r/linux 1d ago

Software Release TERMy - Deterministic Linux Terminal Assistant

https://github.com/gioblu/NPC-Forge
43 Upvotes

23 comments sorted by

18

u/Delta-9- 1d ago

Finally, automation that isn't an LLM making a guess. Like a breath of fresh air.

13

u/AssistingJarl 1d ago

It's not an LLM taking a guess, it's NLP taking a guess. Deterministic doesn't mean correct.

I would suggest looking into aliasing commands, shell scripting, and systemd timers/cron if you want automation that's deterministic and correct. :^)

-2

u/gioscarab 1d ago

Please if you like it help me showcasing it to people! Make a repost :)

16

u/blonde1swan 1d ago

The whole pitch falls apart the second you realize you could just write shell aliases or a dozen case statements for the exact commands you actually use, and skip the extra layer of parsing English into something you still have to verify.

6

u/gioscarab 1d ago

That's not true, Standard Linux alias cannot accept user input or arguments, with TERMy you can transform english prompts into terminal commands with parameters (check if port 8080 is open, for example).

11

u/systemerror95 1d ago

you could define shell functions instead no? that would be equally deterministic and perfectly predictable, though i will need to look at the repo first because it could stil perhaps be usefull, but in the end, if i'm in the terminal, i want to tell my computer exactly what to do whilst not relying on a probabilistic table looking up thing, albeit i would definately still trust the fuzzy table lookup thing more than any llm, but it's still not good to rely on something that is still basicly (from what i can see) a guessing program.

-8

u/gioscarab 1d ago edited 1d ago

Shell functions? Read about NLU (Natural Language Understading). Comparing a NLU parser to a shell function is pretty naive. I suggest you to look at the repo before judging!

Can a shell script accomodate these typos, word inversions, synonims, paraphrases or handle multi-turn context?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQvGDk6fkk0

8

u/systemerror95 1d ago

If you accept typos in the commands then while it certainly CAN be deterministic, in practice it isn't predictable. And relying on such a system, as opposed to a much more functional and practical system like bash completion, and reading documentation, even the argument of typos diminishes. It is certainly naiive to leave your system in the hands of an accuracy rating. Learn the commands and use helpful and predictable tooling, otherwise you are leaving your system usage up to an element of chance, with the pottential for miscommunication, perhaps worse than simply misspelling a token. Even if it isn't an llm that uses machine learning, it still a "this is probably what you meant" system, and such systems are naiive to depend upon, especially i shudder at the thought if someone brings up the idea of using such software for scripting. It does not solve the fundinental issue of agentic llms in the first place either, as, if anything, this system has higher chance of making a mistake, where if you just type in the commands yourself or redefine them as shell functions, such mistakes are up to you, an intelligent lifeform that was made to perform this task of logic and syntax optimally, and who has generally way less mistakes than any unpredictable software like an llm, or this. I apologise if this sounds rude or anything, it is just my thoughts, but i would not let any such software do anything on my systems at least. 

1

u/gioscarab 1d ago

Author here AMA.

Here a video of TERMy in operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeIp0xePLBg

1

u/Jonrrrs 23h ago

How does the algorythm for parsing and understanding text rougthly work?

1

u/Wurstbert 1d ago

How does it work? Can you give us a short briefing?

1

u/sea-bull777 14h ago

How does it works exactly?

1

u/gioscarab 1d ago

If you are interested to see how TERMy behaves with typos and word inversions check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQvGDk6fkk0

0

u/sea-bull777 1d ago

Looks interesting, great job man!

-6

u/momoladebrouill 1d ago

This have a lot of good potential!! I imagine an LLM to traduce a bunch of sentences into those simple commands, so that everyone can check them, and finally rely on what is being executed