1 <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [ ]>
2 <book id="BusyBoxDocumentation">
4 <title>BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux</title>
8 This documentation is free software; you can redistribute
9 it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
10 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
11 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
16 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
17 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
18 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
19 See the GNU General Public License for more details.
23 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
24 License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
25 Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
30 For more details see the file COPYING in the source
31 distribution of Linux.
37 <chapter id="Introduction">
38 <title>Introduction</title>
41 BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
42 small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the
43 utilities you usually find in fileutils, shellutils, findutils, textutils,
44 grep, gzip, tar, etc. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment
45 for any small or embedded system. The utilities in BusyBox generally have
46 fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the options
47 that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very much
48 like their GNU counterparts.
52 BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in
53 mind. It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude
54 commands (or features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize
55 your embedded systems. To create a working system, just add a kernel, a
56 shell (such as ash), and an editor (such as elvis-tiny or ae).
61 <title>How to use BusyBox</title>
62 <sect1 id="How-to-use-BusyBox">
67 BusyBox <function> [arguments...] # or
73 <function> [arguments...] # if symlinked
78 <sect1 id="Invoking-BusyBox">
79 <title>Invoking BusyBox</title>
82 When you create a link to BusyBox for the function you wish to use, when
83 BusyBox is called using that link it will behave as if the command itself
99 will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled
104 You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing the command as an argument on the
105 command line. For example, entering
115 will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.
120 <sect1 id="Common-options">
121 <title>Common options</title>
124 Most BusyBox commands support the <emphasis>--help</emphasis> option to provide
125 a terse runtime description of their behavior.
130 <chapter id="Commands">
131 <title>BusyBox Commands</title>
132 <sect1 id="Available-BusyBox-Commands">
133 <title>Available BusyBox Commands</title>
135 Currently defined functions include:
139 ar, basename, cat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chroot, chvt, clear,
140 cp, cut, date, dc, dd, deallocvt, df, dirname, dmesg, dpkg-deb,
141 du, dumpkmap, dutmp, echo, false, fbset, fdflush, find, free,
142 freeramdisk, fsck.minix, grep, gunzip, gzip, halt, head,
143 hostid, hostname, id, init, insmod, kill, killall, length, ln,
144 loadacm, loadfont, loadkmap, logger, logname, ls, lsmod,
145 makedevs, mkdir, mkfifo, mkfs.minix, mknod, mkswap, mktemp,
146 more, mount, mt, mv, nc, nslookup, ping, poweroff, printf, ps,
147 pwd, reboot, renice, reset, rm, rmdir, rmmod, sed, setkeycodes, sh, sleep,
148 sort, swapoff, swapon, sync, syslogd, tail, tar, tee, telnet,
149 test, touch, tr, true, tty, umount, uname, uniq, update,
150 uptime, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, wc, which, whoami, yes,
159 Usage: ar [OPTION] archive [FILENAME]...
163 Extract or list files from an ar archive.
172 o Preserve original dates
176 v Verbosely list files processed
181 <sect1 id="basename">
182 <title>basename</title>
184 Usage: basename FILE [SUFFIX]
188 Strip directory path and suffixes from FILE. If specified, also removes
198 $ basename /usr/local/bin/foo
200 $ basename /usr/local/bin/
202 $ basename /foo/bar.txt .txt
216 Concatenate <literal>FILE(s)</literal> and prints them to the standard
236 Usage: chgrp [OPTION]... GROUP FILE...
240 Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP.
249 -R Change files and directories recursively
260 -r--r--r-- 1 andersen andersen 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
261 $ chgrp root /tmp/foo
263 -r--r--r-- 1 andersen root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
272 Usage: chmod [<emphasis>-R</emphasis>] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
276 Change file access permissions for the specified
277 <literal>FILE(s)</literal> (or directories). Each MODE is defined by
278 combining the letters for WHO has access to the file, an OPERATOR for
279 selecting how the permissions should be changed, and a PERMISSION for
280 <literal>FILE(s)</literal> (or directories).
