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1 | # vi: set sw=4 ts=4: | ||
2 | |||
3 | =head1 NAME | ||
4 | |||
5 | BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux | ||
6 | |||
7 | =head1 SYNTAX | ||
8 | |||
9 | BusyBox <function> [arguments...] # or | ||
10 | |||
11 | <function> [arguments...] # if symlinked | ||
12 | |||
13 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | ||
14 | |||
15 | BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single | ||
16 | small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities | ||
17 | you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox | ||
18 | generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the | ||
19 | options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very | ||
20 | much like their GNU counterparts. | ||
21 | |||
22 | BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind. | ||
23 | It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or | ||
24 | features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded | ||
25 | systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel. | ||
26 | BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded | ||
27 | system. | ||
28 | |||
29 | BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the | ||
30 | components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make | ||
31 | menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable. Then run | ||
32 | 'make' to compile BusyBox using your configuration. | ||
33 | |||
34 | After the compile has finished, you should use 'make install' to install | ||
35 | BusyBox. This will install the 'bin/busybox' binary, in the target directory | ||
36 | specified by PREFIX. PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox, or you can | ||
37 | specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a command line | ||
38 | like 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled any applet installation | ||
39 | scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will also be installed in | ||
40 | the location pointed to by PREFIX. | ||
41 | |||
42 | =head1 USAGE | ||
43 | |||
44 | BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program | ||
45 | that performs the same job as more than one utility program. That means there | ||
46 | is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large | ||
47 | number of utilities. This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in | ||
48 | utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common operations. | ||
49 | |||
50 | You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the | ||
51 | command line. For example, entering | ||
52 | |||
53 | /bin/busybox ls | ||
54 | |||
55 | will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'. | ||
56 | |||
57 | Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most | ||
58 | people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary. | ||
59 | |||
60 | For example, entering | ||
61 | |||
62 | ln -s /bin/busybox ls | ||
63 | ./ls | ||
64 | |||
65 | will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled | ||
66 | into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these | ||
67 | links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run | ||
68 | the 'make install' command. | ||
69 | |||
70 | If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the | ||
71 | applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary. | ||
72 | |||
73 | =head1 COMMON OPTIONS | ||
74 | |||
75 | Most BusyBox commands support the B<--help> argument to provide a terse runtime | ||
76 | description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has | ||
77 | been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available. | ||
78 | |||
79 | =head1 COMMANDS | ||
80 | |||
81 | Currently defined functions include: | ||
82 | |||