Recommended tools

This page [[Article description::lists system administration related tools recommended for use in a shell (terminal/console) environment.]]

Note
This is intended as a "best of kind" list. Use eix to search for all packages available on Gentoo.

CPU or IC

app-misc/resolve-march-native - Resolve GCC flag -march=native, read the CPU id product family codename.
sys-apps/cpuid - Linux tool to dump x86 CPUID information about the CPUs.

app-admin/pydf - Enhanced df (disk free) tool, which uses colors and a semi-graphical representation of disk usage.
sys-fs/ncdu - Ncurses-based disk usage tool, with easy navigation through the filesystem tree to see du results.
sys-power/acpi - Attempts to replicate the functionality of the 'old' apm command on ACPI systems.
sys-power/acpitool - A Linux ACPI client, allowing you to query or set ACPI values. It provides informations on battery status, AC adapter presence, thermal reading, etc.

sys-process/atop - Resource-specific view of processes.
sys-process/htop - Interactive process viewer (improved alternative for top), with easy function-keys for process management.
sys-process/iotop - Simple top like I/O monitor.
sys-process/lsof - Lists open files for running Unix processes.

net-analyzer/iftop - Display bandwidth usage on an interface.
net-analyzer/iptraf-ng - Console-based network monitoring utility.
net-analyzer/lft - Layer Four Traceroute: An advanced traceroute implementation.
net-analyzer/nload - Console application which monitors network traffic and bandwidth usage in real time.
net-analyzer/vnstat - Network traffic monitoring.
net-analyzer/xprobe - Active OS fingerprinting tool. This is Xprobe2.
net-analyzer/yersinia - A FrameWork for layer 2 protocol attacks. Working on DHCP, STP, IEEE 802.1q and also some other Cisco proprietary network protocols.
net-wireless/wavemon - Ncurses based monitor for IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN cards.

app-misc/mc - GNU Midnight Commander is a text based file manager.
app-misc/nnn - The missing terminal file manager for X.
app-misc/vifm - Console file manager with vi(m)-like keybindings. Offers familiar navigation for vim junkies.

app-misc/grc - A generic colouriser that beautifies system log files or command output.
app-misc/rlwrap - Readline wrapper.
app-misc/screen - screen manager with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation
app-misc/tmux - Terminal multiplexer
app-text/wgetpaste - Command-line interface to various pastebin-like websites.
app-shells/autojump - change directory command that learns
sys-apps/most - Enhanced pager (alternative to more and less) with colored highlighting. Also consider emerging app-editors/vim with USE=vim-pager.
x11-misc/xclip - Command-line interface to X selections (clipboard).

app-admin/pass - Stores, retrieves, generates, and synchronizes passwords securely using gpg, pwgen, and git.
app-admin/whowatch - Interactive who-like program that displays information about users currently logged on in real time.
app-misc/dvtm - Dynamic virtual terminal manager.
dev-util/vbindiff - Visual diffing tool for binary files.
dev-db/mytop - A top clone for mysql

Note
A customized mytop is included in >=dev-db/mariadb-5.3