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:
[, [[, arp, arping, ash, bash, cat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chroot, cp,
cut, date, dd, df, dmesg, du, echo, egrep, env, fdisk, fgrep, find,
flash_eraseall, free, fsync, getty, grep, halt, head, hush, hwclock,
ifconfig, ifenslave, inetd, init, insmod, ip, ipaddr, iplink,
iproute, iprule, iptunnel, kill, killall, killall5, less, linuxrc,
ln, login, ls, lsmod, mkdir, mknod, modinfo, more, mount, mv,
netstat, nice, nslookup, ping, ping6, pkill, poweroff, printenv, ps,
pwd, reboot, rm, rmdir, rmmod, route, sed, seq, sh, stat, sync,
tail, tcpsvd, telnet, telnetd, test, tftp, tftpd, top, touch,
udpsvd, umount, uname, unzip, vi, who, whoami
| arp | |
| [-vn] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -a [HOSTNAME] |
| [-v] | [-i IF] -d HOSTNAME [pub] |
| [-v] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -s HOSTNAME HWADDR [temp] |
| [-v] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -s HOSTNAME HWADDR [netmask MASK] pub |
| [-v] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -Ds HOSTNAME IFACE [netmask MASK] pub |
Manipulate ARP cache
Options:
-a Display (all) hosts
-s Set new ARP entry
-d Delete a specified entry
-v Verbose
-n Don't resolve names
-i IF Network interface
-D Read <hwaddr> from given device
-A,-p AF Protocol family
-H HWTYPE Hardware address type
arping [-fqbDUA] [-c CNT] [-w TIMEOUT] [-I IFACE] [-s SRC_IP] DST_IP
Send ARP requests/replies
Options:
-f Quit on first ARP reply
-q Quiet
-b Keep broadcasting, don't go unicast
-D Duplicated address detection mode
-U Unsolicited ARP mode, update your neighbors
-A ARP answer mode, update your neighbors
-c N Stop after sending N ARP requests
-w TIMEOUT Time to wait for ARP reply, seconds
-I IFACE Interface to use (default eth0)
-s SRC_IP Sender IP address
DST_IP Target IP address
cat [FILE]...
Concatenate FILEs and print them to stdout
chgrp [-RhLHPcvf]... GROUP FILE...
Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP
Options:
-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
Options:
-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
Options:
-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
chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]
Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT
cp [OPTIONS] SOURCE DEST
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
Options:
-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
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout
Options:
-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
Options:
[-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]
| dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N] | |
| [seek=N] |
Copy a file with converting and formatting
Options:
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
count=N Copy only N input blocks
skip=N Skip N input blocks
seek=N Skip N output blocks
Numbers may be suffixed by c (x1), w (x2), b (x512), kD (x1000), k (x1024), MD (x1000000), M (x1048576), GD (x1000000000) or G (x1073741824)
df [-Pkmh] [FILESYSTEM]...
Print filesystem usage statistics
Options:
-P POSIX output format
-k 1024-byte blocks (default)
-m 1M-byte blocks
-h Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
dmesg [-c] [-n LEVEL] [-s SIZE]
Print or control the kernel ring buffer
Options:
-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.
Options:
-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)
echo [ARG]...
Print the specified ARGs to stdout
env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [PROG ARGS]
Print the current environment or run PROG after setting up the specified environment
Options:
-, -i Start with an empty environment
-u Remove variable from the environment
fdisk [-ul] [-C CYLINDERS] [-H HEADS] [-S SECTORS] [-b SSZ] DISK
Change partition table
Options:
-u Start and End are in sectors (instead of cylinders)
-l Show partition table for each DISK, then exit
-b 2048 (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
-C CYLINDERS Set number of cylinders/heads/sectors
-H HEADS
-S SECTORS
find [PATH]... [EXPRESSION]
Search for files. The default PATH is the current directory, default EXPRESSION is '-print'
EXPRESSION may consist of:
-follow Follow symlinks
-xdev Don't descend directories on other filesystems
-maxdepth N Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
tests/actions to command line arguments only
-mindepth N Don't act on first N levels
-name PATTERN File name (w/o directory name) matches PATTERN
-iname PATTERN Case insensitive -name
-path PATTERN Path matches PATTERN
-regex PATTERN Path matches regex PATTERN
-type X File type is X (X is one of: f,d,l,b,c,...)
