Uutils Coreutils 0.0.19, an alternative implementation of the GNU Coreutils package, has been released and is now available on GitHub. The project aims to create a cross-platform alternative to Coreutils that is capable of working on Windows, Redox, and Fuchsia platforms. The implementation is rewritten in Rust and is distributed under the Permissive License, instead of the Copilet License GPL used by GNU Coreutils.
The Coreutils package includes a wide range of utilities, such as Sort, Cat, Chmod, Chown, Chrot, CP, Date, DD, Echo, Hostname, ID, LN, and LS. In the latest version, the project developers have made several changes to improve compatibility and expand opportunities. They have improved compatibility with the GNU Coreutils reference set, successfully performing 365 tests (compared to 340 in the last version), with 186 (210) tests ending in failure and 49 (50) tests missed. The reference used for testing is GNU Coreutils 9.3.
Moreover, they have expanded the opportunities and improved compatibility by adding missing options for utilities like B2SUM, BASENC, ChGRP, Chown, Cksum, CP, CHGRP, Date, DD, Dircolors, Du, Factor, FMT, Hashsum, Head, LS, MKDIR, More, MV, NICE, Paste, PWD, RM, Shred, Tail, Touch, UNIQ, WC, WC, WC, WC, Whoami, and Yes.
Lastly, they have resolved the problems that appear when using incorrect UTF-8 characters in files and catalogs while using RM and UNIQ. These changes will make the implementation a more efficient and user-friendly alternative to GNU Coreutils.