Best Free and Open Source Software, howtos and Installations

posted by Rianne Schestowitz on Oct 05, 2025

• ZAP - web app scanner - LinuxLinks

  ZAP provides functionality for a range of skill levels – from developers, to testers new to security testing, to security testing specialists. ZAP has versions for each major OS and Docker, so you are not tied to a single OS. Additional functionality is freely available from a variety of add-ons in the ZAP Marketplace, accessible from within the ZAP client.

  This is free and open source software.

• MangaYouKnow - manga reader - LinuxLinks

  MangaYouKnow is billed as a clean manga reader with the purpose of letting you know each chapter the moment its out.

  It’s made with Tauri and SvelteKit.

  This is free and open source software.

• Vault - tool for securely accessing secrets - LinuxLinks

  Vault is a tool for securely accessing secrets. A secret is anything that you want to tightly control access to, such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and more. Vault provides a unified interface to any secret, while providing tight access control and recording a detailed audit log.

  A modern system requires access to a multitude of secrets: database credentials, API keys for external services, credentials for service-oriented architecture communication, etc. Understanding who is accessing what secrets is already very difficult and platform-specific. Adding on key rolling, secure storage, and detailed audit logs is almost impossible without a custom solution. This is where Vault steps in.

• Todo TUI - Vim-like TUI that honors the simplicity of todo.txt - LinuxLinks

  Todo TUI is a Vim-like TUI that honors the simplicity of todo.txt.

  This is free and open source software.

• Judo - terminal-based todo list application - LinuxLinks

  Judo (Just Do It) is a simple TUI for managing todo lists. You can create multiple lists, add items to them, mark items as complete, and delete items or entire lists when you’re done.

  The interface shows your lists on the left side and the items from the selected list on the right side. You can manage multiple databases, switch between them, and create new ones on the fly. All your data is saved locally on your computer, so your todos persist between sessions.

  When you start Judo, you’ll see the main interface with two panels:

  Left panel: Your todo lists. Right panel: Items from the selected list.

  Navigate between lists and items using the keyboard. You can switch between different databases, create new ones, and manage your todos across multiple databases. All changes are automatically saved to your local database.

  This is free and open source software.

• 7 Best Free and Open Source Linux MPRIS Tools - LinuxLinks

  MPRIS (Media Player Remote Interfacing Specification) is a standard D-Bus interface which aims to provide a common programmatic API for controlling media players. This interface is most commonly used to pass media key control through to a media player, such as play and pause and music playback.

  There are many apps that offer MPRIS functionality. For this roundup, I’m focusing exclusively on small independent tools.

  Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion here.

• wig - simple and lightweight DNS client - LinuxLinks

  wig is a simple and lightweight DNS client.

  For simple usage, just type the domain name followed by the record type: `example.com AAAA`. Or you can just type the domain, `example.com`, and it will default to the A record.

  If you want to use a custom dns server, just specify the ip or domain after the @ like `@1.1.1.1` or `@ns1.google.com`.

  If you want to specify a port, you can add `-p port_num`.

  Finally, if you want to force tcp, you can add `-t`. Wig only runs on Linux systems that are Posix 1995 compliant.

  This is free and open source software.