-perm NNN Permissions match any of (+NNN), all of (-NNN),
or exactly NNN
-mtime DAYS Modified time is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N days
-mmin MINS Modified time is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
or exactly N minutes
-newer FILE Modified time is more recent than FILE's
-inum N File has inode number N
-user NAME File is owned by user NAME (numeric user ID allowed)
-group NAME File belongs to group NAME (numeric group ID allowed)
-depth Process directory name after traversing it
-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
-print Print (default and assumed)
-print0 Delimit output with null characters rather than
newlines
-exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by the
matching files
-prune Stop traversing current subtree
-delete Delete files, turns on -depth option
(EXPR) Group an expression
flash_eraseall [-jq] MTD_DEVICE
Erase an MTD device
Options:
-j Format the device for jffs2
-q Don't display progress messages
free [-b/k/m/g]
Display the amount of free and used system memory
fsync [-d] FILE...
Write files' buffered blocks to disk
Options:
-d Avoid syncing metadata
getty [OPTIONS] BAUD_RATE TTY [TERMTYPE]
Open a tty, prompt for a login name, then invoke /bin/login
Options:
-h Enable hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control
-i Don't display /etc/issue before running login
-L Local line, don't do carrier detect
-m Get baud rate from modem's CONNECT status message
-w Wait for a CR or LF before sending /etc/issue
-n Don't prompt the user for a login name
-f ISSUE_FILE Display ISSUE_FILE instead of /etc/issue
-l LOGIN Invoke LOGIN instead of /bin/login
-t SEC Terminate after SEC if no username is read
-I INITSTR Send INITSTR before anything else
-H HOST Log HOST into the utmp file as the hostname
grep [-HhnlLoqvsriwFE] [-m N] [-A/B/C N] PATTERN/-e PATTERN.../-f FILE [FILE]...
Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)
Options:
-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
-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
halt [-d DELAY] [-n] [-f] [-w]
Halt the system
Options:
-d SEC Delay interval
-n Do not sync
-f Force (don't go through init)
-w Only write a wtmp record
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.
Options:
-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).
hwclock [-r|--show] [-s|--hctosys] [-w|--systohc] [-l|--localtime] [-u|--utc] [-f FILE]
Query and set hardware clock (RTC)
Options:
-r Show hardware clock time
-s Set system time from hardware clock
-w Set hardware clock to system time
-u Hardware clock is in UTC
-l Hardware clock is in local time
-f FILE Use specified device (e.g. /dev/rtc2)
ifconfig [-a] interface [address]
Configure a network interface
Options:
[add ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
[del ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
[[-]broadcast [ADDRESS]] [[-]pointopoint [ADDRESS]]
[netmask ADDRESS] [dstaddr ADDRESS]
[outfill NN] [keepalive NN]
[hw ether|infiniband ADDRESS] [metric NN] [mtu NN]
[[-]trailers] [[-]arp] [[-]allmulti]
[multicast] [[-]promisc] [txqueuelen NN] [[-]dynamic]
[mem_start NN] [io_addr NN] [irq NN]
[up|down] ...
ifenslave [-cdf] MASTER_IFACE SLAVE_IFACE...
Configure network interfaces for parallel routing
Options:
-c,--change-active Change active slave
-d,--detach Remove slave interface from bonding device
-f,--force Force, even if interface is not Ethernet
inetd [-fe] [-q N] [-R N] [CONFFILE]
Listen for network connections and launch programs
Options:
-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)
init
Init is the parent of all processes
insmod FILE [SYMBOL=VALUE]...
