crbin

crbin (Clearly Random Binary) is a small utility that executes a randomly chosen executable file from a configurable set of directories. The program randomly chooses a binary from default or provided directories and simply invokes theselected binary with any arguments passed to crbin.

Overview

On each invocation, crbin:

1. Scans one or more filesystem directories for executable regular files.
2. Chooses one random binary entry.
3. Executes the chosen path.

Usage

crbin [arguments...]

Directory Selection

By default, the following directories are scanned:

/bin
/usr/bin
/usr/local/bin
/sbin
/usr/sbin
/usr/local/sbin

Scanning is non-recursive unless explicitly enabled.

Environment Variables

BINDIRECTORIES

Overrides the default directory list. Value must be a comma-separated list of absolute paths.

Example:

export BINDIRECTORIES="/bin,/usr/bin,/home/user/tools"

RECURSE

Controls recursive traversal.

RECURSE=1       enable recursion
RECURSE=unset   disable recursion (default)

Example:

export RECURSE=1

Argument Forwarding

All arguments provided to crbin are forwarded unchanged to the randomly chosen executable.

Example:

crbin --version

The executed binary receives --version regardless of whether it supports it.

Building

A C compiler such as GCC or Clang is required.

gcc crbin.c -o crbin

Installation

System-wide installation:

sudo install -m 755 crbin /usr/local/bin/crbin

User-local installation:

install -m 755 crbin "$HOME/.local/bin/crbin"

Examples:

crbin
crbin --help
crbin -rf /
BINDIRECTORIES="/bin" crbin
RECURSE=1 crbin

Warning

crbin intentionally implements no protection against executing programs that may modify system state, terminate the current session, or affect running processes. Running crbin as root or via sudo is strongly unrecommended.

License

crbin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or (at your option) any later version. See the source header for complete terms.