BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux
busybox <applet> [arguments...] # or
<applet> [arguments...] # if symlinked
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 GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. 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 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 Linux kernel. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded system.
BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable. Then run 'make' to compile BusyBox using your configuration.
After the compile has finished, you should use 'make install' to install BusyBox. This will install the 'bin/busybox' binary, in the target directory specified by CONFIG_PREFIX. CONFIG_PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox, or you can specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a command line like 'make CONFIG_PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled any applet installation scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will also be installed in the location pointed to by CONFIG_PREFIX.
BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program that performs the same job as more than one utility program. That means there is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large number of utilities. This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common operations.
You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the command line. For example, entering
/bin/busybox ls
will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.
Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary.
For example, entering
ln -s /bin/busybox ls
./ls
will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run the 'make install' command.
If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary.
Most BusyBox applets support the --help argument to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available.
Currently available applets include:
[, [[, addgroup, adduser, awk, basename, beep, bunzip2, bzcat,
bzip2, cat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chpasswd, chroot, chvt, cksum,
clear, cmp, comm, cp, cryptpw, cut, date, dc, dd, delgroup, deluser,
df, dhcprelay, dirname, dmesg, dnsdomainname, du, dumpkmap,
dumpleases, echo, ed, egrep, eject, env, expand, expr, false, fgrep,
find, fold, free, freeramdisk, fsync, ftpd, ftpget, ftpput, fuser,
getopt, grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, head, hostid, hostname, hwclock,
id, ifconfig, inetd, install, kbd_mode, kill, killall, killall5, ln,
loadkmap, logname, losetup, ls, lzcat, lzma, makedevs, md5sum,
mkdir, mkfifo, mkfs.minix, mknod, mkpasswd, mkswap, mktemp, more,
mv, passwd, ping, pkill, pmap, ps, pwd, readlink, realpath, resize,
rm, rmdir, route, run-parts, setkeycodes, setsid, sha1sum, showkey,
sleep, sort, split, start-stop-daemon, stat, stty, sulogin, swapoff,
swapon, sync, sysctl, tac, tail, tar, tcpsvd, tee, test, time,
touch, tr, traceroute, true, tty, udhcpc, udhcpd, uname, uniq,
unlzma, unxz, unzip, usleep, vlock, volname, wc, wget, which,
whoami, whois, xargs, xz, xzcat, yes, zcat
addgroup [-g GID] [USER] GROUP
Add a group or add a user to a group
-g GID Group id
-S Create a system group
adduser [OPTIONS] USER
Add a user
-h DIR Home directory
-g GECOS GECOS field
-s SHELL Login shell
-G GRP Add user to existing group
-S Create a system user
-D Don't assign a password
-H Don't create home directory
-u UID User id
awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]...
-v VAR=VAL Set variable
-F SEP Use SEP as field separator
-f FILE Read program from FILE
basename FILE [SUFFIX]
Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE
beep -f FREQ -l LEN -d DELAY -r COUNT -n
-f Frequency in Hz
-l Length in ms
-d Delay in ms
-r Repetitions
-n Start new tone
bunzip2 [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
bzcat FILE
Decompress to stdout
bzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm
-1..9 Compression level
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
cat [FILE]...
Concatenate FILEs and print them to stdout
chgrp [-RhLHPcvf]... GROUP FILE...
Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP
-R Recurse
-h Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
-L Traverse all symlinks to directories
-H Traverse symlinks on command line only
-P Don't traverse symlinks (default)
-c List changed files
-v Verbose
-f Hide errors
chmod [-Rcvf] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
Each MODE is one or more of the letters ugoa, one of the symbols +-= and one or more of the letters rwxst
-R Recurse
-c List changed files
-v List all files
-f Hide errors
chown [-RhLHPcvf]... OWNER[<.|:>[GROUP]] FILE...
Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP
-R Recurse
-h Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
-L Traverse all symlinks to directories
-H Traverse symlinks on command line only
-P Don't traverse symlinks (default)
-c List changed files
-v List all files
-f Hide errors
chpasswd [--md5|--encrypted]
Read user:password from stdin and update /etc/passwd
-e,--encrypted Supplied passwords are in encrypted form
-m,--md5 Use MD5 encryption instead of DES
chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]
Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT
chvt N
Change the foreground virtual terminal to /dev/ttyN
cksum FILES...
