Tuptime – A CLI Utility To Find Linux System Uptime

Usually, we use the 'Uptime' command to find how long a Linux system or server has been running. The uptime command will get us the details such as the current time, how long the system has been running, how many users are currently logged on, and the system load averages for the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes. Today, I stumbled upon a similar utility named Tuptime, the uptime command's alternative. Tuptime is a command line utility written in Python that reports the historical and statistical real time of a Linux system, keeping it between restarts. It is just like Uptime but displays more interesting output. In this guide, we will see how to find Linux system uptime using Tuptime utility.

Before going further, let me give you a few examples to find the system uptime using "uptime" command.

If you run the uptime command without any arguments;

$ uptime

You will see an output something like below.

09:53:21 up 18 min, 1 user, load average: 0.01, 0.03, 0.06

Here,

• 09:53:21 - Current time,
• up 18 min - Total uptime,
• 1 user - Number of currently logged-in user,
• load average: 0.01, 0.03, 0.06  - The average system load for the past 5, 10 and 15 minutes.

To show only the total uptime, run:

$ uptime -p

Or,

$ uptime --pretty

To display the date and time the system booted up at, run:

$ uptime --s

Or,

$ uptime --since

As you can see, Uptime has only two options (which is enough though).

Compared to Uptime command, the Tuptime utility lists the following additional details:

• The total system uptime from the day you installed the tuptime utility,
• Total number of system startups and shutdowns,
• Total number of shutdowns done correctly or incorrectly,
• System uptime and downtime time counter in percentage,
• Largest / Shortest / Average uptime,
• Largest / Shortest / Average downtime,
• Current uptime.

Install Tuptime

Tuptime is available in AUR, so it can be installed on Arch Linux and its variants using any AUR helper like below.

$ yay -S tuptime

On Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint:

$ sudo apt-get install tuptime

Make sure you have enabled [Universe] repository on Ubuntu and its derivatives to install tuptime.

Universe can be enabled using command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository universe

On other Linux distributions, git clone the Tuptime repository using command:

$ git clone https://github.com/rfrail3/tuptime.git

Copy the "tuptime" binary file to your $PATH, for example "/usr/local/bin/":

$ sudo cp tuptime/src/tuptime /usr/local/bin/tuptime

Finally, make it executable:

$ sudo chmod ugo+x /usr/local/bin/tuptime

Find Linux system uptime details using Tuptime

To view your Linux system's uptime details, simply run:

$ tuptime

Sample output:

System startups: 1 since 07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
System shutdowns: 0 ok - 0 bad
System uptime: 100.0 % - 15 minutes and 49 seconds
System downtime: 0.0 % - 0 seconds
System life: 15 minutes and 49 seconds

Largest uptime: 15 minutes and 49 seconds from 07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
Shortest uptime: 15 minutes and 49 seconds from 07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
Average uptime: 15 minutes and 49 seconds

Largest downtime: 0 seconds
Shortest downtime: 0 seconds
Average downtime: 0 seconds

Current uptime: 15 minutes and 49 seconds since 07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020

Unlike the traditional Uptime command, Tuptime will keep track of the system reboots and shutdowns from the day it has been installed. Today, I installed it in my Ubuntu server and restarted the system twice. Tuptime tracked all the system startups/shutdowns and presented that information in an understandable way.

Have a look at the following output.

$ tuptime 
System startups: 3 since 07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
System shutdowns: 2 ok <- 0 bad
System uptime: 43.18 % - 1 hour, 0 minutes and 27 seconds
System downtime: 56.82 % - 1 hour, 19 minutes and 32 seconds
System life: 2 hours, 19 minutes and 59 seconds

Largest uptime: 35 minutes and 1 second from 07:41:00 AM 01/20/2020
Shortest uptime: 9 minutes and 20 seconds from 09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020
Average uptime: 20 minutes and 9 seconds

Largest downtime: 1 hour, 19 minutes and 13 seconds from 08:16:01 AM 01/20/2020
Shortest downtime: 19 seconds from 07:40:41 AM 01/20/2020
Average downtime: 39 minutes and 46 seconds

Current uptime: 9 minutes and 20 seconds since 09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020

See? The system startup and shutdown counts, total uptime/downtime average uptime/downtime details are updated accordingly. The default uptime command will not track such details.

Tuptime options

Tuptime comes with a few useful options to format the output as you please.

Display output in tabular-column view

To display the system uptime in tabular-column format, use -t flag.

$ tuptime -t
No.             Startup Date                               Uptime            Shutdown Date   End                            Downtime
                                                                                                                                    
1     07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020             16 minutes and 6 seconds   07:40:41 AM 01/20/2020    OK                          19 seconds
2     07:41:00 AM 01/20/2020              35 minutes and 1 second   08:16:01 AM 01/20/2020    OK   1 hour, 19 minutes and 13 seconds
3     09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020   2 hours, 57 minutes and 58 seconds

List-view

Similarly, we can display the output as a list-view with -l flag.