Load the specified kernel modules into the kernel
ip [OPTIONS] {address | route | link | tunnel | rule} {COMMAND}
ip [OPTIONS] OBJECT {COMMAND} where OBJECT := {address | route | link | tunnel | rule} OPTIONS := { -f[amily] { inet | inet6 | link } | -o[neline] }
| ipaddr { {add|del} IFADDR dev STRING | {show|flush} | |
| [dev STRING] [to PREFIX] } |
ipaddr {add|delete} IFADDR dev STRING ipaddr {show|flush} [dev STRING] [scope SCOPE-ID] [to PREFIX] [label PATTERN] IFADDR := PREFIX | ADDR peer PREFIX [broadcast ADDR] [anycast ADDR] [label STRING] [scope SCOPE-ID] SCOPE-ID := [host | link | global | NUMBER]
iplink { set DEVICE { up | down | arp { on | off } | show [DEVICE] }
iplink set DEVICE { up | down | arp | multicast { on | off } | dynamic { on | off } | mtu MTU } iplink show [DEVICE]
| iproute { list | flush | { add | del | change | append | | |
| replace | monitor } ROUTE } |
iproute { list | flush } SELECTOR iproute get ADDRESS [from ADDRESS iif STRING] [oif STRING] [tos TOS] iproute { add | del | change | append | replace | monitor } ROUTE SELECTOR := [root PREFIX] [match PREFIX] [proto RTPROTO] ROUTE := [TYPE] PREFIX [tos TOS] [proto RTPROTO] [metric METRIC]
iprule {[list | add | del] RULE}
| iprule [list | add | del] SELECTOR ACTION | |
| SELECTOR := [from PREFIX] [to PREFIX] [tos TOS] [fwmark FWMARK] | |
| [dev STRING] [pref NUMBER] | |
| ACTION := [table TABLE_ID] [nat ADDRESS] | |
| [prohibit | reject | unreachable] | |
| [realms [SRCREALM/]DSTREALM] | |
| TABLE_ID := [local | main | default | NUMBER] |
| iptunnel { add | change | del | show } [NAME] | |
| [mode { ipip | gre | sit }] | |
| [remote ADDR] [local ADDR] [ttl TTL] |
| iptunnel { add | change | del | show } [NAME] | |
| [mode { ipip | gre | sit }] [remote ADDR] [local ADDR] | |
| [[i|o]seq] [[i|o]key KEY] [[i|o]csum] | |
| [ttl TTL] [tos TOS] [[no]pmtudisc] [dev PHYS_DEV] |
kill [-l] [-SIG] PID...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs
Options:
-l List all signal names and numbers
killall [-l] [-q] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes
Options:
-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
Options:
-l List all signal names and numbers
-o PID Don't signal this PID
less [-EMNmh~I?] [FILE]...
View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time
Options:
-E Quit once the end of a file is reached
-M,-m Display status line with line numbers
and percentage through the file
-N Prefix line number to each line
-I Ignore case in all searches
-~ Suppress ~s displayed past the end of the file
ln [OPTIONS] TARGET... LINK|DIR
Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s)
Options:
-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
login [-p] [-h HOST] [[-f] USER]
Begin a new session on the system
Options:
-f Don't authenticate (user already authenticated)
-h Name of the remote host
-p Preserve environment
ls [-1AacCdeilnLRrSsTtuvwxXhk] [FILE]...
List directory contents
Options:
-1 List in a single column
-A Don't list . and ..
-a Don't hide entries starting with .