Calculate the CRC32 checksums of FILES
clear
Clear screen
cmp [-l] [-s] FILE1 [FILE2 [SKIP1 [SKIP2]]]
Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)
-l Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
for all differing bytes
-s Quiet
comm [-123] FILE1 FILE2
Compare FILE1 with FILE2
-1 Suppress lines unique to FILE1
-2 Suppress lines unique to FILE2
-3 Suppress lines common to both files
cp [OPTIONS] SOURCE DEST
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
-a Same as -dpR
-R,-r Recurse
-d,-P Preserve symlinks (default if -R)
-L Follow all symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-p Preserve file attributes if possible
-f Overwrite
-i Prompt before overwrite
-l,-s Create (sym)links
cryptpw [OPTIONS] [PASSWORD] [SALT]
Crypt PASSWORD using crypt(3)
-P,--password-fd=N Read password from fd N
-m,--method=TYPE Encryption method
-S,--salt=SALT
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout
-b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
-c LIST Output only characters from LIST
-d CHAR Use CHAR instead of tab as the field delimiter
-s Output only the lines containing delimiter
-f N Print only these fields
-n Ignored
date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [TIME]
Display time (using +FMT), or set time
[-s,--set] TIME Set time to TIME
-u,--utc Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
-R,--rfc-2822 Output RFC-2822 compliant date string
-I[SPEC] Output ISO-8601 compliant date string
SPEC='date' (default) for date only,
'hours', 'minutes', or 'seconds' for date and
time to the indicated precision
-r,--reference FILE Display last modification time of FILE
-d,--date TIME Display TIME, not 'now'
-D FMT Use FMT for -d TIME conversion
Recognized TIME formats:
hh:mm[:ss]
[YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss]
YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]
[[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss]
dc EXPRESSION...
Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: +, add, -, sub, *, mul, /, div, %, mod, **, exp, and, or, not, eor, p - print top of the stack (without popping), f - print entire stack, o - pop the value and set output radix (must be 10, 16, 8 or 2). Examples: 'dc 2 2 add p' -> 4, 'dc 8 8 * 2 2 + / p' -> 16
| dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N] [obs=N] [bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N] | |
| [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync] |
Copy a file with converting and formatting
if=FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin
of=FILE Write to FILE instead of stdout
bs=N Read and write N bytes at a time
ibs=N Read N bytes at a time
obs=N Write N bytes at a time
count=N Copy only N input blocks
skip=N Skip N input blocks
seek=N Skip N output blocks
conv=notrunc Don't truncate output file
conv=noerror Continue after read errors
conv=sync Pad blocks with zeros
conv=fsync Physically write data out before finishing
Numbers may be suffixed by c (x1), w (x2), b (x512), kD (x1000), k (x1024), MD (x1000000), M (x1048576), GD (x1000000000) or G (x1073741824)
delgroup [USER] GROUP
Delete group GROUP from the system or user USER from group GROUP
deluser USER
Delete USER from the system
df [-Pkmhai] [-B SIZE] [FILESYSTEM]...
Print filesystem usage statistics
-P POSIX output format
-k 1024-byte blocks (default)
-m 1M-byte blocks
-h Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
-a Show all filesystems
-i Inodes
-B SIZE Blocksize
dhcprelay CLIENT_IFACE[,CLIENT_IFACE2]... SERVER_IFACE [SERVER_IP]
Relay DHCP requests between clients and server
dirname FILENAME
Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME
dmesg [-c] [-n LEVEL] [-s SIZE]
Print or control the kernel ring buffer
-c Clear ring buffer after printing
-n LEVEL Set console logging level
-s SIZE Buffer size
du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...
Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory. Disk space is printed in units of 1024 bytes.
-a Show file sizes too
-L Follow all symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-d N Limit output to directories (and files with -a) of depth < N
-c Show grand total
-l Count sizes many times if hard linked
-s Display only a total for each argument
-x Skip directories on different filesystems
-h Sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G )
-m Sizes in megabytes
-k Sizes in kilobytes (default)
dumpkmap > keymap
Print a binary keyboard translation table to stdout
dumpleases [-r|-a] [-f LEASEFILE]
Display DHCP leases granted by udhcpd
-f,--file=FILE Lease file
-r,--remaining Show remaining time
-a,--absolute Show expiration time
echo [-neE] [ARG]...
Print the specified ARGs to stdout
-n Suppress trailing newline
-e Interpret backslash escapes (i.e., \t=tab)
-E Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)
ed
eject [-t] [-T] [DEVICE]
Eject DEVICE or default /dev/cdrom
-s SCSI device
-t Close tray
-T Open/close tray (toggle)
env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [PROG ARGS]
Print the current environment or run PROG after setting up the specified environment
-, -i Start with an empty environment
-u Remove variable from the environment
expand [-i] [-t N] [FILE]...
Convert tabs to spaces, writing to stdout
-i,--initial Don't convert tabs after non blanks
-t,--tabs=N Tabstops every N chars
expr EXPRESSION
Print the value of EXPRESSION to stdout
EXPRESSION may be:
ARG1 | ARG2 ARG1 if it is neither null nor 0, otherwise ARG2
ARG1 & ARG2 ARG1 if neither argument is null or 0, otherwise 0
ARG1 < ARG2 1 if ARG1 is less than ARG2, else 0. Similarly:
ARG1 <= ARG2
ARG1 = ARG2
ARG1 != ARG2
ARG1 >= ARG2
ARG1 > ARG2
ARG1 + ARG2 Sum of ARG1 and ARG2. Similarly:
ARG1 - ARG2
ARG1 * ARG2
ARG1 / ARG2
ARG1 % ARG2
STRING : REGEXP Anchored pattern match of REGEXP in STRING
match STRING REGEXP Same as STRING : REGEXP
substr STRING POS LENGTH Substring of STRING, POS counted from 1
index STRING CHARS Index in STRING where any CHARS is found, or 0
length STRING Length of STRING
quote TOKEN Interpret TOKEN as a string, even if
it is a keyword like 'match' or an
operator like '/'
(EXPRESSION) Value of EXPRESSION
Beware that many operators need to be escaped or quoted for shells. Comparisons are arithmetic if both ARGs are numbers, else lexicographical. Pattern matches return the string matched between \( and \) or null; if \( and \) are not used, they return the number of characters matched or 0.
