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The readme in 1.0 is more up to date than the 1.1 version...

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README
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Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage. Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage.
Please refer to the INSTALL file for instructions on how to build.
What is busybox:
BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the
you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox utilities you usually find in bzip2, coreutils, file, findutils, gawk, grep,
generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the inetutils, modutils, net-tools, procps, sed, shadow, sysklogd, sysvinit, tar,
options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very util-linux, and vim. The utilities in BusyBox often have fewer options than
much like their GNU counterparts. their full-featured cousins; however, the options that are included provide
the expected functionality and behave very much like their larger
counterparts.
BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind. BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in
It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or mind, both to produce small binaries and to reduce run-time memory usage.
features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded Busybox is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude
systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel. commands (or features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize
BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded embedded systems; to create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a
system. Linux kernel. Busybox (usually together with uClibc) has also been used as
a component of "thin client" desktop systems, live-CD distributions, rescue
disks, installers, and so on.
BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small system,
both embedded environments and more full featured systems concerned about
space. Busybox is slowly working towards implementing the full Single Unix
Specification V3 (http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/), but isn't
there yet (and for size reasons will probably support at most UTF-8 for
internationalization). We are also interested in passing the Linux Test
Project (http://ltp.sourceforge.net).
----------------
Using busybox:
BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the
components you need, thereby reducing binary size. See the file INSTALL components and options you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make
for details. config' or 'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to
enable. (See 'make help' for more commands.)
The behavior of busybox is determined by the name it's called under: as
"cp" it behaves like cp, as "sed" it behaves like sed, and so on. Called
as "busybox" it takes the second argument as the name of the applet to
run (I.E. "./busybox ls -l /proc").
The "standalone shell" mode is an easy way to try out busybox; this is a
command shell that calls the builtin applets without needing them to be
installed in the path. (Note that this requires /proc to be mounted, if
testing from a boot floppy or in a chroot environment.)
The build automatically generates a file "busybox.links", which is used by
'make install' to create symlinks to the BusyBox binary for all compiled in
commands. Use the PREFIX environment variable to specify where to install
the busybox binary and symlink forest. (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install',
or 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install-hardlinks' if you prefer hard links.)
---------------- ----------------
Supported architectures: Downloading the current source code:
BusyBox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc. Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always
Kernel module loading for 2.2 and 2.4 Linux kernels is currently be downloaded from
limited to ARM, CRIS, H8/300, x86, ia64, x86_64, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC,
S390, SH3/4/5, Sparc, v850e, and x86_64 for 2.4.x kernels. For 2.6.x
kernels, kernel module loading support should work on all architectures.
http://busybox.net/downloads/
Supported C Libraries: You can browse the up to the minute source code and change history online.
The "stable" series is at:
uClibc and glibc are supported. People have been looking at newlib and http://www.busybox.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/branches/busybox_1_00_stable/busybox/
dietlibc, but they are currently considered unsupported, untested, or
worse. Linux-libc5 is no longer supported -- you should probably use uClibc
instead if you want a small C library.
Supported kernels: And the development series is at:
Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better. A large fraction of the http://www.busybox.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/trunk/busybox/
code should run on just about anything. While the current code is fairly
Linux specific, it should be fairly easy to port the majority of the code Anonymous SVN access is available. For instructions, check out:
to support, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or Mac OS X, or even Windows (if you
are into that sort of thing). http://busybox.net/subversion.html
For those that are actively contributing and would like to check files in,
see:
http://busybox.net/developer.html
The developers also have a bug and patch tracking system
(http://bugs.busybox.net) although posting a bug/patch to the mailing list
is generally a faster way of getting it fixed, and the complete archive of
what happened is the subversion changelog.
---------------- ----------------
Getting help: getting help:
When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list when you find you need help, you can check out the busybox mailing list
archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join
the mailing list if you are interested. the mailing list if you are interested.
---------------- ----------------
Bugs: bugs:
If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the BusyBox mailing if you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the busybox mailing
list at busybox@mail.busybox.net. A well-written bug report should include a list at busybox@busybox.net. a well-written bug report should include a
transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables
anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. the following is such
an example: an example:
To: busybox@mail.busybox.net to: busybox@busybox.net
From: diligent@testing.linux.org from: diligent@testing.linux.org
Subject: /bin/date doesn't work subject: /bin/date doesn't work
Package: BusyBox package: busybox
Version: 1.00 version: 1.00
When I execute BusyBox 'date' it produces unexpected results. when i execute busybox 'date' it produces unexpected results.