-C List by columns
-c With -l: sort by ctime
--color[={always,never,auto}] Control coloring
-d List directory entries instead of contents
-e List full date and time
-i List inode numbers
-l Long listing format
-n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
-L List entries pointed to by symlinks
-R Recurse
-r Sort in reverse order
-S Sort by file size
-s List the size of each file, in blocks
-T N Assume tabstop every N columns
-t With -l: sort by modification time
-u With -l: sort by access time
-v Sort by version
-w N Assume the terminal is N columns wide
-x List by lines
-X Sort by extension
-h List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
lsmod
List the currently loaded kernel modules
mkdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Create DIRECTORY
Options:
-m MODE Mode
-p No error if exists; make parent directories as needed
mknod [-m MODE] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR
Create a special file (block, character, or pipe)
Options:
-m MODE Creation mode (default a=rw)
TYPE:
b Block device
c or u Character device
p Named pipe (MAJOR and MINOR are ignored)
modinfo [-adlp0] [-F keyword] MODULE
Options:
-a Shortcut for '-F author'
-d Shortcut for '-F description'
-l Shortcut for '-F license'
-p Shortcut for '-F parm'
-F keyword Keyword to look for
-0 Separate output with NULs
more [FILE]...
View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time
mount [OPTIONS] [-o OPTS] DEVICE NODE
Mount a filesystem. Filesystem autodetection requires /proc.
Options:
-a Mount all filesystems in fstab
-f Dry run
-r Read-only mount
-w Read-write mount (default)
-t FSTYPE Filesystem type
-O OPT Mount only filesystems with option OPT (-a only)
-o OPT:
[a]sync Writes are [a]synchronous
[no]atime Disable/enable updates to inode access times
[no]diratime Disable/enable atime updates to directories
[no]relatime Disable/enable atime updates relative to modification time
[no]dev (Dis)allow use of special device files
[no]exec (Dis)allow use of executable files
[no]suid (Dis)allow set-user-id-root programs
[r]shared Convert [recursively] to a shared subtree
[r]slave Convert [recursively] to a slave subtree
[r]private Convert [recursively] to a private subtree
[un]bindable Make mount point [un]able to be bind mounted
bind Bind a file or directory to another location
move Relocate an existing mount point
remount Remount a mounted filesystem, changing flags
ro/rw Same as -r/-w
There are filesystem-specific -o flags.
mv [-fin] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... DIRECTORY
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
Options:
-f Don't prompt before overwriting
-i Interactive, prompt before overwrite
-n Don't overwrite an existing file
netstat [-ral] [-tuwx] [-enWp]
Display networking information
Options:
-r Routing table
-a All sockets
-l Listening sockets
Else: connected sockets
-t TCP sockets
-u UDP sockets
-w Raw sockets
-x Unix sockets
Else: all socket types
-e Other/more information
-n Don't resolve names
-W Wide display
-p Show PID/program name for sockets
nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG ARGS]
Change scheduling priority, run PROG
Options:
-n ADJUST Adjust priority by ADJUST
nslookup [HOST] [SERVER]
Query the nameserver for the IP address of the given HOST optionally using a specified DNS server
ping [OPTIONS] HOST
Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
Options:
-4,-6 Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
-c CNT Send only CNT pings
-s SIZE Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
-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
ping6 [OPTIONS] HOST
Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
Options:
-c CNT Send only CNT pings
-s SIZE Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
-I IFACE/IP Use interface or IP address as source
-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
Options:
-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
poweroff [-d DELAY] [-n] [-f]
Halt and shut off power
Options:
-d SEC Delay interval
-n Do not sync
-f Force (don't go through init)
printenv [VARIABLE]...
Print environment VARIABLEs. If no VARIABLE specified, print all.
ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER] [-T]
Show list of processes
Options:
-o COL1,COL2=HEADER Select columns for display
-T Show threads
pwd
Print the full filename of the current working directory
reboot [-d DELAY] [-n] [-f]
Reboot the system
Options:
-d SEC Delay interval
-n Do not sync
-f Force (don't go through init)
rm [-irf] FILE...
Remove (unlink) FILEs
Options:
-i Always prompt before removing
-f Never prompt
-R,-r Recurse
rmdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty
Options:
-p|--parents Include parents
--ignore-fail-on-non-empty
rmmod [-wfa] [MODULE]...
