btop

A monitor of resources

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Quick Overview

Btop++ is a resource monitor that shows usage and stats for processor, memory, disks, network, and processes. It's a C++ version and continuation of the bashtop and bpytop projects, offering improved performance and portability across different operating systems.

Pros

Cross-platform compatibility (Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD)
Highly customizable with themes and layout options
Responsive and efficient, with low system resource usage
Feature-rich, including process management and detailed system information

Cons

May require some initial configuration for optimal use
Limited support for Windows (WSL only)
Steeper learning curve compared to simpler system monitors
Requires a terminal with true color support for best visual experience

Getting Started

To install and run btop++:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git

# Change to the btop directory
cd btop

# Build and install
make
sudo make install

# Run btop
btop

For macOS users with Homebrew:

brew install btop
btop

Once running, use the following keys:

'm': Change view mode
'esc': Exit or back
'h': Show help menu

Customize btop++ by editing the configuration file located at ~/.config/btop/btop.conf.

Competitor Comparisons

gotop

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A terminal based graphical activity monitor inspired by gtop and vtop

Pros of gotop

Written in Go, which may offer better performance and cross-platform compatibility
Simpler and more lightweight interface, focusing on essential system information
Easier to install and use for those familiar with Go ecosystem

Cons of gotop

Less feature-rich compared to btop, with fewer customization options
Not as actively maintained, with fewer recent updates and contributions
Limited to terminal-based interface, lacking some of btop's advanced visual elements

Code Comparison

gotop (main.go):

func main() {
    termui.Init()
    defer termui.Close()

    renderLoop()
}

btop (src/btop.cpp):

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    Config::init(argc, argv);
    Runner::run();
    return 0;
}

Both projects have relatively simple main functions, but btop's structure suggests a more modular and extensible design. gotop's code is more concise, reflecting its focus on simplicity, while btop's approach allows for more complex functionality and customization options.

glances

26,585

Glances an Eye on your system. A top/htop alternative for GNU/Linux, BSD, Mac OS and Windows operating systems.

Pros of Glances

Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Web-based interface for remote monitoring
Extensive plugin system for customization

Cons of Glances

Higher resource usage compared to btop
Less visually appealing interface
Steeper learning curve for configuration

Code Comparison

Glances (Python):

from glances.outputs.glances_curses import GlancesCursesClient

class GlancesStandalone(GlancesCursesClient):
    def __init__(self, config=None, args=None):
        super(GlancesStandalone, self).__init__(config=config, args=args)

btop (C++):

class Cpu {
    vector<vector<long long>> cpu_times;
    vector<float> cpu_percent;
    vector<string> core_mapping;
    vector<string> temp_sources;
public:
    void update();
};

Both projects aim to provide system monitoring capabilities, but they differ in implementation and features. Glances offers more extensive customization and cross-platform support, while btop focuses on performance and a more visually appealing interface. The code snippets showcase the different languages used (Python for Glances, C++ for btop) and their approach to implementing core functionality.

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Pros of htop

Lightweight and efficient, consuming minimal system resources
Widely available and pre-installed on many Linux distributions
Familiar interface for long-time Linux users

Cons of htop

Less visually appealing and modern interface compared to btop
Limited customization options for appearance and layout
Fewer built-in features for monitoring additional system metrics

Code Comparison

htop:

void Process_writeCommand(Process* this, int writefd) {
    int saved_errno = errno;
    if (write(writefd, this->comm, PROCESS_COMM_LEN) < 0) {
        // Handle error
    }
    errno = saved_errno;
}

btop:

void Process::writeCommand(int writefd) const {
    int saved_errno = errno;
    if (::write(writefd, comm.c_str(), comm.length()) < 0) {
        // Handle error
    }
    errno = saved_errno;
}

Both projects implement similar functionality, but btop uses C++ with modern language features, while htop uses C. btop's implementation is more concise and type-safe, leveraging C++ string handling.

s-tui

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Terminal-based CPU stress and monitoring utility

Pros of s-tui

Lightweight and focused specifically on CPU monitoring
Simpler interface, potentially easier for beginners
Written in Python, making it more accessible for contributions and modifications

Cons of s-tui

Limited to CPU monitoring, lacks comprehensive system overview
Less visually appealing compared to btop's modern interface
Fewer customization options and themes

Code Comparison

s-tui (Python):

def get_cpu_freq():
    with open('/proc/cpuinfo', 'r') as f:
        for line in f:
            if line.startswith('cpu MHz'):
                return float(line.split(':')[1].strip())
    return None

btop (C++):

auto Cpu::get_cpufreq() -> vector<long long> {
    vector<long long> freqs;
    for (const auto& cpu : cpus) {
        freqs.push_back(cpu.get_freq());
    }
    return freqs;
}

Both projects aim to provide system monitoring capabilities, but they differ in scope and implementation. s-tui focuses solely on CPU monitoring with a simple interface, while btop offers a more comprehensive system overview with a modern, customizable interface. s-tui's Python codebase may be more accessible for contributions, but btop's C++ implementation likely offers better performance for its broader feature set.