284 WHO may be chosen from
289 u User who owns the file
290 g Users in the file's Group
291 o Other users not in the file's group
297 OPERATOR may be chosen from
303 - Remove a permission
304 = Assign a permission
309 PERMISSION may be chosen from
316 x Execute (or access for directories)
317 s Set user (or group) ID bit
318 t Sticky bit (for directories prevents removing files by non-owners)
323 Alternately, permissions can be set numerically where the first three
324 numbers are calculated by adding the octal values, such as
336 An optional fourth digit can also be used to specify
353 -R Change files and directories recursively.
364 -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
367 -rwxrw-r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo*
370 -r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
378 Usage: chown [OPTION]... OWNER[<.|:>[GROUP] FILE...
382 Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP.
391 -R Change files and directories recursively
402 -r--r--r-- 1 andersen andersen 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
403 $ chown root /tmp/foo
405 -r--r--r-- 1 root andersen 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
406 $ chown root.root /tmp/foo
408 -r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
414 <title>chroot</title>
416 Usage: chroot NEWROOT [COMMAND...]
420 Run COMMAND with root directory set to NEWROOT.
430 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Apr 13 00:46 /bin/ls -> /BusyBox
431 $ mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt -t minix
434 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 40816 Feb 5 07:45 /bin/ls*
446 Change the foreground virtual terminal to /dev/ttyN
466 Usage: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE DEST
471 or: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
476 Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple <literal>SOURCE(s)</literal> to
488 -p Preserve file attributes if possible
489 -R Copy directories recursively
498 Usage: cut [OPTION]... [FILE]...
502 Print selected fields from each input FILE to standard output.
511 -b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
512 -c LIST Output only characters from LIST
513 -d CHAR Use CHAR instead of tab as the field delimiter
514 -s Output only the lines containing delimiter
515 -f N Print only these fields
526 $ echo "Hello world" | cut -f 1 -d ' '
528 $ echo "Hello world" | cut -f 2 -d ' '
538 Usage: date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
543 or: date [OPTION] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
548 Display the current time in the given FORMAT, or set the system date.
557 -R Output RFC-822 compliant date string
558 -s Set time described by STRING
559 -u Print or set Coordinated Universal Time
570 Wed Apr 12 18:52:41 MDT 2000
579 Usage: dc [EXPRESSION]
583 This is a Tiny RPN calculator that understands the
584 following operations: +, -, /, *, and, or, not, eor. If
585 no arguments are given, dc will process input from
590 The behaviour of BusyBox/dc deviates (just a little ;-)
591 from GNU/dc, but this will be remedied in the future.
608 $ echo 72 9 div 8 mul | dc
618 Usage: dd [OPTION]...
622 Copy a file, converting and formatting according to
632 if=FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin
633 of=FILE Write to FILE instead of stdout
634 bs=N Read and write N bytes at a time
635 count=N Copy only N input blocks
636 skip=N Skip N input blocks
637 seek=N Skip N output blocks
642 Numbers may be suffixed by w (x2), k (x1024), b (x512),
652 $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ram1 bs=1M count=4
659 <sect1 id="deallocvt">
660 <title>deallocvt</title>
667 Deallocate unused virtual terminal /dev/ttyN.
679 Print the filesystem space used and space available.
689 Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
690 /dev/sda3 8690864 8553540 137324 98% /
691 /dev/sda1 64216 36364 27852 57% /boot
693 Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
694 /dev/sda3 8690864 8553540 137324 98% /
700 <title>dirname</title>
707 Strip non-directory suffix from NAME.
728 Usage: dmesg [OPTION]...
732 Print or control the kernel ring buffer.
741 -c Clear the ring buffer after printing
742 -n LEVEL Set the console logging level to LEVEL
743 -s BUFSIZE Query ring buffer using a buffer of BUFSIZE
748 <sect1 id="dos2unix">
749 <title>dos2unix</title>
752 Usage: dos2unix < dosfile > unixfile
756 Converts a text file from dos format to unix format.
761 <sect1 id="dpkg-deb">
762 <title>dpkg-deb</title>
765 Usage: dpkg-deb [OPTION] archive [directory]
769 Debian package archive (.deb) manipulation tool
778 -c List the contents of the filesystem tree archive portion of the package
779 -e Extracts the control information files from a package archive into the specified directory.
