Contents of /tags/mkinitrd-6_3_2/busybox/docs/busybox_header.pod
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Tue Sep 14 20:33:28 2010 UTC (14 years ago) by niro
File size: 3297 byte(s)
tagged 'mkinitrd-6_3_2'
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 <applet> [arguments...] # or |
10 | |
11 | <applet> [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 CONFIG_PREFIX. CONFIG_PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox, |
37 | or you can specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a |
38 | command line like 'make CONFIG_PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled |
39 | any applet installation scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will |
40 | also be installed in the location pointed to by CONFIG_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 |
49 | operations. |
50 | |
51 | You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the |
52 | command line. For example, entering |
53 | |
54 | /bin/busybox ls |
55 | |
56 | will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'. |
57 | |
58 | Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most |
59 | people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary. |
60 | |
61 | For example, entering |
62 | |
63 | ln -s /bin/busybox ls |
64 | ./ls |
65 | |
66 | will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled |
67 | into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these |
68 | links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run |
69 | the 'make install' command. |
70 | |
71 | If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the |
72 | applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary. |
73 | |
74 | =head1 COMMON OPTIONS |
75 | |
76 | Most BusyBox applets support the B<--help> argument to provide a terse runtime |
77 | description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has |
78 | been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available. |
79 | |
80 | =head1 COMMANDS |
81 | |
82 | Currently available applets include: |
83 |