busybox/docs/busybox_header.pod
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   2
   3=head1 NAME
   4
   5BusyBox - 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
  15BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
  16small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities
  17you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox
  18generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the
  19options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very
  20much like their GNU counterparts.
  21
  22BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.
  23It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or
  24features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded
  25systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel.
  26BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded
  27system.
  28
  29BusyBox is extremely configurable.  This allows you to include only the
  30components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make
  31menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable.  Then run
  32'make' to compile BusyBox using your configuration.
  33
  34After the compile has finished, you should use 'make install' to install
  35BusyBox. This will install the 'bin/busybox' binary, in the target directory
  36specified by CONFIG_PREFIX. CONFIG_PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox,
  37or you can specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a
  38command line like 'make CONFIG_PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled
  39any applet installation scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will
  40also be installed in the location pointed to by CONFIG_PREFIX.
  41
  42=head1 USAGE
  43
  44BusyBox is a multi-call binary.  A multi-call binary is an executable program
  45that performs the same job as more than one utility program.  That means there
  46is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large
  47number of utilities.  This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in
  48utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common
  49operations.
  50
  51You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the
  52command line.  For example, entering
  53
  54        /bin/busybox ls
  55
  56will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.
  57
  58Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful.  So most
  59people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary.
  60
  61For example, entering
  62
  63        ln -s /bin/busybox ls
  64        ./ls
  65
  66will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled
  67into BusyBox).  Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these
  68links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run
  69the 'make install' command.
  70
  71If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the
  72applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary.
  73
  74=head1 COMMON OPTIONS
  75
  76Most BusyBox applets support the B<--help> argument to provide a terse runtime
  77description of their behavior.  If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has
  78been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available.
  79
  80=head1 COMMANDS
  81
  82Currently available applets include:
  83