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System monitoring dashboard for terminal

Pros of gtop

Lightweight and simple to use
Written in JavaScript, making it easy for web developers to understand and contribute
Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux)

Cons of gtop

Less feature-rich compared to btop
Limited customization options
May have higher resource usage due to being Node.js-based

Code Comparison

gtop (JavaScript):

const si = require('systeminformation');
const blessed = require('blessed');
const contrib = require('blessed-contrib');

// ... (main application logic)

btop (C++):

#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <ncurses.h>

namespace Btop {
    // ... (main application logic)
}

Summary

gtop is a simpler, JavaScript-based system monitoring tool that offers cross-platform compatibility and ease of use. It's suitable for users who prefer a lightweight solution and are familiar with JavaScript.

btop, on the other hand, is a more feature-rich and customizable system monitor written in C++. It provides a more comprehensive set of monitoring options and potentially better performance due to its lower-level implementation.

The choice between the two depends on the user's specific needs, programming language preference, and desired level of customization and features.

bottom

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Yet another cross-platform graphical process/system monitor.

Pros of bottom

Written in Rust, potentially offering better performance and memory safety
Cross-platform support, including Windows, macOS, and Linux
Customizable through a TOML configuration file

Cons of bottom

Less visually appealing interface compared to btop
Fewer built-in themes and customization options
Slightly steeper learning curve for configuration

Code Comparison

bottom:

pub fn draw_cpu_graph<B: Backend>(&mut self, f: &mut Frame<B>, area: Rect) {
    let datasets = self.cpu_data.iter().map(|cpu| {
        Dataset::default()
            .graph_type(GraphType::Line)
            .style(Style::default().fg(cpu.colour))
            .data(&cpu.data)
    }).collect::<Vec<_>>();
}

btop:

void Draw::cpu_graph(const int& cpu_id, const int& start_x, const int& start_y, const int& width, const int& height) {
    auto& cpu = Cpu::cpus.at(cpu_id);
    for (int y = 0; y < height; y++) {
        for (int x = 0; x < width; x++) {
            mvaddch(start_y + y, start_x + x, cpu.graph.at(y).at(x));
        }
    }
}

Both projects implement CPU graph drawing, but bottom uses Rust's type system and functional programming features, while btop uses C++ with a more imperative approach.

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README

latest_release

Index

News
Documents
Description
Features
Themes
Support and funding
Prerequisites (Read this if you are having issues!)
Screenshots
Keybindings
Installation Linux/macOS
Compilation Linux
Compilation macOS
Compilation FreeBSD
Compilation NetBSD
Compilation OpenBSD
GPU compatibility
Installing the snap
Configurability
License

News

7 January 2024

Btop release v1.3.0

Big release with GPU support added for Linux and platform support for OpenBSD. Big thanks to @romner-set (GPU support) and @joske (OpenBSD support) for contributions. And a multitude of bugfixes and small changes, see CHANGELOG.md and latest release for detailed list and attributions.

See news entry below for more information regarding GPU support.

25 November 2023

GPU monitoring added for Linux!

Compile from git main to try it out.

Use keys 5, 6, 7 and 0 to show/hide the gpu monitoring boxes. 5 = Gpu 1, 6 = Gpu 2, etc.

Gpu stats/graphs can also be displayed in the "Cpu box" (not as verbose), see the cpu options menu for info and configuration.

Note that the binaries provided on the release page (when released) and the continuous builds will not have gpu support enabled.

Because the GPU support relies on loading of dynamic gpu libraries, gpu support will not work when also static linking.

See Compilation Linux for more info on how to compile with gpu monitoring support.

Many thanks to @romner-set who wrote the vast majority of the implementation for GPU support.

Big update with version bump to 1.3 coming soon.

28 August 2022

First release of btop4win available at https://github.com/aristocratos/btop4win

More...

16 January 2022

Release v1.2.0 with FreeBSD support. No release binaries for FreeBSD provided as of yet.

Again a big thanks to @joske for his porting efforts!

Since compatibility with Linux, macOS and FreeBSD are done, the focus going forward will be on new features like GPU monitoring.

13 November 2021

Release v1.1.0 with macOS support. Binaries in continuous-build-macos are only x86 for now. macOS binaries + installer are included for both x86 and ARM64 (Apple Silicon) in the releases.

Big thank you to @joske who wrote the vast majority of the implementation!

30 October 2021

Work on the OSX [macOS] and FreeBSD branches, both initiated and mostly worked on by @joske, will likely be completed in the coming weeks. The OSX [macOS] branch has some memory leaks that needs to be sorted out and both have some issues with the processes cpu usage calculation and other smaller issues that needs fixing.

If you want to help out, test for bugs/fix bugs or just try out the branches:

macOS / OSX

# Install and use Homebrew or MacPorts package managers for easy dependency installation
brew install coreutils make gcc@11 lowdown
git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop
git checkout OSX
gmake

FreeBSD

sudo pkg install gmake gcc11 coreutils git lowdown
git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop
git checkout freebsd
gmake

Note that GNU make (gmake) is recommended but not required for macOS/OSX but it is required on FreeBSD.

6 October 2021

macOS development have been started by @joske, big thanks :) See branch OSX for current progress.

18 September 2021

The Linux version of btop++ is complete. Released as version 1.0.0

I will be providing statically compiled binaries for a range of architectures in every release for those having problems compiling.

For compilation GCC 10 is required, GCC 11 preferred.

Please report any bugs to the Issues page.

The development plan right now:

1.1.0 macOS [OSX] support
1.2.0 FreeBSD support
1.3.0 Support for GPU monitoring
1.X.0 Other platforms and features...

Windows support is not in the plans as of now, but if anyone else wants to take it on, I will try to help.

5 May 2021

This project is gonna take some time until it has complete feature parity with bpytop, since all system information gathering will have to be written from scratch without any external libraries. And will need some help in the form of code contributions to get complete support for BSD and macOS/OSX.