false
Return an exit code of FALSE (1)
find [PATH]... [OPTIONS] [ACTIONS]
Search for files and perform actions on them. First failed action stops processing of current file. Defaults: PATH is current directory, action is '-print'
-follow Follow symlinks
-xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems
-maxdepth N Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
actions to command line arguments only
-mindepth N Don't act on first N levels
-depth Act on directory *after* traversing it
Actions:
( ACTIONS ) Group actions for -o / -a
! ACT Invert ACT's success/failure
ACT1 [-a] ACT2 If ACT1 fails, stop, else do ACT2
ACT1 -o ACT2 If ACT1 succeeds, stop, else do ACT2
Note: -a has higher priority than -o
-name PATTERN Match file name (w/o directory name) to PATTERN
-iname PATTERN Case insensitive -name
-path PATTERN Match path to PATTERN
-ipath PATTERN Case insensitive -path
-regex PATTERN Match path to regex PATTERN
-type X File type is X (one of: f,d,l,b,c,...)
-perm MASK At least one mask bit (+MASK), all bits (-MASK),
or exactly MASK bits are set in file's mode
-mtime DAYS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N days in the past
-mmin MINS mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N minutes in the past
-newer FILE mtime is more recent than FILE's
-inum N File has inode number N
-user NAME/ID File is owned by given user
-group NAME/ID File is owned by given group
-size N[bck] File size is N (c:bytes,k:kbytes,b:512 bytes(def.))
+/-N: file size is bigger/smaller than N
-links N Number of links is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N
-prune If current file is directory, don't descend into it
If none of the following actions is specified, -print is assumed
-print Print file name
-print0 Print file name, NUL terminated
-exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by
file name. Fails if CMD exits with nonzero
-delete Delete current file/directory. Turns on -depth option
fold [-bs] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
Wrap input lines in each FILE (or stdin), writing to stdout
-b Count bytes rather than columns
-s Break at spaces
-w Use WIDTH columns instead of 80
free [-b/k/m/g]
Display the amount of free and used system memory
freeramdisk DEVICE
Free all memory used by the specified ramdisk
fsync [-d] FILE...
Write files' buffered blocks to disk
-d Avoid syncing metadata
ftpd [-wvS] [-t N] [-T N] [DIR]
Anonymous FTP server
ftpd should be used as an inetd service. ftpd's line for inetd.conf: 21 stream tcp nowait root ftpd ftpd /files/to/serve It also can be ran from tcpsvd:
tcpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 21 ftpd /files/to/serve
-w Allow upload
-v Log errors to stderr. -vv: verbose log
-S Log errors to syslog. -SS: verbose log
-t,-T Idle and absolute timeouts
DIR Change root to this directory
ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE
Retrieve a remote file via FTP
-c,--continue Continue previous transfer
-v,--verbose Verbose
-u,--username Username
-p,--password Password
-P,--port Port number
ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE
Store a local file on a remote machine via FTP
-v,--verbose Verbose
-u,--username Username
-p,--password Password
-P,--port Port number
fuser [OPTIONS] FILE or PORT/PROTO
Find processes which use FILEs or PORTs
-m Find processes which use same fs as FILEs
-4,-6 Search only IPv4/IPv6 space
-s Don't display PIDs
-k Kill found processes
-SIGNAL Signal to send (default: KILL)
getopt [OPTIONS]
-a,--alternative Allow long options starting with single -
-l,--longoptions=longopts Long options to be recognized
-n,--name=progname The name under which errors are reported
-o,--options=optstring Short options to be recognized
-q,--quiet Disable error reporting by getopt(3)
-Q,--quiet-output No normal output
-s,--shell=shell Set shell quoting conventions
-T,--test Test for getopt(1) version
-u,--unquoted Don't quote the output
grep [-HhnlLoqvsriwFEz] [-m N] [-A/B/C N] PATTERN/-e PATTERN.../-f FILE [FILE]...
Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)
-H Add 'filename:' prefix
-h Do not add 'filename:' prefix
-n Add 'line_no:' prefix
-l Show only names of files that match
-L Show only names of files that don't match
-c Show only count of matching lines
-o Show only the matching part of line
-q Quiet. Return 0 if PATTERN is found, 1 otherwise
-v Select non-matching lines
-s Suppress open and read errors
-r Recurse
-i Ignore case
-w Match whole words only
-F PATTERN is a literal (not regexp)
-E PATTERN is an extended regexp
-z Input is NUL terminated
-m N Match up to N times per file
-A N Print N lines of trailing context
-B N Print N lines of leading context
-C N Same as '-A N -B N'
-e PTRN Pattern to match
-f FILE Read pattern from file
groups [USER]
Print the group memberships of USER or for the current process
gunzip [-cft] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-t Test file integrity
gzip [-cfd] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print first 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.
