128 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
128 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage.
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BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
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small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities
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you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox
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generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the
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options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very
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much like their GNU counterparts.
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BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.
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It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or
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features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded
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systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel.
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BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded
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system.
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BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the
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components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or
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'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable.
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After the build is complete, a busybox.links file is generated. This is
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used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the BusyBox binary for all
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compiled in functions. By default, 'make install' will place the symlink
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forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment
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variable (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install')
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If you wish to install hard links, rather than symlinks, you can use
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'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install-hardlinks' instead.
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----------------
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Supported architectures:
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BusyBox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc.
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Kernel module loading for 2.2 and 2.4 Linux kernels is currently
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limited to ARM, CRIS, H8/300, x86, ia64, x86_64, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC,
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S390, SH3/4/5, Sparc, v850e, and x86_64 for 2.4.x kernels. For 2.6.x
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kernels, kernel module loading support should work on all architectures.
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Supported C Libraries:
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uClibc and glibc are supported. People have been looking at newlib and
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dietlibc, but they are currently considered unsupported, untested, or
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worse. Linux-libc5 is no longer supported -- you should probably use uClibc
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instead if you want a small C library.
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Supported kernels:
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Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better. A large fraction of the
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code should run on just about anything. While the current code is fairly
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Linux specific, it should be fairly easy to port the majority of the code
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to support, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or Mac OS X, or even Windows (if you
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are into that sort of thing).
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----------------
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Getting help:
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When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list
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archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join
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the mailing list if you are interested.
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----------------
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Bugs:
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If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the BusyBox mailing
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list at busybox@mail.busybox.net. A well-written bug report should include a
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transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables
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anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such
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an example:
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To: busybox@mail.busybox.net
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From: diligent@testing.linux.org
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Subject: /bin/date doesn't work
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Package: BusyBox
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Version: 1.00
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When I execute BusyBox 'date' it produces unexpected results.
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With GNU date I get the following output:
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$ date
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Fri Oct 8 14:19:41 MDT 2004
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But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead:
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$ date
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illegal instruction
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I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.25-vrs2 on a Netwinder,
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and the latest uClibc from CVS. Thanks for the wonderful program!
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-Diligent
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Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox
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does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does. Bug
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reports lacking such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding.
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----------------
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Downloads:
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Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always
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be downloaded from
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http://busybox.net/downloads/
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----------------
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CVS:
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BusyBox now has its own publicly browsable CVS tree at:
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http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb/busybox/
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Anonymous CVS access is available. For instructions, check out:
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http://busybox.net/cvs_anon.html
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For those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access:
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http://busybox.net/cvs_write.html
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----------------
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Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to:
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Erik Andersen
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<andersen@codepoet.org>
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