780 If no directory is specified then a subdirectory DEBIAN in the current directory is used.
781 -x Silently extracts the filesystem tree from a package archive into the specified directory.
782 -X Extracts the filesystem tree from a package archive into the specified directory, listing the files as it goes.
783 If required the specified directory (but not its parents) will be created.
793 dpkg-deb -e ./busybox_0.48-1_i386.deb
794 dpkg-deb -x ./busybox_0.48-1_i386.deb ./unpack_dir
803 Usage: du [OPTION]... [FILE]...
807 Summarize the disk space used for each FILE or current
808 directory. Disk space printed in units of 1k (i.e.
818 -l Count sizes many times if hard linked
819 -s Display only a total for each argument
831 12 ./kernel-patches/CVS
844 <sect1 id="dumpkmap">
845 <title>dumpkmap</title>
852 Prints out a binary keyboard translation table to standard output.
861 $ dumpkmap < keymap
874 Dump utmp file format (pipe delimited) from FILE or
884 $ dutmp /var/run/utmp
885 8|7||si|||0|0|0|955637625|760097|0
886 2|0|~|~~|reboot||0|0|0|955637625|782235|0
887 1|20020|~|~~|runlevel||0|0|0|955637625|800089|0
888 8|125||l4|||0|0|0|955637629|998367|0
889 6|245|tty1|1|LOGIN||0|0|0|955637630|998974|0
890 6|246|tty2|2|LOGIN||0|0|0|955637630|999498|0
891 7|336|pts/0|vt00andersen|andersen|:0.0|0|0|0|955637763|0|0
900 Usage: echo [OPTION]... [ARG]...
904 Print ARGs to stdout.
913 -n Suppress trailing newline
914 -e Enable interpretation of escaped characters
915 -E Disable interpretation of escaped characters
925 $ echo "Erik is cool"
927 $ echo -e "Erik\nis\ncool"
931 $ echo "Erik\nis\ncool"
941 Usage: expr EXPRESSION
945 Prints the value of EXPRESSION to standard output.
954 ARG1 | ARG2 ARG1 if it is neither null nor 0, otherwise ARG2
955 ARG1 & ARG2 ARG1 if neither argument is null or 0, otherwise 0
956 ARG1 < ARG2 ARG1 is less than ARG2
957 ARG1 <= ARG2 ARG1 is less than or equal to ARG2
958 ARG1 = ARG2 ARG1 is equal to ARG2
959 ARG1 != ARG2 ARG1 is unequal to ARG2
960 ARG1 >= ARG2 ARG1 is greater than or equal to ARG2
961 ARG1 > ARG2 ARG1 is greater than ARG2
962 ARG1 + ARG2 arithmetic sum of ARG1 and ARG2
963 ARG1 - ARG2 arithmetic difference of ARG1 and ARG2
964 ARG1 * ARG2 arithmetic product of ARG1 and ARG2
965 ARG1 / ARG2 arithmetic quotient of ARG1 divided by ARG2
966 ARG1 % ARG2 arithmetic remainder of ARG1 divided by ARG2
967 STRING : REGEXP anchored pattern match of REGEXP in STRING
968 match STRING REGEXP same as STRING : REGEXP
969 substr STRING POS LENGTH substring of STRING, POS counted from 1
970 index STRING CHARS index in STRING where any CHARS is found, or 0
971 length STRING length of STRING
972 quote TOKEN interpret TOKEN as a string, even if it is a
973 keyword like `match' or an operator like `/'
974 ( EXPRESSION ) value of EXPRESSION
979 Beware that many operators need to be escaped or quoted for shells.
980 Comparisons are arithmetic if both ARGs are numbers, else
981 lexicographical. Pattern matches return the string matched between
982 \( and \) or null; if \( and \) are not used, they return the number
983 of characters matched or 0.