Documents

CHANGELOG.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

Description

Resource monitor that shows usage and stats for processor, memory, disks, network and processes.

C++ version and continuation of bashtop and bpytop.

Features

Easy to use, with a game inspired menu system.
Full mouse support, all buttons with a highlighted key is clickable and mouse scroll works in process list and menu boxes.
Fast and responsive UI with UP, DOWN keys process selection.
Function for showing detailed stats for selected process.
Ability to filter processes.
Easy switching between sorting options.
Tree view of processes.
Send any signal to selected process.
UI menu for changing all config file options.
Auto scaling graph for network usage.
Shows IO activity and speeds for disks.
Battery meter
Selectable symbols for the graphs.
Custom presets
And more...

Themes

Btop++ uses the same theme files as bpytop and bashtop (some color values missing in bashtop themes) .

See themes folder for available themes.

The make install command places the default themes in [$PREFIX or /usr/local]/share/btop/themes. User created themes should be placed in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/btop/themes or $HOME/.config/btop/themes.

Let me know if you want to contribute with new themes.

Support and funding

You can sponsor this project through github, see my sponsors page for options.

Or donate through paypal or ko-fi.

Any support is greatly appreciated!

Prerequisites

For best experience, a terminal with support for:

24-bit truecolor (See list of terminals with truecolor support)
256-color terminals are supported through 24-bit to 256-color conversion when setting "truecolor" to False in the options or with "-lc/--low-color" arguments.
16 color TTY mode will be activated if a real tty device is detected. Can be forced with "-t/--tty_on" arguments.
Wide characters (Are sometimes problematic in web-based terminals)

Also needs a UTF8 locale and a font that covers:

Unicode Block âBraille Patternsâ U+2800 - U+28FF (Not needed in TTY mode or with graphs set to type: block or tty.)
Unicode Block âGeometric Shapesâ U+25A0 - U+25FF
Unicode Block "Box Drawing" and "Block Elements" U+2500 - U+259F

Optional Dependencies (Needed for GPU monitoring)

GPU monitoring also requires a btop binary built with GPU support (GPU_SUPPORT=true flag).

See GPU compatibility section for more about compiling with GPU support.

NVIDIA

If you have an NVIDIA GPU you must use an official NVIDIA driver, both the closed-source and open-source ones have been verified to work.

In addition to that you must also have the nvidia-ml dynamic library installed, which should be included with the driver package of your distribution.

AMD

If you have an AMD GPU rocm_smi_lib is required, which may or may not be packaged for your distribution.

Notice (Text rendering issues)

If you are having problems with the characters in the graphs not looking like they do in the screenshots, it's likely a problem with your systems configured fallback font not having support for braille characters.
See Terminess Powerline for an example of a font that includes the braille symbols.
See comments by @sgleizes link and @XenHat link in issue #100 for possible solutions.
If text are misaligned and you are using Konsole or Yakuake, turning off "Bi-Directional text rendering" is a possible fix.
Characters clipping in to each other or text/border misalignments is not bugs caused by btop, but most likely a fontconfig or terminal problem where the braille characters making up the graphs aren't rendered correctly.
Look to the creators of the terminal emulator you use to fix these issues if the previous mentioned fixes don't work for you.

Screenshots

Main UI showing details for a selected process

Screenshot 1

Main UI in TTY mode

Screenshot 2

Main UI with custom options

Screenshot 3

Main-menu

Options-menu

Help-menu

Installation

Binaries for Linux are statically compiled with musl and works on kernel 2.6.39 and newer

Download btop-(VERSION)-(ARCH)-(PLATFORM).tbz from latest release and unpack to a new folder

Notice! Use x86_64 for 64-bit x86 systems, i486 and i686 are 32-bit!

Install (from created folder)

Run install.sh or:

# use "make install PREFIX=/target/dir" to set target, default: /usr/local
# only use "sudo" when installing to a NON user owned directory
sudo make install

(Optional) Set suid bit to make btop always run as root (or other user)

Enables signal sending to any process without starting with sudo and can prevent /proc read permissions problems on some systems.
- Run setuid.sh or:
```
# run after make install and use same PREFIX if any was used at install
# set SU_USER and SU_GROUP to select user and group, default is root:root
sudo make setuid
```

Uninstall
- Run uninstall.sh or:
```
sudo make uninstall
```
Show help
```
make help
```

Binary release (from native os repo)

openSUSE
- Tumbleweed:
```
sudo zypper in btop
```
- For all other versions, see openSUSE Software: btop
Fedora
```
sudo dnf install btop
```

RHEL/AlmaLinux 8+

sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf install btop

FreeBSD
```
pkg install btop
```
NetBSD
```
pkg_add btop
```

Binary release on Homebrew (macOS (x86_64 & ARM64) / Linux (x86_64))

Homebrew
```
brew install btop
```

Compilation Linux

Requires at least GCC 10 or Clang 16.

The makefile also needs GNU coreutils and sed (should already be installed on any modern distribution).

GPU compatibility

Btop++ supports NVIDIA and AMD GPUs out of the box on Linux x86_64, provided you have the correct drivers and libraries.

Compatibility with Intel GPUs using generic DRM calls is planned, as is compatibility for FreeBSD and macOS.

Gpu support will not work when static linking glibc (or musl, etc.)!

For x86_64 Linux the flag GPU_SUPPORT is automatically set to true, to manually disable gpu support set the flag to false, like:

make GPU_SUPPORT=false (or cmake -DBTOP_GPU=false with CMake)

NVIDIA

You must use an official NVIDIA driver, both the closed-source and open-source ones have been verified to work.