With GNU date I get the following output: with gnu date i get the following output:
$ date $ date
Fri Oct 8 14:19:41 MDT 2004 fri oct 8 14:19:41 mdt 2004
But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead: but when i use busybox date i get this instead:
$ date $ date
illegal instruction illegal instruction
I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.25-vrs2 on a Netwinder, i am using debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.25-vrs2 on a netwinder,
and the latest uClibc from CVS. Thanks for the wonderful program! and the latest uclibc from cvs. thanks for the wonderful program!
-Diligent -diligent
Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what
does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does. Bug busybox does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent app
reports lacking such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding. does (or pointing to the text of a relevant standard). Bug reports lacking
such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding.
---------------- ----------------
Downloads: Portability:
Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always Busybox is developed and tested on Linux 2.4 and 2.6 kernels, compiled
be downloaded from with gcc (the unit-at-a-time optimizations in version 3.4 and later are
http://busybox.net/downloads/ worth upgrading to get, but older versions should work), and linked against
uClibc (0.9.27 or greater) or glibc (2.2 or greater). In such an
environment, the full set of busybox features should work, and if
anything doesn't we want to know about it so we can fix it.
There are many other environments out there, in which busybox may build
and run just fine. We just don't test them. Since busybox consists of a
large number of more or less independent applets, portability is a question
of which features work where. Some busybox applets (such as cat and rm) are
highly portable and likely to work just about anywhere, while others (such as
insmod and losetup) require recent Linux kernels with recent C libraries.
Earlier versions of Linux and glibc may or may not work, for any given
configuration. Linux 2.2 or earlier should mostly work (there's still
some support code in things like mount.c) but this is no longer regularly
tested, and inherently won't support certain features (such as long files
and --bind mounts). The same is true for glibc 2.0 and 2.1: expect a higher
testing and debugging burden using such old infrastructure. (The busybox
developers are not very interested in supporting these older versions, but
will probably accept small self-contained patches to fix simple problems.)
Some environments are not recommended. Early versions of uClibc were buggy
and missing many features: upgrade. Linking against libc5 or dietlibc is
not supported and not interesting to the busybox developers. (The first is
obsolete and has no known size or feature advantages over uClibc, the second
has known bugs that its developers have actively refused to fix.) Ancient
Linux kernels (2.0.x and earlier) are similarly uninteresting.
In theory it's possible to use Busybox under other operating systems (such as
MacOS X, Solaris, Cygwin, or the BSD Fork Du Jour). This generally involves
a different kernel and a different C library at the same time. While it
should be possible to port the majority of the code to work in one of
these environments, don't be suprised if it doesn't work out of the box. If
you're into that sort of thing, start small (selecting just a few applets)
and work your way up.
Shaun Jackman has recently (2005) ported busybox to a combination of newlib
and libgloss, and some of his patches have been integrated. This platform
may join glibc/uclibc and Linux as a supported combination with the 1.1
release, but is not supported in 1.0.
Supported hardware:
BusyBox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc. We
support both 32 and 64 bit platforms, and both big and little endian
systems.
Under 2.4 Linux kernels, kernel module loading was implemented in a
platform-specific manner. Busybox's insmod utility has been reported to
work under ARM, CRIS, H8/300, x86, ia64, x86_64, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, S390,
SH3/4/5, Sparc, v850e, and x86_64. Anything else probably won't work.
The module loading mechanism for the 2.6 kernel is much more generic, and
we believe 2.6.x kernel module loading support should work on all
architectures supported by the kernel.
---------------- ----------------
CVS: Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to the busybox
maintainer:
BusyBox now has its own publicly browsable SVN tree at:
http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/trunk/busybox/
Anonymous SVN access is available. For instructions, check out:
http://busybox.net/subversion.html
For those that are actively contributing there is even SVN write access:
http://busybox.net/developer.html
----------------
Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to:
Erik Andersen Erik Andersen
<andersen@codepoet.org> <andersen@codepoet.org>