997 Return an exit code of FALSE (1).
1014 <title>fbset</title>
1017 Usage: fbset [OPTION]... [MODE]
1021 Show and modify frame buffer device settings.
1030 -h Display option summary
1031 -fb DEVICE Operate on DEVICE
1032 -db FILE Use FILE for mode database
1033 -g XRES YRES VXRES VYRES DEPTH Set all geometry parameters
1034 -t PIXCLOCK LEFT RIGHT UPPER LOWER HSLEN VSLEN Set all timing parameters
1035 -xres RES Set visible horizontal resolution
1036 -yres RES Set visible vertical resolution
1048 # D: 78.653 MHz, H: 59.949 kHz, V: 75.694 Hz
1049 geometry 1024 768 1024 768 16
1050 timings 12714 128 32 16 4 128 4
1052 rgba 5/11,6/5,5/0,0/0
1058 <sect1 id="fdflush">
1059 <title>fdflush</title>
1062 Usage: fdflush DEVICE
1066 Force floppy disk drive to detect disk change on DEVICE.
1074 Usage: find [PATH]... [EXPRESSION]
1078 Search for files in a directory hierarchy. The default
1079 PATH is the current directory; default EXPRESSION is
1084 EXPRESSION may consist of:
1089 -follow Dereference symbolic links
1090 -name PATTERN File name (leading directories removed) matches PATTERN
1091 -print Print the full file name followed by a newline to stdout
1101 $ find / -name /etc/passwd
1115 Displays the amount of free and used system memory.
1125 total used free shared buffers
1126 Mem: 257628 248724 8904 59644 93124
1127 Swap: 128516 8404 120112
1128 Total: 386144 257128 129016
1133 <sect1 id="freeramdisk">
1134 <title>freeramdisk</title>
1137 Usage: freeramdisk DEVICE
1141 Free all memory used by the ramdisk DEVICE.
1150 $ freeramdisk /dev/ram2
1155 <sect1 id="fsck.minix">
1156 <title>fsck.minix</title>
1159 Usage: fsck.minix [OPTION]... DEVICE
1163 Perform a consistency check on the MINIX filesystem on
1173 -l List all filenames
1174 -r Perform interactive repairs
1175 -a Perform automatic repairs
1177 -s Output super-block information
1178 -m Activate MINIX-like "mode not cleared" warnings
1179 -f Force file system check.
1185 <title>getopt</title>
1188 Usage: getopt [OPTIONS]...
1192 Parse command options
1197 -a, --alternative Allow long options starting with single -\n"
1198 -l, --longoptions=longopts Long options to be recognized\n"
1199 -n, --name=progname The name under which errors are reported\n"
1200 -o, --options=optstring Short options to be recognized\n"
1201 -q, --quiet Disable error reporting by getopt(3)\n"
1202 -Q, --quiet-output No normal output\n"
1203 -s, --shell=shell Set shell quoting conventions\n"
1204 -T, --test Test for getopt(1) version\n"
1205 -u, --unqote Do not quote the output\n"
1218 GETOPT=`getopt -o ab:c:: --long a-long,b-long:,c-long:: \
1219 -n 'example.busybox' -- "$@"`
1220 if [ $? != 0 ] ; then exit 1 ; fi
1221 eval set -- "$GETOPT"
1224 -a|--a-long) echo "Option a" ; shift ;;
1225 -b|--b-long) echo "Option b, argument \`$2'" ; shift 2 ;;
1228 "") echo "Option c, no argument"; shift 2 ;;
1229 *) echo "Option c, argument \`$2'" ; shift 2 ;;
1231 --) shift ; break ;;
1232 *) echo "Internal error!" ; exit 1 ;;