$ tuptime -l
Startup:  1  at  07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
Uptime:   16 minutes and 6 seconds
Shutdown: OK  at  07:40:41 AM 01/20/2020
Downtime: 19 seconds

Startup:  2  at  07:41:00 AM 01/20/2020
Uptime:   35 minutes and 1 second
Shutdown: OK  at  08:16:01 AM 01/20/2020
Downtime: 1 hour, 19 minutes and 13 seconds

Startup:  3  at  09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020
Uptime:   3 hours, 0 minutes and 42 seconds

Add Kernel details

We can even add Kernel information with the output using -k flag.

$ tuptime -k
System startups:	3   since   07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
System shutdowns:	2 ok   <-   0 bad
System uptime: 		74.54 %   -   3 hours, 52 minutes and 54 seconds
System downtime: 	25.46 %   -   1 hour, 19 minutes and 32 seconds
System life: 		5 hours, 12 minutes and 26 seconds
System kernels: 	1

Largest uptime: 	3 hours, 1 minute and 47 seconds   from   09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020
...with kernel: 	Linux-4.15.0-74-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic
Shortest uptime:	16 minutes and 6 seconds   from   07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020
...with kernel: 	Linux-4.15.0-74-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic
Average uptime: 	1 hour, 17 minutes and 38 seconds

Largest downtime:	1 hour, 19 minutes and 13 seconds   from   08:16:01 AM 01/20/2020
...with kernel: 	Linux-4.15.0-74-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic
Shortest downtime:	19 seconds   from   07:40:41 AM 01/20/2020
...with kernel: 	Linux-4.15.0-74-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic
Average downtime: 	39 minutes and 46 seconds

Current uptime: 	3 hours, 1 minute and 47 seconds   since   09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020
...with kernel: 	Linux-4.15.0-74-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic

Change date style

It is also possible to change default human readable date style and print times in seconds and dates in epoch.

To do so, use -s flag.

$ tuptime -s
System startups:	3   since   1579505075
System shutdowns:	2 ok   <-   0 bad
System uptime: 		74.77 %   -   14140.49
System downtime: 	25.23 %   -   4772.32
System life: 		18912.81

Largest uptime: 	11073.81   from   1579512914
Shortest uptime:	965.97   from   1579505075
Average uptime: 	4713.5

Largest downtime:	4753.29   from   1579508161
Shortest downtime:	19.03   from   1579506041
Average downtime: 	2386.16

Current uptime: 	11073.81   since   1579512914

Change date format

By default, Tuptime will print the details based on your system locales. You can, however, change the date format as per your liking using -d flag like below.

$ tuptime -d '%H:%M:%S %m-%d-%Y'
System startups:	3   since   07:24:35 01-20-2020
System shutdowns:	2 ok   <-   0 bad
System uptime: 		74.89 %   -   3 hours, 57 minutes and 15 seconds
System downtime: 	25.11 %   -   1 hour, 19 minutes and 32 seconds
System life: 		5 hours, 16 minutes and 47 seconds

Largest uptime: 	3 hours, 6 minutes and 8 seconds   from   09:35:14 01-20-2020
Shortest uptime:	16 minutes and 6 seconds   from   07:24:35 01-20-2020
Average uptime: 	1 hour, 19 minutes and 5 seconds

Largest downtime:	1 hour, 19 minutes and 13 seconds   from   08:16:01 01-20-2020
Shortest downtime:	19 seconds   from   07:40:41 01-20-2020
Average downtime: 	39 minutes and 46 seconds

Display output in CSV format

If required, you can print the output in CSV format as well.

$ tuptime --csv
"System startups","3","since","07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020"
"System shutdowns","2","ok","<-","0","bad"
"System uptime","75.2 %","-","4 hours, 1 minute and 10 seconds"
"System downtime","24.8 %","-","1 hour, 19 minutes and 32 seconds"
"System life","5 hours, 20 minutes and 43 seconds"
"Largest uptime","3 hours, 10 minutes and 4 seconds","from","09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020"
"Shortest uptime","16 minutes and 6 seconds","from","07:24:35 AM 01/20/2020"
"Average uptime","1 hour, 20 minutes and 23 seconds"
"Largest downtime","1 hour, 19 minutes and 13 seconds","from","08:16:01 AM 01/20/2020"
"Shortest downtime","19 seconds","from","07:40:41 AM 01/20/2020"
"Average downtime","39 minutes and 46 seconds"
"Current uptime","3 hours, 10 minutes and 4 seconds","since","09:35:14 AM 01/20/2020"

Display output since one year ago

If you left your system up for years, this option can get the Linux system uptime since a year ago.

$ tuptime --tsince -31557600

More details can be found in the man pages.

$ man uptime

$ man tuptime

Suggested read:

• How To Monitor Linux System Uptime Using Uptimed
• How To Quickly Monitor Multiple Hosts In Linux
• How To Find Out How Long A Process Has Been Running In Linux

Resource:

• Tuptime GitHub Repository