bfree

A human-friendly view of Linux memory and swap. Inspired by tools like btop, bfree gives you memory and swap stats in a clean one-line summary.

bfree is a lightweight Rust CLI that provides a clearer, human-oriented view of Linux memory and swap usage.

It keeps the speed and simplicity of free while improving readability and presenting practical memory semantics by default.

Features

• Human-readable sizes and percentages
• Multiple output modes: compact (default), extended, and pretty
• Linux-only (currently), using /proc/meminfo
• Small dependency surface and fast startup

Platform Support

bfree currently supports Linux only (reads /proc/meminfo).

Installation

Cargo

bfree is published on crates.io:

• https://crates.io/crates/bfree

Install with:

cargo install bfree

From source

git clone https://github.com/glexposito/bfree
cd bfree
cargo build --release
./target/release/bfree

Arch Linux (AUR)

Release publishing to AUR is automated by the project release workflow.

Package page:

• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/bfree

<aur-helper> -S bfree

Usage

bfree

bfree --extended

bfree --pretty

Output Semantics

bfree currently uses the following memory model:

• used = MemTotal - MemAvailable
• avail = MemAvailable
• cache = Cached + SReclaimable - Shmem (effective reclaimable cache)

Mode notes:

• compact (default) shows used and avail for memory, plus swap totals/usage.
• --extended and --pretty also show cache.

Project Status

Implemented:

• Linux /proc/meminfo parser with typed error handling
• Compact, extended, and pretty renderers
• Unit tests for memory math and render behavior
• CI for pushes and pull requests
• Release automation for GitHub releases and AUR updates

Planned:

• Fedora COPR packaging and publish pipeline
• Container/cgroup-aware mode
• PSI (Pressure Stall Information) support

Development

cargo run --

cargo test --all-targets --all-features

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.