1243 Usage: grep [OPTIONS]... PATTERN [FILE]...
1247 Search for PATTERN in each FILE or stdin.
1256 -h Suppress the prefixing filename on output
1257 -i Ignore case distinctions
1258 -n Print line number with output lines
1259 -q Be quiet. Returns 0 if result was found, 1 otherwise
1260 -v Select non-matching lines
1265 This version of grep matches full regular expressions.
1274 $ grep root /etc/passwd
1275 root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
1276 $ grep ^[rR]oo. /etc/passwd
1277 root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
1283 <title>gunzip</title>
1286 Usage: gunzip [OPTION]... FILE
1290 Uncompress FILE (or stdin if FILE is '-').
1299 -c Write output to standard output
1300 -t Test compressed file integrity
1310 $ ls -la /tmp/BusyBox*
1311 -rw-rw-r-- 1 andersen andersen 557009 Apr 11 10:55 /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar.gz
1312 $ gunzip /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar.gz
1313 $ ls -la /tmp/BusyBox*
1314 -rw-rw-r-- 1 andersen andersen 1761280 Apr 14 17:47 /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar
1323 Usage: gzip [OPTION]... FILE
1327 Compress FILE (or stdin if FILE is '-') with maximum
1328 compression to FILE.gz (or stdout if FILE is '-').
1337 -c Write output to standard output
1348 $ ls -la /tmp/BusyBox*
1349 -rw-rw-r-- 1 andersen andersen 1761280 Apr 14 17:47 /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar
1350 $ gzip /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar
1351 $ ls -la /tmp/BusyBox*
1352 -rw-rw-r-- 1 andersen andersen 554058 Apr 14 17:49 /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar.gz
1373 Usage: head [OPTION] FILE...
1377 Print first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
1378 With more than one FILE, precede each with a header
1379 giving the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -,
1380 read standard input.
1389 -n NUM Print first NUM lines instead of first 10
1399 $ head -n 2 /etc/passwd
1400 root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
1401 daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh
1407 <title>hostid</title>
1414 Prints out a unique 32-bit identifier for the current
1415 machine. The 32-bit identifier is intended to be unique
1416 among all UNIX systems in existence.
1420 <sect1 id="hostname">
1421 <title>hostname</title>
1424 Usage: hostname [OPTION]... [HOSTNAME|-F FILE]
1428 Get or set the hostname or DNS domain name. If a
1429 hostname is given (or a file with the -F parameter), the
1430 host name will be set.
1440 -i Addresses for the hostname
1442 -F, --file FILE Use the contents of FILE to specify the hostname
1462 Usage: id [OPTION]... [USERNAME]
1466 Print information for USERNAME or the current user.
1475 -g Print only the group ID
1476 -u Print only the user ID
1477 -n print a name instead of a number (with for -ug)
1478 -r Print the real user ID instead of the effective ID (with -ug)
1489 uid=1000(andersen) gid=1000(andersen)
1502 Init is the parent of all processes.
1506 This version of init is designed to be run only by the
1511 BusyBox init doesn't support multiple runlevels. The
1512 runlevels field of the /etc/inittab file is completely
1513 ignored by BusyBox init. If you want runlevels, use
1518 BusyBox init works just fine without an inittab. If no
1519 inittab is found, it has the following default behavior:
1524 ::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS
1530 If it detects that /dev/console is _not_ a serial
1531 console, it will also run:
1536 tty2::askfirst:/bin/sh
1541 If you choose to use an /etc/inittab file, the inittab
1542 entry format is as follows:
1547 <id>:<runlevels>:<action>:<process>
1555 WARNING: This field has a non-traditional meaning for BusyBox init!
1556 The id field is used by BusyBox init to specify the controlling tty
1557 for the specified process to run on. The contents of this field
1558 are appended to "/dev/" and used as-is. There is no need for this
1559 field to be unique, although if it isn't you may have strange
1560 results. If this field is left blank, the controlling tty is set
1561 to the console. Also note that if BusyBox detects that a serial
1562 console is in use, then only entries whose controlling tty is
1563 either the serial console or /dev/null will be run. BusyBox init
1564 does nothing with utmp. We don't need no stinkin' utmp.