In addition to that you must also have the nvidia-ml dynamic library installed, which should be included with the driver package of your distribution.
AMD

AMDGPU data is queried using the ROCm SMI library, which may or may not be packaged for your distribution. If your distribution doesn't provide a package, btop++ is statically linked to ROCm SMI with the RSMI_STATIC=true make flag.

This flag expects the ROCm SMI source code in lib/rocm_smi_lib, and compilation will fail if it's not there. The latest tested version is 5.6.x, which can be obtained with the following command:
```
git clone https://github.com/rocm/rocm_smi_lib.git --depth 1 -b rocm-5.6.x lib/rocm_smi_lib
```

With Make

Install dependencies (example for Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute)

sudo apt install coreutils sed git build-essential gcc-11 g++-11 lowdown

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop

Compile

make

Options for make:

Flag	Description
`VERBOSE=true`	To display full compiler/linker commands
`STATIC=true`	For static compilation
`QUIET=true`	For less verbose output
`STRIP=true`	To force stripping of debug symbols (adds `-s` linker flag)
`DEBUG=true`	Sets OPTFLAGS to `-O0 -g` and enables more verbose debug logging
`ARCH=<architecture>`	To manually set the target architecture
`FORTIFY_SOURCE=false`	Disable fortification with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3`
`GPU_SUPPORT=<true\|false>`	Enable/disable GPU support (Enabled by default on X86_64 Linux)
`RSMI_STATIC=true`	To statically link the ROCm SMI library used for querying AMDGPU
`ADDFLAGS=<flags>`	For appending flags to both compiler and linker
`CXX=<compiler>`	Manually set which compiler to use

Example: make ADDFLAGS=-march=native might give a performance boost if compiling only for your own system.

Notice! If using LDAP Authentication, usernames will show as UID number for LDAP users if compiling statically with glibc.

Install
```
sudo make install
```
Append PREFIX=/target/dir to set target, default: /usr/local

Notice! Only use "sudo" when installing to a NON user owned directory.
(Optional) Set suid bit to make btop always run as root (or other user)
```
sudo make setuid
```
No need for sudo to enable signal sending to any process and to prevent /proc read permissions problems on some systems.

Run after make install and use same PREFIX if any was used at install.

Set SU_USER and SU_GROUP to select user and group, default is root and root

Uninstall
```
sudo make uninstall
```
Remove any object files from source dir
```
make clean
```
Remove all object files, binaries and created directories in source dir
```
make distclean
```
Show help
```
make help
```

With CMake (Community maintained)

Install build dependencies

Requires Clang / GCC, CMake, Ninja, Lowdown and Git

For example, with Debian Bookworm:
```
sudo apt install cmake git g++ ninja-build lowdown
```

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git && cd btop

Compile

# Configure
cmake -B build -G Ninja
# Build
cmake --build build

This will automatically build a release version of btop.

Some useful options to pass to the configure step:

Configure flag	Description
`-DBTOP_STATIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables static linking (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_LTO=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables link time optimization (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_USE_MOLD=<ON\|OFF>`	Use mold to link btop (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_PEDANTIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with additional warnings (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_WERROR=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with warnings as errors (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_FORTIFY=<ON\|OFF>`	Detect buffer overflows with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3` (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_GPU=<ON\|OFF>`	Enable GPU support (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_RSMI_STATIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Build and link the ROCm SMI library statically (OFF by default)
`-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path>`	The installation prefix ('/usr/local' by default)

To force any other compiler, run CXX=<compiler> cmake -B build -G Ninja

Install
```
cmake --install build
```
May require root privileges
Uninstall

CMake doesn't generate an uninstall target by default. To remove installed files, run
```
cat build/install_manifest.txt | xargs rm -irv
```
Cleanup build directory
```
cmake --build build -t clean
```

Compilation macOS OSX

Requires at least GCC 10 or Clang 16.

With GCC, version 12 (or better) is needed for macOS Ventura. If you get linker errors on Ventura you'll need to upgrade your command line tools (Version 14.0) is bugged.

The makefile also needs GNU coreutils and sed.

Install and use Homebrew or MacPorts package managers for easy dependency installation

With Make

Install dependencies (example for Homebrew)

brew install coreutils make gcc@12 lowdown

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop

Compile

gmake

Options for make:

Flag	Description
`VERBOSE=true`	To display full compiler/linker commands
`STATIC=true`	For static compilation (only libgcc and libstdc++)
`QUIET=true`	For less verbose output
`STRIP=true`	To force stripping of debug symbols (adds `-s` linker flag)
`DEBUG=true`	Sets OPTFLAGS to `-O0 -g` and enables more verbose debug logging
`ARCH=<architecture>`	To manually set the target architecture
`FORTIFY_SOURCE=false`	Disable fortification with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3`
`ADDFLAGS=<flags>`	For appending flags to both compiler and linker
`CXX=<compiler>`	Manually set which compiler to use

Example: gmake ADDFLAGS=-march=native might give a performance boost if compiling only for your own system.

Install
```
sudo gmake install
```
Append PREFIX=/target/dir to set target, default: /usr/local

Notice! Only use "sudo" when installing to a NON user owned directory.
(Recommended) Set suid bit to make btop always run as root (or other user)
```
sudo gmake setuid
```
No need for sudo to see information for non user owned processes and to enable signal sending to any process.

