# holzschu/ios_system

Drop-in replacement for system() in iOS programs

Repository: https://github.com/holzschu/ios_system
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ios_system
Language: C
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-02-09T19:42:15+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 63/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 66, release rhythm 37, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3193, "days_push": 205, "days_rel": 205, "gap_med": 257, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1064, forks 183 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:26.473117+00:00)

## What it is
A drop-in replacement for the system() C function on iOS, provided as an iOS framework that executes Unix shell commands, archive/network utilities, and interpreted languages like Python, Lua, and TeX. Commands are defined in plists and loaded dynamically from embedded frameworks.

## Use cases
- run unix shell commands inside an iOS app
- port a C program that calls system() to iOS
- embed a terminal or shell in an iOS application
- execute python or lua scripts on iOS
- add curl, tar, gzip support to an iOS app
- build an iOS terminal emulator

## When to choose
- you are porting Unix utilities (vim, TeX, Python) to iOS and hit 'system is unavailable' errors
- you want to give an iOS app a Unix-like command execution environment
- you are building a terminal app like Blink or LibTerm

## When to avoid
- you need a real multi-user Unix shell with full process control on iOS
- your project targets platforms other than iOS
- you need to write to the home directory root, which iOS sandboxing forbids

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: cli, interpreter, file-system, http-client
- domain: developer-tools, mobile-development
- platform: cpp
- tags: ios, system-replacement, unix-shell, shell-commands, terminal-emulation, c-framework, command-line, mobile

## Member repositories
- holzschu/ios_system (main) score 63

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:26.473117+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:56:04.277440+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/holzschu/ios_system (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:26.473117+00:00, sha 50c376bbe52c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.