The following design goals are used to guide future development:
These should also help explain why Birdseye is implemented in its current form.
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A single file bash script.
You should be able to easily copy a single file to a sensitive or unhealthy system, run it, and remove it quickly and easily.
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Zero required dependencies.
You should be able to run Birdseye without the requirement of additional packages or components. This ensures that adding Birdseye to a system changes its existing state as little as possible. The Birdseye report that results reflects the pre-Birdseye state of the system.
Birdseye will attempt to use the features of many optional packages, but skip them if they are unavailable.
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Output using HTML5 for structure and CSS3 for presentation
You should be able to use your own CSS to easily modify Birdseye report presentations to satisfy your needs without modifying the bash scripting that reports on your system.
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Compatible with Linux on bare-metal, virtual machine (guests) and Cloud Linux
You should be able to run Birdseye on any relatively mainstream Linux and on any relatively mainstream operating environment. Birdseye will be tested on bare-metal desktops and servers, KVM and Xen guest VMs and common commercial Cloud guest VM environments. Embedded systems and specialty systems are not the focus of Birdseye.
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Compatible with multiple Linux distributions
You should be able to run Birdseye on many mainstream Linux environments. Multi-distribution support adds flexibility and prevents a focus on one distribution, but supporting non-mainstream distributions is not a goal.
See the supported/testing document for details.
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Develop code that is simple, literal and well documented
You should be able to easily read the Birdseye code and understand what it is doing. This allows you to modify it easily. It also allows many others to use Birdseye as a tutorial on various commands found within Linux. ...Write code for others and try not to be too clever.