Run after make install and use same PREFIX if any was used at install.

Set SU_USER and SU_GROUP to select user and group, default is root and wheel

Uninstall
```
sudo gmake uninstall
```
Remove any object files from source dir
```
gmake clean
```
Remove all object files, binaries and created directories in source dir
```
gmake distclean
```
Show help
```
gmake help
```

With CMake (Community maintained)

Install build dependencies

Requires Clang, CMake, Ninja, Lowdown and Git
```
brew update --quiet
brew install cmake git llvm ninja lowdown
```

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git && cd btop

Compile

# Configure
export LLVM_PREFIX="$(brew --prefix llvm)"
export CXX="$LLVM_PREFIX/bin/clang++"
export CPPFLAGS="-I$LLVM_PREFIX/include"
export LDFLAGS="-L$LLVM_PREFIX/lib -L$LLVM_PREFIX/lib/c++ -Wl,-rpath,$LLVM_PREFIX/lib/c++ -fuse-ld=$LLVM_PREFIX/bin/ld64.lld"
cmake -B build -G Ninja
# Build
cmake --build build

Note: btop uses lots of C++ 20 features, so it's necessary to be specific about the compiler and the standard library. If you get a compile with Apple-Clang or GCC, feel free to add the instructions here.

This will automatically build a release version of btop.

Some useful options to pass to the configure step:

Configure flag	Description
`-DBTOP_LTO=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables link time optimization (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_USE_MOLD=<ON\|OFF>`	Use mold to link btop (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_PEDANTIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with additional warnings (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_WERROR=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with warnings as errors (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_FORTIFY=<ON\|OFF>`	Detect buffer overflows with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3` (ON by default)
`-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path>`	The installation prefix ('/usr/local' by default)

To force any specific compiler, run CXX=<compiler> cmake -B build -G Ninja

Install
```
cmake --install build
```
May require root privileges
Uninstall

CMake doesn't generate an uninstall target by default. To remove installed files, run
```
cat build/install_manifest.txt | xargs rm -irv
```
Cleanup build directory
```
cmake --build build -t clean
```

Compilation FreeBSD

Requires at least GCC 10 or Clang 16.

Note that GNU make (gmake) is required to compile on FreeBSD.

With gmake

Install dependencies

sudo pkg install gmake gcc11 coreutils git lowdown

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop

Compile

gmake

Options for make:

Flag	Description
`VERBOSE=true`	To display full compiler/linker commands
`STATIC=true`	For static compilation (only libgcc and libstdc++)
`QUIET=true`	For less verbose output
`STRIP=true`	To force stripping of debug symbols (adds `-s` linker flag)
`DEBUG=true`	Sets OPTFLAGS to `-O0 -g` and enables more verbose debug logging
`ARCH=<architecture>`	To manually set the target architecture
`FORTIFY_SOURCE=false`	Disable fortification with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3`
`ADDFLAGS=<flags>`	For appending flags to both compiler and linker
`CXX=<compiler>`	Manually set which compiler to use

Example: gmake ADDFLAGS=-march=native might give a performance boost if compiling only for your own system.

Install
```
sudo gmake install
```
Append PREFIX=/target/dir to set target, default: /usr/local

Notice! Only use "sudo" when installing to a NON user owned directory.
(Recommended) Set suid bit to make btop always run as root (or other user)
```
sudo gmake setuid
```
No need for sudo to see information for non user owned processes and to enable signal sending to any process.

Run after make install and use same PREFIX if any was used at install.

Set SU_USER and SU_GROUP to select user and group, default is root and wheel

Uninstall
```
sudo gmake uninstall
```
Remove any object files from source dir
```
gmake clean
```
Remove all object files, binaries and created directories in source dir
```
gmake distclean
```
Show help
```
gmake help
```

With CMake (Community maintained)

Install build dependencies

Requires Clang / GCC, CMake, Ninja, Lowdown and Git

Note: LLVM's libc++ shipped with FreeBSD 13 is too old and cannot compile btop.

FreeBSD 14 and later:
```
pkg install cmake ninja lowdown
```
FreeBSD 13:
```
pkg install cmake gcc13 ninja lowdown
```

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git && cd btop

Compile

FreeBSD 14 and later:

# Configure
cmake -B build -G Ninja
# Build
cmake --build build

FreeBSD 13:

# Configure
CXX=g++13 cmake -B build -G Ninja
# Build
cmake --build build

This will automatically build a release version of btop.

Some useful options to pass to the configure step:

Configure flag	Description
`-DBTOP_STATIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables static linking (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_LTO=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables link time optimization (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_USE_MOLD=<ON\|OFF>`	Use mold to link btop (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_PEDANTIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with additional warnings (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_WERROR=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with warnings as errors (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_FORTIFY=<ON\|OFF>`	Detect buffer overflows with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3` (ON by default)
`-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path>`	The installation prefix ('/usr/local' by default)

Note: Static linking does not work with GCC.

To force any other compiler, run CXX=<compiler> cmake -B build -G Ninja

Install
```
cmake --install build
```
May require root privileges
Uninstall

CMake doesn't generate an uninstall target by default. To remove installed files, run
```
cat build/install_manifest.txt | xargs rm -irv
```
Cleanup build directory
```
cmake --build build -t clean
```

Compilation NetBSD

Requires at least GCC 10.

Note that GNU make (gmake) is required to compile on NetBSD.

