README - busybox - Git at Google

 Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage.

 BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
 small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities
 you usually find in fileutils, shellutils, findutils, textutils, grep, gzip,
 tar, etc. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or
 embedded system. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than
 their full featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide
 the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts.

 BusyBox was originally written to support the Debian Rescue/Install disks, but
 it also makes an excellent environment for any small or embedded system.

 BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.
 It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or
 features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded
 systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a kernel.

 As of version 0.20 there is now a version number. : ) Also as of version 0.20,
 BusyBox is now modularized to easily allow you to build only the components you
 need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig'
 for select the functionality that you wish to enable.

 After the build is complete, a busybox.links file is generated.  This is
 used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the busybox binary for all
 compiled in functions.  By default, 'make install' will place the symlink
 forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment
 variable (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install')

 If you wish to install hardlinks, rather than symlinks, you can use
 'make install-hardlinks' instead.

 ----------------

 Supported architectures:

    Busybox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc.  It has
    a few specialized features added for __sparc__ and __alpha__.  insmod
    functionality is currently limited to x86, ARM, SH3/4, powerpc, m68k,
    MIPS, and v850e.

 Supported libcs:

    glibc-2.0.x, glibc-2.1.x, glibc-2.2.x, glibc-2.3.x, uClibc.  People
    are looking at newlib and diet-libc, but consider them 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:

    Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better.  A large fraction of the
    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
    to, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or MacOsX, or even Windows (if you are into that
    sortof thing).

 ----------------

 Shells:

 lash is the very smallest shell (adds just 10k) and it is quite usable as
 a command prompt, but it is not suitable for any but the most trivial
 scripting (such as an initrd that calls insmod a few times) since it does
 not understand Bourne shell grammer.  It does handle pipes, redirects, and
 job control though.  Adding in command editing makes it a very nice
 lightweight command prompt.

 hush is also quite small (just 18k) and it has very complete Bourne shell
 grammer.  It handles if/then/else/fi just fine, but doesn't handle loops
 like for/do/done or case/esac and such.  It also currently has a problem
 with job control.  Using hush is not yet recommended.

 msh: The minix shell (adds just 30k) is quite complete and handles things
 like for/do/done, case/esac and all the things you expect a Bourne shell to
 do.  It is not always pedantically correct about Bourne shell grammer (try
 running the shell testscript "tests/sh.testcases" on it and compare vs bash)
 but for most things it works quite well.  It also uses only vfork, so it can
 be used on uClinux systems.  This was only recently added, so there is still
 room to shrink it further...

 ash: This adds about 60k in the default configuration and is the most
 complete and most pedantically correct shell included with busybox.  This
 shell was also recently added, and several people (mainly Vladimir and Erik)
 have been working on it.  There are a number of configurable things at the
 top of ash.c as well, so check those out if you want to tweak things.

 ----------------

 Getting help:

 When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list
 archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join
 the mailing list if you are interested.

 ----------------

 Bugs:

 If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the busybox mailing
 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
 anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such
 an example:

     To: busybox@busybox.net
     From: diligent@testing.linux.org
     Subject: /bin/date doesn't work

     Package: busybox
     Version: 1.00

     When I execute Busybox 'date' it produces unexpected results.
     With GNU date I get the following output:

 	$ date
 	Wed Mar 21 14:19:41 MST 2001

     But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead:

 	$ date
 	llegal instruction

     I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.19-rmk1 on an Netwinder,
     and the latest uClibc from CVS.  Thanks for the wonderful program!

 	-Diligent

 Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox
 does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does.  Bug
 reports lacking such detail may never be fixed...  Thanks for understanding.

 ----------------

 FTP:

 Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always
 be downloaded from
     http://busybox.net/downloads/

 ----------------

 CVS:

 BusyBox now has its own publicly browsable CVS tree at:
     http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb/busybox/

 Anonymous CVS access is available.  For instructions, check out:
     http://busybox.net/cvs_anon.html

 For those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access:
     http://busybox.net/cvs_write.html

 ----------------

 Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to:
 	Erik Andersen
 	<andersen@codepoet.org>
 	<andersen@codepoet.org>
	Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage.

	BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
	small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities
	you usually find in fileutils, shellutils, findutils, textutils, grep, gzip,
	tar, etc. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or
	embedded system. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than
	their full featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide
	the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts.

	BusyBox was originally written to support the Debian Rescue/Install disks, but
	it also makes an excellent environment for any small or embedded system.

	BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.
	It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or
	features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded
	systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a kernel.

	As of version 0.20 there is now a version number. : ) Also as of version 0.20,
	BusyBox is now modularized to easily allow you to build only the components you
	need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig'
	for select the functionality that you wish to enable.

	After the build is complete, a busybox.links file is generated. This is
	used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the busybox binary for all
	compiled in functions. By default, 'make install' will place the symlink
	forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment
	variable (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install')

	If you wish to install hardlinks, rather than symlinks, you can use
	'make install-hardlinks' instead.

	----------------

	Supported architectures:

	Busybox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc. It has
	a few specialized features added for __sparc__ and __alpha__. insmod
	functionality is currently limited to x86, ARM, SH3/4, powerpc, m68k,
	MIPS, and v850e.

	Supported libcs:

	glibc-2.0.x, glibc-2.1.x, glibc-2.2.x, glibc-2.3.x, uClibc. People
	are looking at newlib and diet-libc, but consider them 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:

	Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better. A large fraction of the
	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
	to, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or MacOsX, or even Windows (if you are into that
	sortof thing).

	----------------

	Shells:

	lash is the very smallest shell (adds just 10k) and it is quite usable as
	a command prompt, but it is not suitable for any but the most trivial
	scripting (such as an initrd that calls insmod a few times) since it does
	not understand Bourne shell grammer. It does handle pipes, redirects, and
	job control though. Adding in command editing makes it a very nice
	lightweight command prompt.

	hush is also quite small (just 18k) and it has very complete Bourne shell
	grammer. It handles if/then/else/fi just fine, but doesn't handle loops
	like for/do/done or case/esac and such. It also currently has a problem
	with job control. Using hush is not yet recommended.

	msh: The minix shell (adds just 30k) is quite complete and handles things
	like for/do/done, case/esac and all the things you expect a Bourne shell to
	do. It is not always pedantically correct about Bourne shell grammer (try
	running the shell testscript "tests/sh.testcases" on it and compare vs bash)
	but for most things it works quite well. It also uses only vfork, so it can
	be used on uClinux systems. This was only recently added, so there is still
	room to shrink it further...

	ash: This adds about 60k in the default configuration and is the most
	complete and most pedantically correct shell included with busybox. This
	shell was also recently added, and several people (mainly Vladimir and Erik)
	have been working on it. There are a number of configurable things at the
	top of ash.c as well, so check those out if you want to tweak things.

	----------------

	Getting help:

	When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list
	archives at http://busybox.net/lists/busybox/ or even join
	the mailing list if you are interested.

	----------------

	Bugs:

	If you find bugs, please submit a detailed bug report to the busybox mailing
	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
	anyone else to duplicate the bug on their own machine. The following is such
	an example:

	To: busybox@busybox.net
	From: diligent@testing.linux.org
	Subject: /bin/date doesn't work

	Package: busybox
	Version: 1.00

	When I execute Busybox 'date' it produces unexpected results.
	With GNU date I get the following output:

	$ date
	Wed Mar 21 14:19:41 MST 2001

	But when I use BusyBox date I get this instead:

	$ date
	llegal instruction

	I am using Debian unstable, kernel version 2.4.19-rmk1 on an Netwinder,
	and the latest uClibc from CVS. Thanks for the wonderful program!

	-Diligent

	Note the careful description and use of examples showing not only what BusyBox
	does, but also a counter example showing what an equivalent GNU app does. Bug
	reports lacking such detail may never be fixed... Thanks for understanding.

	----------------

	FTP:

	Source for the latest released version, as well as daily snapshots, can always
	be downloaded from
	http://busybox.net/downloads/

	----------------

	CVS:

	BusyBox now has its own publicly browsable CVS tree at:
	http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb/busybox/

	Anonymous CVS access is available. For instructions, check out:
	http://busybox.net/cvs_anon.html

	For those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access:
	http://busybox.net/cvs_write.html

	----------------

	Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to:
	Erik Andersen
	<andersen@codepoet.org>
	<andersen@codepoet.org>