-n N[kbm] Print first N lines
-c N[kbm] Print first N bytes
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers
N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).
hostid
Print out a unique 32-bit identifier for the machine
hostname [OPTIONS] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE]
Get or set hostname or DNS domain name
-s Short
-i Addresses for the hostname
-d DNS domain name
-f Fully qualified domain name
-F FILE Use FILE's content as hostname
hwclock [-r|--show] [-s|--hctosys] [-w|--systohc] [-t|--systz] [-l|--localtime] [-u|--utc] [-f|--rtc FILE]
Query and set hardware clock (RTC)
-r Show hardware clock time
-s Set system time from hardware clock
-w Set hardware clock from system time
-t Set in-kernel timezone, correct system time
if hardware clock is in local time
-u Assume hardware clock is kept in UTC
-l Assume hardware clock is kept in local time
-f FILE Use specified device (e.g. /dev/rtc2)
id [OPTIONS] [USER]
Print information about USER or the current user
-u User ID
-g Group ID
-G Supplementary group IDs
-n Print names instead of numbers
-r Print real ID instead of effective ID
ifconfig [-a] interface [address]
Configure a network interface
[[-]broadcast [ADDRESS]] [[-]pointopoint [ADDRESS]]
[netmask ADDRESS] [dstaddr ADDRESS]
[outfill NN] [keepalive NN]
[hw ether ADDRESS] [metric NN] [mtu NN]
[[-]trailers] [[-]arp] [[-]allmulti]
[multicast] [[-]promisc] [txqueuelen NN] [[-]dynamic]
[mem_start NN] [io_addr NN] [irq NN]
[up|down] ...
inetd [-fe] [-q N] [-R N] [CONFFILE]
Listen for network connections and launch programs
-f Run in foreground
-e Log to stderr
-q N Socket listen queue (default: 128)
-R N Pause services after N connects/min
(default: 0 - disabled)
install [-cdDsp] [-o USER] [-g GRP] [-m MODE] [SOURCE]... DEST
Copy files and set attributes
-c Just copy (default)
-d Create directories
-D Create leading target directories
-s Strip symbol table
-p Preserve date
-o USER Set ownership
-g GRP Set group ownership
-m MODE Set permissions
kbd_mode [-a|k|s|u] [-C TTY]
Report or set the keyboard mode
-a Default (ASCII)
-k Medium-raw (keyboard)
-s Raw (scancode)
-u Unicode (utf-8)
-C TTY Affect TTY instead of /dev/tty
kill [-l] [-SIG] PID...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs
-l List all signal names and numbers
killall [-l] [-q] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes
-l List all signal names and numbers
-q Don't complain if no processes were killed
killall5 [-l] [-SIG] [-o PID]...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to all processes outside current session
-l List all signal names and numbers
-o PID Don't signal this PID
ln [OPTIONS] TARGET... LINK|DIR
Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s)
-s Make symlinks instead of hardlinks
-f Remove existing destinations
-n Don't dereference symlinks - treat like normal file
-b Make a backup of the target (if exists) before link operation
-S suf Use suffix instead of ~ when making backup files
loadkmap < keymap
Load a binary keyboard translation table from stdin
logname
Print the name of the current user
| losetup [-o OFS] LOOPDEV FILE - associate loop devices | |
| losetup -d LOOPDEV - disassociate | |
| losetup [-f] - show |
-o OFS Start OFS bytes into FILE
-f Show first free loop device
ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinsehrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
List directory contents
-1 One column output
-a Include entries which start with .
-A Like -a, but exclude . and ..
-C List by columns
-x List by lines
-d List directory entries instead of contents
-L Follow symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-R Recurse
-p Append / to dir entries
-F Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
-l Long listing format
-i List inode numbers
-n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
-s List allocated blocks
-e List full date and time
-h List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
-r Sort in reverse order
-S Sort by size
-X Sort by extension
-v Sort by version
-c With -l: sort by ctime
-t With -l: sort by mtime
-u With -l: sort by atime
-w N Assume the terminal is N columns wide
--color[={always,never,auto}] Control coloring
lzcat FILE
Decompress to stdout
lzma -d [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
makedevs [-d device_table] rootdir
Create a range of special files as specified in a device table. Device table entries take the form of:
<name> <type> <mode> <uid> <gid> <major> <minor> <start> <inc> <count> Where name is the file name, type can be one of: f Regular file d Directory c Character device b Block device p Fifo (named pipe) uid is the user id for the target file, gid is the group id for the target file. The rest of the entries (major, minor, etc) apply to to device special files. A '-' may be used for blank entries.
md5sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...