With gmake

Install dependencies
```
pkg_add gmake gcc10 coreutils git
```

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop

Compile

gmake CXXFLAGS="-DNDEBUG"

Options for make:

Flag	Description
`VERBOSE=true`	To display full compiler/linker commands
`STATIC=true`	For static compilation (only libgcc and libstdc++)
`QUIET=true`	For less verbose output
`STRIP=true`	To force stripping of debug symbols (adds `-s` linker flag)
`DEBUG=true`	Sets OPTFLAGS to `-O0 -g` and enables more verbose debug logging
`ARCH=<architecture>`	To manually set the target architecture
`FORTIFY_SOURCE=false`	Disable fortification with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3`
`ADDFLAGS=<flags>`	For appending flags to both compiler and linker
`CXX=<compiler>`	Manually set which compiler to use

Example: gmake ADDFLAGS=-march=native might give a performance boost if compiling only for your own system.

Install
```
sudo gmake install
```
Append PREFIX=/target/dir to set target, default: /usr/local

Notice! Only use "sudo" when installing to a NON user owned directory.
(Recommended) Set suid bit to make btop always run as root (or other user)
```
sudo gmake setuid
```
No need for sudo to see information for non user owned processes and to enable signal sending to any process.

Run after make install and use same PREFIX if any was used at install.

Set SU_USER and SU_GROUP to select user and group, default is root and wheel

Uninstall
```
sudo gmake uninstall
```
Remove any object files from source dir
```
gmake clean
```
Remove all object files, binaries and created directories in source dir
```
gmake distclean
```
Show help
```
gmake help
```

With CMake (Community maintained)

Install build dependencies

Requires GCC, CMake, Ninja and Git
```
pkg_add cmake ninja-build gcc10 coreutils git
```

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git && cd btop

Compile

# Configure
cmake -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="/usr/pkg/gcc10/bin/g++" -B build -G Ninja
# Build
cmake --build build

This will automatically build a release version of btop.

Some useful options to pass to the configure step:

Configure flag	Description
`-DBTOP_LTO=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables link time optimization (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_USE_MOLD=<ON\|OFF>`	Use mold to link btop (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_PEDANTIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with additional warnings (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_WERROR=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with warnings as errors (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_FORTIFY=<ON\|OFF>`	Detect buffer overflows with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3` (ON by default)
`-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path>`	The installation prefix ('/usr/local' by default)

To force any other compiler, run CXX=<compiler> cmake -B build -G Ninja

Install
```
cmake --install build
```
May require root privileges
Uninstall

CMake doesn't generate an uninstall target by default. To remove installed files, run
```
cat build/install_manifest.txt | xargs rm -irv
```
Cleanup build directory
```
cmake --build build -t clean
```

Compilation OpenBSD

Requires at least GCC 10.

Note that GNU make (gmake) is required to compile on OpenBSD.

With gmake

Install dependencies

pkg_add gmake gcc%11 g++%11 coreutils git lowdown

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git
cd btop

Compile

gmake CXX=eg++

Options for make:

Flag	Description
`VERBOSE=true`	To display full compiler/linker commands
`STATIC=true`	For static compilation (only libgcc and libstdc++)
`QUIET=true`	For less verbose output
`STRIP=true`	To force stripping of debug symbols (adds `-s` linker flag)
`DEBUG=true`	Sets OPTFLAGS to `-O0 -g` and enables more verbose debug logging
`ARCH=<architecture>`	To manually set the target architecture
`FORTIFY_SOURCE=false`	Disable fortification with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3`
`ADDFLAGS=<flags>`	For appending flags to both compiler and linker
`CXX=<compiler>`	Manually set which compiler to use

Example: gmake ADDFLAGS=-march=native might give a performance boost if compiling only for your own system.

Install
```
sudo gmake install
```
Append PREFIX=/target/dir to set target, default: /usr/local

Notice! Only use "sudo" when installing to a NON user owned directory.
(Recommended) Set suid bit to make btop always run as root (or other user)
```
sudo gmake setuid
```
No need for sudo to see information for non user owned processes and to enable signal sending to any process.

Run after make install and use same PREFIX if any was used at install.

Set SU_USER and SU_GROUP to select user and group, default is root and wheel

Uninstall
```
sudo gmake uninstall
```
Remove any object files from source dir
```
gmake clean
```
Remove all object files, binaries and created directories in source dir
```
gmake distclean
```
Show help
```
gmake help
```

With CMake (Community maintained)

Install build dependencies

Requires GCC, CMake, Ninja, Lowdown and Git

Note: LLVM's libc++ shipped with OpenBSD 7.4 is too old and cannot compile btop.
```
pkg_add cmake g++%11 git ninja lowdown
```

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/btop.git && cd btop

Compile

# Configure
CXX=eg++ cmake -B build -G Ninja
# Build
cmake --build build

This will automatically build a release version of btop.

Some useful options to pass to the configure step:

Configure flag	Description
`-DBTOP_LTO=<ON\|OFF>`	Enables link time optimization (ON by default)
`-DBTOP_USE_MOLD=<ON\|OFF>`	Use mold to link btop (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_PEDANTIC=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with additional warnings (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_WERROR=<ON\|OFF>`	Compile with warnings as errors (OFF by default)
`-DBTOP_FORTIFY=<ON\|OFF>`	Detect buffer overflows with `_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3` (ON by default)
`-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path>`	The installation prefix ('/usr/local' by default)

To force any other compiler, run CXX=<compiler> cmake -B build -G Ninja

Install
```
cmake --install build
```
May require root privileges
Uninstall

CMake doesn't generate an uninstall target by default. To remove installed files, run
```
cat build/install_manifest.txt | xargs rm -irv
```
Cleanup build directory
```
cmake --build build -t clean
```

Installing the snap

Note: there are now two snaps available: `btop` and `btop-desktop`. The desktop version is much larger and includes the desktop entries needed to allow for launching `btop` with a click.

