far2l vs FileManagerTUI

far2l is a free Linux port of FAR Manager v2, with macOS support also listed. It offers graphical wxWidgets and SDL interfaces as well as terminal backends, whose dependencies and keyboard support vary. Its NetRocks plugin supports remote access through SFTP, SCP, SHELL, FTP, FTPS, SMB, NFS, WebDAV, and AWS S3. Other listed plugins handle archives, file comparison, a calculator, image viewing, Git gutter, Python scripting, and text transformations. Python plugin support is optional and requires the relevant Python development packages when building. Installation options include Debian and Ubuntu packages, Homebrew, source builds, and Docker. The project identifies far2l as GNU/GPLv2 software, but labels it beta and advises using it at one's own risk. It recommends checking out a stable release tag because the master branch is considered unstable. The compact Homebrew TTY build lacks Python plugins and SMB support in NetRocks. The project lists English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian as valid translations; other languages need substantial correction.

FileManagerTUI is a free terminal file manager built with Rust and Ratatui, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its dual-pane interface combines a file tree with a live preview and syntax highlighting. Users can navigate with Vim-style keys or arrow keys, search project files with a Ctrl+P fuzzy finder, and filter directories inline. File operations include creating, renaming, deleting, copying, cutting, pasting, and undoing. The inline editor supports syntax highlighting, undo and redo, find and replace, auto-indent, text selection, and mouse cursor positioning. An integrated PTY shell panel uses VT100 emulation, and notebook previews render Jupyter cells with syntax highlighting. Files over a configurable threshold use a head/tail preview mode. The software can browse S3 buckets through the AWS CLI, but that mode is read-only and requires valid AWS credentials. Building from source requires a Rust toolchain. It is distributed under the MIT License, which permits use, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and resale; the software is provided without warranty or liability.