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1Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage.
2
3BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
4small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities
5you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox
6generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the
7options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very
8much like their GNU counterparts.
9
10BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.
11It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or
12features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded
13systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel.
14BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded
15system.
16
17BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the
18components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or
19'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable.
20
21After the build is complete, a busybox.links file is generated. This is
22used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the BusyBox binary for all
23compiled in functions. By default, 'make install' will place the symlink
24forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment
25variable (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install')
26
27If you wish to install hard links, rather than symlinks, you can use
28'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install-hardlinks' instead.
29
30----------------
31
32Supported architectures:
33
34 BusyBox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc.
35 Kernel module loading for 2.2 and 2.4 Linux kernels is currently
36 limited to ARM, CRIS, H8/300, x86, ia64, x86_64, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC,
37 S390, SH3/4/5, Sparc, v850e, and x86_64 for 2.4.x kernels. For 2.6.x
38 kernels, kernel module loading support should work on all architectures.
39
40
41Supported C Libraries:
42
43 uClibc and glibc are supported. People have been looking at newlib and
44 dietlibc, but they are currently considered unsupported, untested, or
45 worse. Linux-libc5 is no longer supported -- you should probably use uClibc
46 instead if you want a small C library.
47
48Supported kernels:
49
50 Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better. A large fraction of the
51 code should run on just about anything. While the current code is fairly
52 Linux specific, it should be fairly easy to port the majority of the code
53 to support, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or Mac OS X, or even Windows (if you
54 are into that sort of thing).
55
56----------------
57
58Getting help:
59
60When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list
61archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join
62the mailing list if you are interested.
63
64----------------
65
66Bugs:
67
68If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the BusyBox mailing
69list at busybox@mail.busybox.net. A well-written bug report should include a
70transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables
71anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such
72an example:
73
74 To: busybox@mail.busybox.net
75 From: diligent@testing.linux.org
76 Subject: /bin/date doesn't work
77
78 Package: BusyBox
79 Version: 1.00
80
81 When I execute BusyBox 'date' it produces unexpected results.
82 With GNU date I get the following output:
83
84 $ date
85 Fri Oct 8 14:19:41 MDT 2004
86
87 But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead:
88
89 $ date
90 illegal instruction
91
92 I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.25-vrs2 on a Netwinder,
93 and the latest uClibc from CVS. Thanks for the wonderful program!
94
95 -Diligent
96
97Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox
98does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does. Bug
99reports lacking such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding.
100
101----------------
102
103Downloads:
104
105Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always
106be downloaded from
107 http://busybox.net/downloads/
108
109----------------
110
111CVS:
112
113BusyBox now has its own publicly browsable CVS tree at:
114 http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb/busybox/
115
116Anonymous CVS access is available. For instructions, check out:
117 http://busybox.net/cvs_anon.html
118
119For those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access:
120 http://busybox.net/cvs_write.html
121
122----------------
123
124Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to:
125 Erik Andersen
126 <andersen@codepoet.org>
127