Install the snap

sudo snap install btop
or
sudo snap install btop-desktop

Install the latest snap from the edge channel

sudo snap install btop --edge
or
sudo snap install btop-desktop --edge

Connect the interface

sudo snap connect btop:removable-media
or
sudo snap connect btop-desktop:removable-media

Configurability

All options changeable from within UI. Config and log files stored in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/btop or $HOME/.config/btop folder

btop.conf: (auto generated if not found)

#? Config file for btop v. 1.2.2

#* Name of a btop++/bpytop/bashtop formatted ".theme" file, "Default" and "TTY" for builtin themes.
#* Themes should be placed in "../share/btop/themes" relative to binary or "$HOME/.config/btop/themes"
color_theme = "Default"

#* If the theme set background should be shown, set to False if you want terminal background transparency.
theme_background = True

#* Sets if 24-bit truecolor should be used, will convert 24-bit colors to 256 color (6x6x6 color cube) if false.
truecolor = True

#* Set to true to force tty mode regardless if a real tty has been detected or not.
#* Will force 16-color mode and TTY theme, set all graph symbols to "tty" and swap out other non tty friendly symbols.
force_tty = False

#* Define presets for the layout of the boxes. Preset 0 is always all boxes shown with default settings. Max 9 presets.
#* Format: "box_name:P:G,box_name:P:G" P=(0 or 1) for alternate positions, G=graph symbol to use for box.
#* Use whitespace " " as separator between different presets.
#* Example: "cpu:0:default,mem:0:tty,proc:1:default cpu:0:braille,proc:0:tty"
presets = "cpu:1:default,proc:0:default cpu:0:default,mem:0:default,net:0:default cpu:0:block,net:0:tty"

#* Set to True to enable "h,j,k,l,g,G" keys for directional control in lists.
#* Conflicting keys for h:"help" and k:"kill" is accessible while holding shift.
vim_keys = False

#* Rounded corners on boxes, is ignored if TTY mode is ON.
rounded_corners = True

#* Default symbols to use for graph creation, "braille", "block" or "tty".
#* "braille" offers the highest resolution but might not be included in all fonts.
#* "block" has half the resolution of braille but uses more common characters.
#* "tty" uses only 3 different symbols but will work with most fonts and should work in a real TTY.
#* Note that "tty" only has half the horizontal resolution of the other two, so will show a shorter historical view.
graph_symbol = "braille"

# Graph symbol to use for graphs in cpu box, "default", "braille", "block" or "tty".
graph_symbol_cpu = "default"

# Graph symbol to use for graphs in cpu box, "default", "braille", "block" or "tty".
graph_symbol_mem = "default"

# Graph symbol to use for graphs in cpu box, "default", "braille", "block" or "tty".
graph_symbol_net = "default"

# Graph symbol to use for graphs in cpu box, "default", "braille", "block" or "tty".
graph_symbol_proc = "default"

#* Manually set which boxes to show. Available values are "cpu mem net proc" and "gpu0" through "gpu5", separate values with whitespace.
shown_boxes = "proc cpu mem net"

#* Update time in milliseconds, recommended 2000 ms or above for better sample times for graphs.
update_ms = 1500

#* Processes sorting, "pid" "program" "arguments" "threads" "user" "memory" "cpu lazy" "cpu responsive",
#* "cpu lazy" sorts top process over time (easier to follow), "cpu responsive" updates top process directly.
proc_sorting = "cpu lazy"

#* Reverse sorting order, True or False.
proc_reversed = False

#* Show processes as a tree.
proc_tree = False

#* Use the cpu graph colors in the process list.
proc_colors = True

#* Use a darkening gradient in the process list.
proc_gradient = True

#* If process cpu usage should be of the core it's running on or usage of the total available cpu power.
proc_per_core = True

#* Show process memory as bytes instead of percent.
proc_mem_bytes = True

#* Use /proc/[pid]/smaps for memory information in the process info box (very slow but more accurate)
proc_info_smaps = False

#* Show proc box on left side of screen instead of right.
proc_left = False

#* Sets the CPU stat shown in upper half of the CPU graph, "total" is always available.
#* Select from a list of detected attributes from the options menu.
cpu_graph_upper = "total"

#* Sets the CPU stat shown in lower half of the CPU graph, "total" is always available.
#* Select from a list of detected attributes from the options menu.
cpu_graph_lower = "total"

#* Toggles if the lower CPU graph should be inverted.
cpu_invert_lower = True

#* Set to True to completely disable the lower CPU graph.
cpu_single_graph = False

#* Show cpu box at bottom of screen instead of top.
cpu_bottom = False

#* Shows the system uptime in the CPU box.
show_uptime = True

#* Show cpu temperature.
check_temp = True

#* Which sensor to use for cpu temperature, use options menu to select from list of available sensors.
cpu_sensor = "Auto"

#* Show temperatures for cpu cores also if check_temp is True and sensors has been found.
show_coretemp = True

#* Set a custom mapping between core and coretemp, can be needed on certain cpus to get correct temperature for correct core.
#* Use lm-sensors or similar to see which cores are reporting temperatures on your machine.
#* Format "x:y" x=core with wrong temp, y=core with correct temp, use space as separator between multiple entries.
#* Example: "4:0 5:1 6:3"
cpu_core_map = ""