Print or check MD5 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
mkdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Create DIRECTORY
-m MODE Mode
-p No error if exists; make parent directories as needed
mkfifo [-m MODE] NAME
Create named pipe
-m MODE Mode (default a=rw)
mkfs.minix [-c | -l FILE] [-nXX] [-iXX] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]
Make a MINIX filesystem
-c Check device for bad blocks
-n [14|30] Maximum length of filenames
-i INODES Number of inodes for the filesystem
-l FILE Read bad blocks list from FILE
-v Make version 2 filesystem
mknod [-m MODE] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR
Create a special file (block, character, or pipe)
-m MODE Creation mode (default a=rw)
TYPE:
b Block device
c or u Character device
p Named pipe (MAJOR and MINOR are ignored)
mkpasswd [OPTIONS] [PASSWORD] [SALT]
Crypt PASSWORD using crypt(3)
-P,--password-fd=N Read password from fd N
-m,--method=TYPE Encryption method
-S,--salt=SALT
mkswap [-L LBL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]
Prepare BLOCKDEV to be used as swap partition
-L LBL Label
mktemp [-dt] [-p DIR] [TEMPLATE]
Create a temporary file with name based on TEMPLATE and print its name. TEMPLATE must end with XXXXXX (e.g. [/dir/]nameXXXXXX). Without TEMPLATE, -t tmp.XXXXXX is assumed.
-d Make directory, not file
-t Prepend base directory name to TEMPLATE
-p DIR Use DIR as a base directory (implies -t)
Base directory is: -p DIR, else $TMPDIR, else /tmp
more [FILE]...
View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time
mv [-fin] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... DIRECTORY
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
-f Don't prompt before overwriting
-i Interactive, prompt before overwrite
-n Don't overwrite an existing file
passwd [OPTIONS] [USER]
Change USER's password (default: current user)
-a ALG Encryption method
-d Set password to ''
-l Lock (disable) account
-u Unlock (enable) account
ping [OPTIONS] HOST
Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
-4,-6 Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
-c CNT Send only CNT pings
-s SIZE Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
-t TTL Set TTL
-I IFACE/IP Use interface or IP address as source
-W SEC Seconds to wait for the first response (default:10)
(after all -c CNT packets are sent)
-w SEC Seconds until ping exits (default:infinite)
(can exit earlier with -c CNT)
-q Quiet, only displays output at start
and when finished
pkill [-l|-SIGNAL] [-fnovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]
Send a signal to process(es) selected by regex PATTERN
-l List all signals
-f Match against entire command line
-n Signal the newest process only
-o Signal the oldest process only
-v Negate the match
-x Match whole name (not substring)
-s Match session ID (0 for current)
-P Match parent process ID
pmap [-xq] PID
Display detailed process memory usage
-x Show details
-q Quiet
ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER] [-T]
Show list of processes
-o COL1,COL2=HEADER Select columns for display
-T Show threads
pwd
Print the full filename of the current working directory
readlink [-fnv] FILE
Display the value of a symlink
-f Canonicalize by following all symlinks
-n Don't add newline
-v Verbose
realpath FILE...
Return the absolute pathnames of given FILE
resize
Resize the screen
rm [-irf] FILE...
Remove (unlink) FILEs
-i Always prompt before removing
-f Never prompt
-R,-r Recurse
rmdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty
-p|--parents Include parents
--ignore-fail-on-non-empty
route [{add|del|delete}]
Edit kernel routing tables
-n Don't resolve names
-e Display other/more information
-A inet Select address family
run-parts [-t] [-l] [-a ARG] [-u MASK] DIRECTORY
Run a bunch of scripts in DIRECTORY
-t Print what would be run, but don't actually run anything
-a ARG Pass ARG as argument for every program
-u MASK Set the umask to MASK before running every program
-l Print names of all matching files even if they are not executable
setkeycodes SCANCODE KEYCODE...
Set entries into the kernel's scancode-to-keycode map, allowing unusual keyboards to generate usable keycodes.
SCANCODE may be either xx or e0xx (hexadecimal), and KEYCODE is given in decimal.
setsid PROG ARGS
Run PROG in a new session. PROG will have no controlling terminal
and will not be affected by keyboard signals (Ctrl-C etc).
See setsid(2) for details.
sha1sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...
Print or check SHA1 checksums
-c Check sums against list in FILEs
-s Don't output anything, status code shows success
-w Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
showkey [-a | -k | -s]
Show keys pressed
-a Display decimal/octal/hex values of the keys
-k Display interpreted keycodes (default)
-s Display raw scan-codes
sleep [N]...
Pause for a time equal to the total of the args given, where each arg can have an optional suffix of (s)econds, (m)inutes, (h)ours, or (d)ays
sort [-nrugMcszbdfimSTokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][opts]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...
Sort lines of text
-b Ignore leading blanks
-c Check whether input is sorted
-d Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only)
-f Ignore case
-g General numerical sort
-i Ignore unprintable characters
-k Sort key
-M Sort month
-n Sort numbers
-o Output to file
-k Sort by key
-t CHAR Key separator
-r Reverse sort order
-s Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically)
-u Suppress duplicate lines
-z Lines are terminated by NUL, not newline
-mST Ignored for GNU compatibility
split [OPTIONS] [INPUT [PREFIX]]
-b N[k|m] Split by N (kilo|mega)bytes
-l N Split by N lines
-a N Use N letters as suffix
start-stop-daemon [OPTIONS] [-S|-K] ... [-- ARGS...]
Search for matching processes, and then -K: stop all matching processes. -S: start a process unless a matching process is found.
