nowfound

Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to install.sh - Universal Install Script

Remember that XKCD comic? Well this script actually works.

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. install.sh - Universal Install Script launched in 2019; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1CS

    The pattern of downloading and executing installation scripts without verifying them has bothered me for a while. I started messing around with a way to verify the checksum of scripts before I execute them. I've found it a really useful tool for installing things like Rust or Deno. It's written entirely as a shell script, and it's easy to read and understand what's happening. I hope it may be useful to someone else!

    2022 · checksum.sh · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    I originally was just messing with pi-autoresearch. Gave it a sample task to build the most portable coding agent. First cut was 6 KB of shell. Great for one-shots, unusable interactively. I was shocked it actually worked. Started building up -- adding features — but with a self-imposed rule: no new dependencies, and sub 500 LOC. This thing had to be truly portable. Just sh, curl, awk. System primitives only. Which means I did some genuinely disgusting things in awk, including JSON parsing and the OpenAI Responses tool loop with reasoning items carried across turns. It's now ~400 lines. In…

    Apr 2026 · pu.dev · its alternatives →

  3. 3LS

    Greetings, creator here! I've been working on a new blogging platform specifically for lists on and off for a few months now and I'm excited to officially announce its launch. After seeing https://charm.sh a few months ago, I've been enamored by the idea of SSH apps. I decided that a blogging platform focused on developers could be the perfect use case for an SSH app. Also, I love writing lists. I think restricting writing to a set of lists can really help improve clarity in thought. The goal of this blogging platform is to make it simple to use the tools you love to write and…

    2022 · lists.sh · its alternatives →

  4. 4SA

    Hello all :) I made this BBS for fun and thought you all would enjoy it. It's not perfect, but it's been a fun exercise! see it: https://asciinema.org/a/Emg6SWrXMV6cehfQxrw1GRu75 try it: ssh -p 2223 shhhbb.com host it: https://github.com/donuts-are-good/shhhbb/releases/latest why? Every year I challenge myself in some new way, this year it is to push one project per week. You might recognize my static site generator [0] or my releaser for go [1] from previous posts as one of these weekly projects. If you want to join me in doing this, it's…

    2023 · donuts-are-good.github.io · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Lockdown your linux install. The simple zero config linux hardening script - dolegi/lockdown.sh

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Grownetics DevOps Open Source

    2019 · gitlab.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Deploy static sites with a single command. rsync and you

    2024 · pgs.sh · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    🌟 FastSitePHP 🌟 A Modern Open Source Framework for building High Performance Websites and API’s with PHP - fastsitephp/scripts/shell/bash/create-fast-site.sh at master · fastsitephp/fastsitephp

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Justfiles are like Makefiles, except Just is a command runner, whereas Make is a build system. As I understand it, Just was built to be a less arcane version of Make for collecting commands common to a code repository. When I first learned about Just, I realized that parsing arguments and running commands is exactly what shell scripts do, and there probably isn't much Just does that sh doesn't. This project proves that hypothesis by compiling Justfiles to portable (POSIX-compatible) shell scripts. just.sh is particularly useful for running Justfiles in esoteric environments where Just may…

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Unit testing framework for developing cross-platform Bash unit tests - bach-sh/bach

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11GA

    I built GRSH because I wanted a modern, memory-safe shell that feels native to FreeBSD but works seamlessly on macOS. While there are many shells out there, GRSH is my take on a minimal, fast, and secure command interpreter written entirely in Rust. It's designed for users who want the safety guarantees of Rust without the overhead of more bloated alternatives. I'm currently working on the official FreeBSD port. I’d love to get feedback on the shell's behavior and performance from the community. Github: https://github.com/antoniomalara301289/grsh

    Jan 2026 · grimreaper.icu · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Nixite generates a bash script to automatically install all your Linux software unattendedly. Nixite prevents prompts and picks the best installation method. Nixite supports Ubuntu-based systems and Arch-based systems. Nixite installs a nixite-updater script to update all package managers and software at once.

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13AI
  14. 14

    Some installation scripts for Ubuntu 14.04. Contribute to drkarl/install-scripts development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2015 · github.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15PI

    License and distribute your packages with our private npm registry.

    2013 · pkghub.io · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Python-powered shell for Mac, Linux and Windows

    2021 · xon.sh · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Hello all, I found myself rewriting the same shell scripts to distribute my binaries over and again, so I decided to put them in a repository and serve them with a prettier URL - to have nicer READMEs for my projects. I'll add some other tasks like installing/uninstalling on Windows, but in general ideas are welcome. Maybe somebody else finds them useful!

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Enterprise Kubernetes management, accelerated. 🚀. Contribute to pluralsh/plural development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Unubo makes it easy for you to track progress by bringing metrics from your favourite tools into one place.

    2019 · unubo.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20AU

    I built a browser-native Unix environment - shell, filesystem, git, npm, node, vi, 200+ commands. Everything is JavaScript running client-side with IndexedDB for persistence. The whole thing builds to a single static HTML file (~420 KB gzipped). Try it: https://shiro.computer For interactive demos showing npm install, node execution, and git workflows -- running live in Shiro, not recordings -- see https://shiro.computer/show Source: https://github.com/williamsharkey/shiro P.S. `curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash` works.…

    Feb 2026 · shiro.computer · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Agents take screenshots long before a pull request exists, and GitHub

    Jul 2026 · uploads.sh · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    :pager: An instance of your terminal in your browser - 0xHericles/cast-sh

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    In light of the ongoing npm supply chain compromises, I built safe-install: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@gkiely/safe-install It brings a couple of protections I wanted from npm but are not built in. Similar to Bun’s trusted dependencies, it lets you disable install scripts by default and define a list of dependencies that are allowed to run build/install scripts: https://bun.com/docs/guides/install/trusted It also supports blocking exotic sub-dependencies, similar to pnpm’s `blockExoticSubdeps` setting:…

    May 2026 · npmjs.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Install applications in Linux and Mac using bash script.

    2018 · its alternatives →

Also compare

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →