# binpash/try

Inspect, control, and manipulate a command's effects before modifying your live system.

Repository: https://github.com/binpash/try
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/try
Language: Shell
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: administration, containers, shell, tools, virtualization
Last push: 2026-08-08T01:07:46+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 81/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 96, release rhythm 60, longevity 86
- inputs: {"age_days": 1204, "days_push": 26, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: prerelease_only
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5490, forks 79 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:19.806478+00:00)

## What it is
try is a command-line tool that lets you run a command and inspect its effects before committing changes to your live system. It uses Linux namespaces (via unshare) and overlayfs union filesystems to isolate filesystem modifications, letting you commit or discard them.

## Use cases
- test a pip install without polluting my system
- run a command and see what files it changes before committing
- dry-run a package installation on Linux
- try out a script safely before letting it modify my machine
- rollback filesystem changes made by a command
- sandbox a command's filesystem effects without a full VM

## When to choose
- you want to preview or roll back a command's filesystem changes on Linux
- you need lightweight isolation without containers or VMs
- you're a sysadmin or developer testing installers and scripts
- you want a single-script tool with no heavy dependencies

## When to avoid
- you need strong security sandboxing - try explicitly allows network access and is not a sandbox
- you're on macOS, Windows, or Linux kernels older than 5.11
- you need to isolate non-filesystem effects like process or network state

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: security, developer-tools, cli, file-system
- domain: developer-tools, operating-systems, security, self-hosted
- platform: cli
- tags: sandboxing, namespaces, overlayfs, dry-run, system-administration, shell, commit-or-rollback, command-line, linux

## Member repositories
- binpash/try (main) score 81

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:19.806478+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 2026-08-29T17:56:20.682019+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/binpash/try (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:19.806478+00:00, sha f6a00fde0691)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.