Process matching:
-u,--user USERNAME|UID Match only this user's processes
-n,--name NAME Match processes with NAME
in comm field in /proc/PID/stat
-x,--exec EXECUTABLE Match processes with this command
in /proc/PID/cmdline
-p,--pidfile FILE Match a process with PID from the file
All specified conditions must match
-S only:
-x,--exec EXECUTABLE Program to run
-a,--startas NAME Zeroth argument
-b,--background Background
-N,--nicelevel N Change nice level
-c,--chuid USER[:[GRP]] Change to user/group
-m,--make-pidfile Write PID to the pidfile specified by -p
-K only:
-s,--signal SIG Signal to send
-t,--test Match only, exit with 0 if a process is found
Other:
-o,--oknodo Exit with status 0 if nothing is done
-v,--verbose Verbose
-q,--quiet Quiet
stat [OPTIONS] FILE...
Display file (default) or filesystem status
-c fmt Use the specified format
-f Display filesystem status
-L Follow links
-t Display info in terse form
Valid format sequences for files:
%a Access rights in octal %A Access rights in human readable form %b Number of blocks allocated (see %B) %B The size in bytes of each block reported by %b %d Device number in decimal %D Device number in hex %f Raw mode in hex %F File type %g Group ID of owner %G Group name of owner %h Number of hard links %i Inode number %n File name %N File name, with -> TARGET if symlink %o I/O block size %s Total size, in bytes %t Major device type in hex %T Minor device type in hex %u User ID of owner %U User name of owner %x Time of last access %X Time of last access as seconds since Epoch %y Time of last modification %Y Time of last modification as seconds since Epoch %z Time of last change %Z Time of last change as seconds since Epoch
Valid format sequences for file systems:
%a Free blocks available to non-superuser %b Total data blocks in file system %c Total file nodes in file system %d Free file nodes in file system %f Free blocks in file system %i File System ID in hex %l Maximum length of filenames %n File name %s Block size (for faster transfer) %S Fundamental block size (for block counts) %t Type in hex %T Type in human readable form
stty [-a|g] [-F DEVICE] [SETTING]...
Without arguments, prints baud rate, line discipline, and deviations from stty sane
-F DEVICE Open device instead of stdin
-a Print all current settings in human-readable form
-g Print in stty-readable form
[SETTING] See manpage
sulogin [-t N] [TTY]
Single user login
-t N Timeout
swapoff [-a] [DEVICE]
Stop swapping on DEVICE
-a Stop swapping on all swap devices
swapon [-a] [-p PRI] [DEVICE]
Start swapping on DEVICE
-a Start swapping on all swap devices
-p PRI Set swap device priority
sync
Write all buffered blocks to disk
sysctl [OPTIONS] [VALUE]...
Configure kernel parameters at runtime
-n Don't print key names
-e Don't warn about unknown keys
-w Change sysctl setting
-p FILE Load sysctl settings from FILE (default /etc/sysctl.conf)
-a Display all values
-A Display all values in table form
tac [FILE]...
Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse
tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print last 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.
-f Print data as file grows
-s SECONDS Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
-n N[kbm] Print last N lines
-c N[kbm] Print last N bytes
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers
N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2). If N starts with a '+', output begins with the Nth item from the start of each file, not from the end.
tar -[cxtzjahmvO] [-X FILE] [-T FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...
Create, extract, or list files from a tar file
Operation:
c Create
x Extract
t List
f Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
C Change to DIR before operation
v Verbose
z (De)compress using gzip
j (De)compress using bzip2
a (De)compress using lzma
O Extract to stdout
h Follow symlinks
m Don't restore mtime
exclude File to exclude
X File with names to exclude
T File with names to include
tcpsvd [-hEv] [-c N] [-C N[:MSG]] [-b N] [-u USER] [-l NAME] IP PORT PROG
Create TCP socket, bind to IP:PORT and listen for incoming connection. Run PROG for each connection.
IP IP to listen on, 0 = all
PORT Port to listen on
PROG ARGS Program to run
-l NAME Local hostname (else looks up local hostname in DNS)
-u USER[:GRP] Change to user/group after bind
-c N Handle up to N connections simultaneously
-b N Allow a backlog of approximately N TCP SYNs
-C N[:MSG] Allow only up to N connections from the same IP
New connections from this IP address are closed
immediately. MSG is written to the peer before close
-h Look up peer's hostname
-E Don't set up environment variables
-v Verbose
tee [-ai] [FILE]...
Copy stdin to each FILE, and also to stdout
-a Append to the given FILEs, don't overwrite
-i Ignore interrupt signals (SIGINT)
test EXPRESSION ]
Check file types, compare values etc. Return a 0/1 exit code depending on logical value of EXPRESSION
time [-v] PROG ARGS
Run PROG, display resource usage when it exits
-v Verbose
touch [-c] [-d DATE] [-r FILE] FILE [FILE]...
Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s]
-c Don't create files
-d DT Date/time to use
-r FILE Use FILE's date/time
tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]
Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from stdin, writing to stdout
-c Take complement of STRING1
-d Delete input characters coded STRING1
-s Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character
| traceroute [-FIldnrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-p PORT] [-q PROBES] | |
| [-s SRC_IP] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-g GATEWAY] [-i IFACE] | |
| [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES] |
Trace the route to HOST
-F Set the don't fragment bit
-I Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams
-l Display the TTL value of the returned packet
-d Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
-n Print numeric addresses
-r Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
-v Verbose
-m Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
-p Base UDP port number used in probes
(default 33434)
-q Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
-s IP address to use as the source address
-t Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
-w Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)
-g Loose source route gateway (8 max)
true
Return an exit code of TRUE (0)
tty
Print file name of stdin's terminal
-s Print nothing, only return exit status
| udhcpc [-fbnqvoCRB] [-i IFACE] [-r IP] [-s PROG] [-p PIDFILE] | |
| [-H HOSTNAME] [-V VENDOR] [-x OPT:VAL]... [-O OPT]... [-P N] |
-i,--interface IFACE Interface to use (default eth0)
-p,--pidfile FILE Create pidfile
-s,--script PROG Run PROG at DHCP events (default /usr/share/udhcpc/default.script)
-B,--broadcast Request broadcast replies
-t,--retries N Send up to N discover packets
-T,--timeout N Pause between packets (default 3 seconds)
-A,--tryagain N Wait N seconds after failure (default 20)
-f,--foreground Run in foreground
-b,--background Background if lease is not obtained
-n,--now Exit if lease is not obtained
-q,--quit Exit after obtaining lease
-R,--release Release IP on exit
-S,--syslog Log to syslog too
-P,--client-port N Use port N (default 68)
-a,--arping Use arping to validate offered address
-O,--request-option OPT Request option OPT from server (cumulative)
-o,--no-default-options Don't request any options (unless -O is given)
-r,--request IP Request this IP address
-x OPT:VAL Include option OPT in sent packets (cumulative)
Examples of string, numeric, and hex byte opts:
-x hostname:bbox - option 12
-x lease:3600 - option 51 (lease time)
-x 0x3d:0100BEEFC0FFEE - option 61 (client id)
-F,--fqdn NAME Ask server to update DNS mapping for NAME
-H,-h,--hostname NAME Send NAME as client hostname (default none)
-V,--vendorclass VENDOR Vendor identifier (default 'udhcp VERSION')
-C,--clientid-none Don't send MAC as client identifier
-v Verbose
Signals:
USR1 Renew current lease
USR2 Release current lease
udhcpd [-fS] [-P N] [CONFFILE]
DHCP server
-f Run in foreground
-S Log to syslog too
-P N Use port N (default 67)
uname [-amnrspv]
Print system information
-a Print all
-m The machine (hardware) type
-n Hostname
-r OS release
-s OS name (default)
-p Processor type
-v OS version
uniq [-cdu][-f,s,w N] [INPUT [OUTPUT]]
Discard duplicate lines
-c Prefix lines by the number of occurrences
-d Only print duplicate lines
-u Only print unique lines
-f N Skip first N fields
-s N Skip first N chars (after any skipped fields)
-w N Compare N characters in line
unlzma [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
unxz [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
unzip [-opts[modifiers]] FILE[.zip] [LIST] [-x XLIST] [-d DIR]
Extract files from ZIP archives
-l List archive contents (with -q for short form)
-n Never overwrite files (default)
-o Overwrite
-p Send output to stdout
-q Quiet
-x XLST Exclude these files
-d DIR Extract files into DIR
usleep N
Pause for N microseconds
vlock [-a]
Lock a virtual terminal. A password is required to unlock.
-a Lock all VTs
volname [DEVICE]
Show CD volume name of the DEVICE (default /dev/cdrom)
wc [-clwL] [FILE]...
Count lines, words, and bytes for each FILE (or stdin)
-c Count bytes
-l Count newlines
-w Count words
-L Print longest line length
| wget [-c|--continue] [-s|--spider] [-q|--quiet] [-O|--output-document FILE] | |
| [--header 'header: value'] [-Y|--proxy on/off] [-P DIR] | |
| [--no-check-certificate] [-U|--user-agent AGENT] [-T SEC] URL... |
Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP
-s Spider mode - only check file existence
-c Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
-q Quiet
-P DIR Save to DIR (default .)
-T SEC Network read timeout is SEC seconds
-O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
-U STR Use STR for User-Agent header
-Y Use proxy ('on' or 'off')
which [COMMAND]...
Locate a COMMAND
whoami
Print the user name associated with the current effective user id
whois [-h SERVER] [-p PORT] NAME...
Query WHOIS info about NAME
-h,-p Server to query
xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG ARGS]
Run PROG on every item given by stdin
-p Ask user whether to run each command
-r Don't run command if input is empty
-0 Input is separated by NUL characters
-t Print the command on stderr before execution
-e[STR] STR stops input processing
-n N Pass no more than N args to PROG
-s N Pass command line of no more than N bytes
-x Exit if size is exceeded
xz -d [-cf] [FILE]...
Decompress FILE (or stdin)
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
xzcat FILE
Decompress to stdout
yes [STRING]
Repeatedly output a line with STRING, or 'y'
zcat FILE
Decompress to stdout
GNU Libc (glibc) uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the behavior of the C library for the local environment, and to configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group information. This is implemented using an /etc/nsswitch.conf configuration file, and using one or more of the /lib/libnss_* libraries. BusyBox tries to avoid using any libc calls that make use of NSS. Some applets however, such as login and su, will use libc functions that require NSS.
