Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage. |
Erik Andersen | 330fd2b | 2000-05-19 05:35:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 2 | |
| 3 | BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single |
| 4 | small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities |
| 5 | you usually find in fileutils, shellutils, findutils, textutils, grep, gzip, |
| 6 | tar, etc. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or |
Eric Andersen | 0730943 | 2000-11-29 22:12:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 7 | embedded system. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than |
Erik Andersen | 330fd2b | 2000-05-19 05:35:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 8 | their full featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide |
| 9 | the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts. |
Eric Andersen | cc8ed39 | 1999-10-05 16:24:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 10 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 11 | BusyBox was originally written to support the Debian Rescue/Install disks, but |
| 12 | it also makes an excellent environment for any small or embedded system. |
| 13 | |
Erik Andersen | 330fd2b | 2000-05-19 05:35:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 14 | BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind. |
| 15 | It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or |
| 16 | features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded |
Eric Andersen | 9e6089e | 2001-08-02 19:31:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 17 | systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a kernel. |
Eric Andersen | cc8ed39 | 1999-10-05 16:24:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 18 | |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 19 | As of version 0.20 there is now a version number. : ) Also as of version 0.20, |
Erik Andersen | 330fd2b | 2000-05-19 05:35:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 20 | BusyBox is now modularized to easily allow you to build only the components you |
Glenn L McGrath | 062c74f | 2002-11-27 09:29:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig' |
| 22 | for select the functionality that you wish to enable. |
Erik Andersen | 330fd2b | 2000-05-19 05:35:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 23 | |
Eric Andersen | 0730943 | 2000-11-29 22:12:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 24 | After the build is complete, a busybox.links file is generated. This is |
Erik Andersen | 330fd2b | 2000-05-19 05:35:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 25 | used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the busybox binary for all |
| 26 | compiled in functions. By default, 'make install' will place the symlink |
| 27 | forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment |
Eric Andersen | 8ec10a9 | 2001-01-27 09:33:39 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 28 | variable (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install') |
Eric Andersen | cc8ed39 | 1999-10-05 16:24:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 29 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 30 | If you wish to install hardlinks, rather than symlinks, you can use |
| 31 | 'make install-hardlinks' instead. |
| 32 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 33 | ---------------- |
Mark Whitley | 3654ca5 | 2001-01-26 20:58:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 34 | |
| 35 | Supported architectures: |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Busybox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc. It has |
| 38 | a few specialized features added for __sparc__ and __alpha__. insmod |
Eric Andersen | 2835efe | 2001-07-25 16:58:58 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 39 | functionality is currently limited to x86, ARM, SH3/4, powerpc, m68k, |
Miles Bader | 130bec5 | 2002-04-01 09:37:27 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 40 | MIPS, and v850e. |
Mark Whitley | 3654ca5 | 2001-01-26 20:58:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 41 | |
| 42 | Supported libcs: |
| 43 | |
Eric Andersen | 85c3c3f | 2003-07-16 07:31:14 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 44 | glibc-2.0.x, glibc-2.1.x, glibc-2.2.x, glibc-2.3.x, uClibc. People |
Eric Andersen | e5d58c3 | 2001-11-10 10:46:42 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 45 | are looking at newlib and diet-libc, but consider them unsupported, |
Eric Andersen | 85c3c3f | 2003-07-16 07:31:14 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 46 | untested, or worse. Linux-libc5 is no longer supported -- you |
| 47 | should probably use uClibc instead if you want a small C library. |
Mark Whitley | 3654ca5 | 2001-01-26 20:58:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 48 | |
| 49 | Supported kernels: |
| 50 | |
Eric Andersen | 85c3c3f | 2003-07-16 07:31:14 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 51 | Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better. A large fraction of the |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 52 | code should run on just about anything. While the current code is fairly |
| 53 | Linux specific, it should be fairly easy to port the majority of the code |
| 54 | to, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or MacOsX, or even Windows (if you are into that |
| 55 | sortof thing). |
Mark Whitley | 3654ca5 | 2001-01-26 20:58:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 56 | |
| 57 | ---------------- |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 58 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 59 | Getting help: |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 60 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | the mailing list if you are interested. |
| 64 | |
| 65 | ---------------- |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 66 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 67 | Bugs: |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 68 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 69 | If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the busybox mailing |
Eric Andersen | f1d3ac4 | 2003-10-22 10:19:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 70 | list at busybox@mail.busybox.net. A well-written bug report should include a |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 71 | transcript of a shell session that demonstrates the bad behavior and enables |
| 72 | anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such |
| 73 | an example: |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 74 | |
Eric Andersen | f1d3ac4 | 2003-10-22 10:19:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 75 | To: busybox@mail.busybox.net |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 76 | From: diligent@testing.linux.org |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 77 | Subject: /bin/date doesn't work |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 78 | |
| 79 | Package: busybox |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 80 | Version: 1.00 |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 81 | |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 82 | When I execute Busybox 'date' it produces unexpected results. |
| 83 | With GNU date I get the following output: |
| 84 | |
| 85 | $ date |
| 86 | Wed Mar 21 14:19:41 MST 2001 |
| 87 | |
| 88 | But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead: |
| 89 | |
| 90 | $ date |
| 91 | llegal instruction |
| 92 | |
| 93 | I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.19-rmk1 on an Netwinder, |
| 94 | and the latest uClibc from CVS. Thanks for the wonderful program! |
| 95 | |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 96 | -Diligent |
| 97 | |
| 98 | Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox |
| 99 | does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does. Bug |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 100 | reports lacking such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding. |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 101 | |
| 102 | ---------------- |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 103 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 104 | FTP: |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 105 | |
Eric Andersen | b9c0b99 | 2001-12-22 00:37:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 106 | Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always |
| 107 | be downloaded from |
| 108 | http://busybox.net/downloads/ |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 109 | |
| 110 | ---------------- |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 111 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 112 | CVS: |
Eric Andersen | 235f66d | 2000-12-13 18:07:38 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 113 | |
Eric Andersen | 0730943 | 2000-11-29 22:12:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 114 | BusyBox now has its own publicly browsable CVS tree at: |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 115 | http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb/busybox/ |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 116 | |
| 117 | Anonymous CVS access is available. For instructions, check out: |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 118 | http://busybox.net/cvs_anon.html |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 119 | |
| 120 | For those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access: |
Eric Andersen | 2423b12 | 2001-12-08 01:56:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 121 | http://busybox.net/cvs_write.html |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 122 | |
Eric Andersen | a29dec2 | 2000-06-22 00:19:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 123 | ---------------- |
| 124 | |
Eric Andersen | ded6259 | 1999-11-18 00:19:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 125 | Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to: |
| 126 | Erik Andersen |
Eric Andersen | bdfd0d7 | 2001-10-24 05:00:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 127 | <andersen@codepoet.org> |
Eric Andersen | cb81e64 | 2003-07-14 21:21:08 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 128 | <andersen@codepoet.org> |
Eric Andersen | 84b0092 | 1999-12-11 04:16:51 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 129 | |