Unload kernel modules
Options:
-w Wait until the module is no longer used
-f Force unload
-a Remove all unused modules (recursively)
route [{add|del|delete}]
Edit kernel routing tables
Options:
-n Don't resolve names
-e Display other/more information
-A inet{6} Select address family
sed [-efinr] SED_CMD [FILE]...
Options:
-e CMD Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
-f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
-i Edit files in-place (else sends result to stdout)
-n Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
-r Use extended regex syntax
If no -e or -f, the first non-option argument is the sed command string. Remaining arguments are input files (stdin if none).
seq [-w] [-s SEP] [FIRST [INC]] LAST
Print numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INC. FIRST, INC default to 1.
Options:
-w Pad to last with leading zeros
-s SEP String separator
stat [OPTIONS] FILE...
Display file (default) or filesystem status
Options:
-f Display filesystem status
-L Follow links
-t Display info in terse form
sync
Write all buffered blocks to disk
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.
Options:
-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.
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
telnet [-a] [-l USER] HOST [PORT]
Connect to telnet server
Options:
-a Automatic login with $USER variable
-l USER Automatic login as USER
telnetd [OPTIONS]
Handle incoming telnet connections
Options:
-l LOGIN Exec LOGIN on connect
-f ISSUE_FILE Display ISSUE_FILE instead of /etc/issue
-K Close connection as soon as login exits
(normally wait until all programs close slave pty)
-p PORT Port to listen on
-b ADDR[:PORT] Address to bind to
-F Run in foreground
-i Inetd mode
-w SEC Inetd 'wait' mode, linger time SEC
-S Log to syslog (implied by -i or without -F and -w)
test EXPRESSION ]
Check file types, compare values etc. Return a 0/1 exit code depending on logical value of EXPRESSION
tftp [OPTIONS] HOST [PORT]
Transfer a file from/to tftp server
Options:
-l FILE Local FILE
-r FILE Remote FILE
-g Get file
-p Put file
tftpd [-cr] [-u USER] [DIR]
Transfer a file on tftp client's request
tftpd should be used as an inetd service. tftpd's line for inetd.conf: 69 dgram udp nowait root tftpd tftpd /files/to/serve It also can be ran from udpsvd:
udpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 69 tftpd /files/to/serve
Options:
-r Prohibit upload
-c Allow file creation via upload
-u Access files as USER
top [-b] [-nCOUNT] [-dSECONDS] [-m]
Provide a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and display a screenful of them.
touch [-c] [-d DATE] [-r FILE] FILE [FILE]...
Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s]
Options:
-c Don't create files
-d DT Date/time to use
-r FILE Use FILE's date/time
udpsvd [-hEv] [-c N] [-u USER] [-l NAME] IP PORT PROG
Create UDP socket, bind to IP:PORT and wait for incoming packets. Run PROG for each packet, redirecting all further packets with same peer ip:port to it.
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
-h Look up peer's hostname
-E Don't set up environment variables
-v Verbose
umount [OPTIONS] FILESYSTEM|DIRECTORY
Unmount file systems
Options:
-a Unmount all file systems
-r Try to remount devices as read-only if mount is busy
-l Lazy umount (detach filesystem)
-f Force umount (i.e., unreachable NFS server)
uname [-amnrspv]
Print system information
Options:
-a Print all
-m The machine (hardware) type
-n Hostname
-r OS release
-s OS name (default)
-p Processor type
-v OS version
unzip [-opts[modifiers]] FILE[.zip] [LIST] [-x XLIST] [-d DIR]
Extract files from ZIP archives
Options:
-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
vi [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Edit FILE
Options:
-c Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
-R Read-only
-H Short help regarding available features
who [-a]
Show who is logged on
Options:
-a Show all
whoami
Print the user name associated with the current effective user id
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)