#* Which temperature scale to use, available values: "celsius", "fahrenheit", "kelvin" and "rankine".
temp_scale = "celsius"

#* Use base 10 for bits/bytes sizes, KB = 1000 instead of KiB = 1024.
base_10_sizes = False

#* Show CPU frequency.
show_cpu_freq = True

#* Draw a clock at top of screen, formatting according to strftime, empty string to disable.
#* Special formatting: /host = hostname | /user = username | /uptime = system uptime
clock_format = "%H:%M"

#* Update main ui in background when menus are showing, set this to false if the menus is flickering too much for comfort.
background_update = True

#* Custom cpu model name, empty string to disable.
custom_cpu_name = ""

#* Optional filter for shown disks, should be full path of a mountpoint, separate multiple values with whitespace " ".
#* Begin line with "exclude=" to change to exclude filter, otherwise defaults to "most include" filter. Example: disks_filter="exclude=/boot /home/user".
disks_filter = "exclude=/boot"

#* Show graphs instead of meters for memory values.
mem_graphs = True

#* Show mem box below net box instead of above.
mem_below_net = False

#* Count ZFS ARC in cached and available memory.
zfs_arc_cached = True

#* If swap memory should be shown in memory box.
show_swap = True

#* Show swap as a disk, ignores show_swap value above, inserts itself after first disk.
swap_disk = True

#* If mem box should be split to also show disks info.
show_disks = True

#* Filter out non physical disks. Set this to False to include network disks, RAM disks and similar.
only_physical = True

#* Read disks list from /etc/fstab. This also disables only_physical.
use_fstab = False

#* Set to true to show available disk space for privileged users.
disk_free_priv = False

#* Toggles if io activity % (disk busy time) should be shown in regular disk usage view.
show_io_stat = True

#* Toggles io mode for disks, showing big graphs for disk read/write speeds.
io_mode = False

#* Set to True to show combined read/write io graphs in io mode.
io_graph_combined = False

#* Set the top speed for the io graphs in MiB/s (100 by default), use format "mountpoint:speed" separate disks with whitespace " ".
#* Example: "/mnt/media:100 /:20 /boot:1".
io_graph_speeds = ""

#* Set fixed values for network graphs in Mebibits. Is only used if net_auto is also set to False.
net_download = 100

net_upload = 100

#* Use network graphs auto rescaling mode, ignores any values set above and rescales down to 10 Kibibytes at the lowest.
net_auto = True

#* Sync the auto scaling for download and upload to whichever currently has the highest scale.
net_sync = False

#* Starts with the Network Interface specified here.
net_iface = "br0"

#* Show battery stats in top right if battery is present.
show_battery = True

#* Which battery to use if multiple are present. "Auto" for auto detection.
selected_battery = "Auto"

#* Set loglevel for "~/.config/btop/btop.log" levels are: "ERROR" "WARNING" "INFO" "DEBUG".
#* The level set includes all lower levels, i.e. "DEBUG" will show all logging info.
log_level = "DEBUG"

Command line options

usage: btop [-h] [-v] [-/+t] [-p <id>] [--utf-force] [--debug]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --version         show version info and exit
  -lc, --low-color      disable truecolor, converts 24-bit colors to 256-color
  -t, --tty_on          force (ON) tty mode, max 16 colors and tty friendly graph symbols
  +t, --tty_off         force (OFF) tty mode
  -p, --preset <id>     start with preset, integer value between 0-9
  --utf-force           force start even if no UTF-8 locale was detected
  --debug               start in DEBUG mode: shows microsecond timer for information collect
                        and screen draw functions and sets loglevel to DEBUG

LICENSE

Apache License 2.0

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Quick Overview

Pros

Cons

Getting Started

Competitor Comparisons

Pros of gotop

Cons of gotop

Code Comparison

Pros of Glances

Cons of Glances

Code Comparison

Pros of htop

Cons of htop

Code Comparison

Pros of s-tui

Cons of s-tui

Code Comparison

Pros of gtop

Cons of gtop

Code Comparison

Summary

Pros of bottom

Cons of bottom

Code Comparison

Convert designs to code with AI

README

Index

News

7 January 2024

25 November 2023

28 August 2022

16 January 2022

13 November 2021

30 October 2021

6 October 2021

18 September 2021

5 May 2021

Documents

Description

Features

Themes

Support and funding

Prerequisites

Optional Dependencies (Needed for GPU monitoring)

Notice (Text rendering issues)

Screenshots

Main UI showing details for a selected process

Main UI in TTY mode

Main UI with custom options

Main-menu

Options-menu

Help-menu

Installation

Compilation Linux

GPU compatibility

With Make

With CMake (Community maintained)

Compilation macOS OSX

With Make

With CMake (Community maintained)

Compilation FreeBSD

With gmake

With CMake (Community maintained)

Compilation NetBSD

With gmake

With CMake (Community maintained)

Compilation OpenBSD

With gmake

With CMake (Community maintained)

Installing the snap

Note: there are now two snaps available: btop and btop-desktop. The desktop version is much larger and includes the desktop entries needed to allow for launching btop with a click.

Configurability

btop.conf: (auto generated if not found)

Command line options

LICENSE

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Note: there are now two snaps available: `btop` and `btop-desktop`. The desktop version is much larger and includes the desktop entries needed to allow for launching `btop` with a click.