Fli is a minimal CLI file listing tool built in no_std Rust and Libc, occupying only 18KB. It offers an alternative to traditional ls commands with a tiny footprint. The project is open-source and available on GitHub.
Background
- **Fli** is a minimalist CLI file-listing tool (like `ls`) written in Rust, using only `no_std` (no Rust standard library) and raw Libc syscalls, resulting in an 18KB binary.
- It supports colourised output, long format, human-readable sizes, hidden file toggling, and recursion — all in a fraction of a typical binary size.
- The project demonstrates advanced Rust systems programming: avoiding the standard library means the author manually handles memory allocation, string formatting, and OS interactions, which is unusual and instructional.
- For the HN audience, the novelty is the tiny footprint without sacrificing features, showing what's possible with careful low-level Rust — appealing to embedded/CLI tool enthusiasts.