HostsButler

HostsButler is a command-line utility, written in the D programming language, designed to simplify the management and manipulation of your hosts file. It supports hosts files with entries grouped into named blocks that you can easily enable or disable as needed.

Why HostsButler?

Managing large or frequently changing hosts files can be a headache. HostsButler addresses common pain points by providing:

• Intelligent Parsing & Manipulation: HostsButler accurately reads and processes entries from your hosts file.
• Block Management: Define and manage named blocks of host entries, allowing you to activate or deactivate them as a whole. This is perfect for switching between development, testing, or production environments, or for quickly enabling/disabling ad-blocking lists.
• Smart Sorting: Organizes your host entries logically. Domain-based hosts are sorted by their Top-Level Domain (TLD) for intuitive readability.
• Automatic Deduplication: Keeps your hosts file lean and efficient by identifying and removing duplicate entries.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Built with portability in mind, HostsButler provides Makefiles for both POSIX-like systems (Linux, macOS) and Windows, ensuring a consistent build experience.

🏁 Getting Started

Building from Source

To compile HostsButler from its source code, follow these steps:

Prerequisites

You'll need a D compiler and make installed on your system:

• D Compiler: Any D compiler will work, but LDC is recommended for its performance and compatibility. Alternatively, you can use DMD or GDC.
• make: This build automation tool is essential. On Windows, make is typically available through environments like MinGW/MSYS2 or via package managers like Chocolatey.

Compiling HostsButler

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ragnarokkr/hostsbutler.git
   cd hostsbutler

2. Build:

   # Build a release version (recommended for general use)
   make
   
   # Build a debug version (useful for development and troubleshooting)
   make debug

ℹ️ Important for Windows Users: When running make command on Windows, ensure you use the executable corresponding to your installed toolchain (e.g., make.exe for MSYS/Cygwin, mingw32-make.exe for MinGW).

⚙️ Usage

HostsButler offers a straightforward command-line interface.

USAGE: hostsbutler [options] [hosts_file]

Filters and enables/disables hosts entries.

Options:
  -s, --sort               Sorts host entries.
  -u, --unique             Removes duplicate entries (implies --sort).
  -e, --enable <block_id>  Enables a specified block of entries.
  -d, --disable <block_id> Disables a specified block of entries.
  -v, --version            Displays the program version.
  -h, --help               Displays this help information.

Key Usage Notes:

• Option Grouping: Options can be grouped for brevity (e.g., -su is equivalent to -s -u).
• Multiple Blocks: You can specify multiple blocks to enable or disable by repeating the -e or -d options (e.g., -e Block1 -e Block2).
• Input Source: If no hosts_file is specified, HostsButler will read input directly from stdin, allowing for piping operations.

Examples

Here are some common scenarios demonstrating HostsButler's capabilities:

# Sort your hosts file entries
hostsbutler -s path/to/your/hosts_file

# Remove duplicate entries from a hosts file (output to stdout)
cat path/to/your/hosts_file | hostsbutler -u

# Enable specific blocks (e.g., 'Development' and 'AdBlock')
hostsbutler -e Development -e AdBlock path/to/your/hosts_file

# Disable particular blocks (e.g., 'OldConfig' and 'Legacy')
hostsbutler -d OldConfig -d Legacy path/to/your/hosts_file

# Combine multiple operations: remove duplicates, sort, enable 'Staging', and disable 'Production'
cat path/to/your/hosts_file | hostsbutler -su -e Staging -d Production > cleaned_hosts_file

🚀 Benchmarking

Now, for those of you who insist on knowing exactly how fast this rocket-powered hamster wheel spins (and possibly want to prove your machine is superior to your neighbor's toaster), you can use hyperfine:

hyperfine -N -w 10000 './build/release/hostsbutler -su -d Web -e Test tests/hosts.example >/dev/null'

# Linux:
Benchmark 1: ./build/release/hostsbutler -su -d Web -e Test tests/hosts.example >/dev/null
  Time (mean ± σ):       4.9 ms ±   0.8 ms    [User: 3.1 ms, System: 0.7 ms]
  Range (min … max):     4.0 ms …   8.8 ms    604 runs

# Windows Sucks Tales™ - unexpectedly slower for some reason:
Benchmark 1: ./build/release/hostsbutler -su -d Web -e Test tests/hosts.example
  Time (mean ± σ):      21.3 ms ±   1.7 ms    [User: 8.4 ms, System: 7.8 ms]
  Range (min … max):    19.1 ms …  27.8 ms    130 runs

🫱🏼‍🫲🏻 Contributing

This project is an exploration of the D language, undertaken in my spare time. Consequently, updates may not be frequent. However, contributions are encouraged; please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed information.

License

HostsButler is open-source software released under the MIT License.