know what's on my system" commands that experienced sysadmins reach for first. Tools like lsblk, lscpu, and lsipc, in particular, have become so standardised that learning their output is itself a transferable Linux skill.

Already preinstalled on every Linux system.