If you enable CONFIG_USE_BB_PWD_GRP, BusyBox will use internal functions to directly access the /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow files without using NSS. This may allow you to run your system without the need for installing any of the NSS configuration files and libraries.
When used with glibc, the BusyBox 'networking' applets will similarly require that you install at least some of the glibc NSS stuff (in particular, /etc/nsswitch.conf, /lib/libnss_dns*, /lib/libnss_files*, and /lib/libresolv*).
Shameless Plug: As an alternative, one could use a C library such as uClibc. In addition to making your system significantly smaller, uClibc does not require the use of any NSS support files or libraries.
Denis Vlasenko <vda.linux@googlemail.com>
The following people have contributed code to BusyBox whether they know it or not. If you have written code included in BusyBox, you should probably be listed here so you can obtain your bit of eternal glory. If you should be listed here, or the description of what you have done needs more detail, or is incorrect, please send in an update.
Emanuele Aina <emanuele.aina@tiscali.it> run-parts
Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>
Tons of new stuff, major rewrite of most of the
core apps, tons of new apps as noted in header files.
Lots of tedious effort writing these boring docs that
nobody is going to actually read.
Laurence Anderson <l.d.anderson@warwick.ac.uk>
rpm2cpio, unzip, get_header_cpio, read_gz interface, rpm
Jeff Angielski <jeff@theptrgroup.com>
ftpput, ftpget
Edward Betts <edward@debian.org>
expr, hostid, logname, whoami
John Beppu <beppu@codepoet.org>
du, nslookup, sort
Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>
tiny-ls(ls)
Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org>
fbset, ping, hostname
Dave Cinege <dcinege@psychosis.com>
more(v2), makedevs, dutmp, modularization, auto links file,
various fixes, Linux Router Project maintenance
Jordan Crouse <jordan@cosmicpenguin.net>
ipcalc
Magnus Damm <damm@opensource.se>
tftp client insmod powerpc support
Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@recycle.lbl.gov>
pristine source directory compilation, lots of patches and fixes.
Glenn Engel <glenne@engel.org>
httpd
Gennady Feldman <gfeldman@gena01.com>
Sysklogd (single threaded syslogd, IPC Circular buffer support,
logread), various fixes.
Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@debian.org>
cp_mv.c, the test suite, various fixes to utility.c, &c.
Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@debian.org>
mktemp.c
Matt Kraai <kraai@alumni.cmu.edu>
documentation, bugfixes, test suite
Stephan Linz <linz@li-pro.net>
ipcalc, Red Hat equivalence
John Lombardo <john@deltanet.com>
tr
Glenn McGrath <bug1@iinet.net.au>
Common unarchiving code and unarchiving applets, ifupdown, ftpgetput,
nameif, sed, patch, fold, install, uudecode.
Various bugfixes, review and apply numerous patches.
Manuel Novoa III <mjn3@codepoet.org>
cat, head, mkfifo, mknod, rmdir, sleep, tee, tty, uniq, usleep, wc, yes,
mesg, vconfig, make_directory, parse_mode, dirname, mode_string,
get_last_path_component, simplify_path, and a number trivial libbb routines
also bug fixes, partial rewrites, and size optimizations in
ash, basename, cal, cmp, cp, df, du, echo, env, ln, logname, md5sum, mkdir,
mv, realpath, rm, sort, tail, touch, uname, watch, arith, human_readable,
interface, dutmp, ifconfig, route
Vladimir Oleynik <dzo@simtreas.ru>
cmdedit; xargs(current), httpd(current);
ports: ash, crond, fdisk, inetd, stty, traceroute, top;
locale, various fixes
and irreconcilable critic of everything not perfect.
Bruce Perens <bruce@pixar.com>
Original author of BusyBox in 1995, 1996. Some of his code can
still be found hiding here and there...
Tim Riker <Tim@Rikers.org>
bug fixes, member of fan club
Kent Robotti <robotti@metconnect.com>
reset, tons and tons of bug reports and patches.
Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com>, <crosenth@covad.com>
wget - Contributed by permission of Covad Communications
Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>
Lots of bugs fixes and patches.
Gyepi Sam <gyepi@praxis-sw.com>
Remote logging feature for syslogd
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>
mkswap, fsck.minix, mkfs.minix
Mark Whitley <markw@codepoet.org>
grep, sed, cut, xargs(previous),
style-guide, new-applet-HOWTO, bug fixes, etc.
Charles P. Wright <cpwright@villagenet.com>
gzip, mini-netcat(nc)
Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es>
tarcat (since removed), loadkmap, various fixes, Debian maintenance
Tito Ragusa <farmatito@tiscali.it>
devfsd and size optimizations in strings, openvt and deallocvt.
Paul Fox <pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us>
vi editing mode for ash, various other patches/fixes
Roberto A. Foglietta <me@roberto.foglietta.name>
port: dnsd
Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>
misc
Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
initial e2fsprogs, printenv, setarch, sum, misc
Jie Zhang <jie.zhang@analog.com>
fixed two bugs in msh and hush (exitcode of killed processes)