# p-e-w/maybe

:open_file_folder: :rabbit2: :tophat: See what a program does before deciding whether you really want it to happen (NO LONGER MAINTAINED)

Repository: https://github.com/p-e-w/maybe
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/p-e-w-maybe
Language: Python
License Family: other
Archived: true
Last push: 2017-01-22T11:38:22+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3874, "days_push": 3510, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6302, forks 160 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:41.564982+00:00)

## What it is
maybe is a Python CLI tool that runs a command under ptrace and intercepts filesystem-modifying syscalls, turning them into no-ops so you can preview what the command would do before letting it happen. It is explicitly alpha-quality, Linux-only, and no longer maintained.

## Use cases
- preview what files a command will delete or modify before running it
- dry-run a risky rm or mv command
- see which files an install script touches
- check what a build command writes to disk
- avoid accidentally deleting files with wildcards

## When to choose
- you are on Linux and want a quick preview of a command's filesystem effects
- you typed a command yourself and want to verify its file operations first

## When to avoid
- running untrusted or malicious code - it only blocks a handful of syscalls
- you need a maintained tool or guaranteed accurate reruns
- you need a general sandbox or full syscall isolation

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: security, file-system, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, files, security
- platform: python, cli
- tags: dry-run, ptrace, sandbox, filesystem-safety, command-preview, command-line, linux

## Member repositories
- p-e-w/maybe (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:41.564982+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 2026-08-29T17:46:15.384081+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/p-e-w/maybe (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:41.564982+00:00, sha 132b43df8191)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/maybe/json (fetched 2026-08-29T08:42:43.967843+00:00, sha 1f3c34b731cc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.