1570 <title>runlevels</title>
1573 The runlevels field is completely ignored.
1578 <title>action</title>
1582 Valid actions include: sysinit, respawn, askfirst, wait,
1583 once, and ctrlaltdel.
1588 The available actions can be classified into two groups: actions
1589 that are run only once, and actions that are re-run when the specified
1594 Run only-once actions:
1598 'sysinit' is the first item run on boot. init waits until all
1599 sysinit actions are completed before continuing. Following the
1600 completion of all sysinit actions, all 'wait' actions are run.
1601 'wait' actions, like 'sysinit' actions, cause init to wait until
1602 the specified task completes. 'once' actions are asyncronous,
1603 therefore, init does not wait for them to complete. 'ctrlaltdel'
1604 actions are run immediately before init causes the system to reboot
1605 (unmounting filesystems with a 'ctrlaltdel' action is a very good
1610 Run repeatedly actions:
1614 'respawn' actions are run after the 'once' actions. When a process
1615 started with a 'respawn' action exits, init automatically restarts
1616 it. Unlike sysvinit, BusyBox init does not stop processes from
1617 respawning out of control. The 'askfirst' actions acts just like
1618 respawn, except that before running the specified process it
1619 displays the line "Please press Enter to activate this console."
1620 and then waits for the user to press enter before starting the
1625 Unrecognized actions (like initdefault) will cause init to emit an
1626 error message, and then go along with its business. All actions are
1627 run in the reverse order from how they appear in /etc/inittab.
1633 <title>process</title>
1636 Specifies the process to be executed and its
1642 <title>Example /etc/inittab file</title>
1646 # This is run first except when booting in single-user mode.
1648 ::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS
1650 # /bin/sh invocations on selected ttys
1652 # Start an "askfirst" shell on the console (whatever that may be)
1654 # Start an "askfirst" shell on /dev/tty2-4
1655 tty2::askfirst:-/bin/sh
1656 tty2::askfirst:-/bin/sh
1657 tty2::askfirst:-/bin/sh
1659 # /sbin/getty invocations for selected ttys
1661 tty4::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
1662 tty5::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6
1664 # Example of how to put a getty on a serial line (for a terminal)
1666 #::respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
1667 #::respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS1 9600 vt100
1669 # Example how to put a getty on a modem line.
1670 #::respawn:/sbin/getty 57600 ttyS2
1672 # Stuff to do before rebooting
1673 ::ctrlaltdel:/bin/umount -a -r
1674 ::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/swapoff
1681 <title>insmod</title>
1684 Usage: insmod [OPTION]... MODULE [symbol=value]...
1688 Load MODULE into the kernel.
1697 -f Force module to load into the wrong kernel version.
1698 -k Make module autoclean-able.
1700 -x Do not export externs
1701 -L Prevent simultaneous loads of the same module
1710 Usage: kill [OPTION] PID...
1714 Send a signal (default is SIGTERM) to the specified
1724 -l List all signal names and numbers
1725 -SIG Send signal SIG
1736 252 root root S [apache]
1737 263 www-data www-data S [apache]
1738 264 www-data www-data S [apache]
1739 265 www-data www-data S [apache]
1740 266 www-data www-data S [apache]
1741 267 www-data www-data S [apache]
1747 <sect1 id="killall">
1748 <title>killall</title>
1751 Usage: killall [OPTION] NAME...
1755 Send a signal (default is SIGTERM) to the specified
1765 -l List all signal names and numbers
1766 -SIG Send signal SIG
1782 <title>length</title>
1785 Usage: length STRING
1789 Print the length of STRING.
1808 Usage: ln [OPTION]... TARGET FILE|DIRECTORY
1812 Create a link named FILE or DIRECTORY to the specified
1813 TARGET. You may use '--' to indicate that all following
1814 arguments are non-options.
1823 -s Make symbolic link instead of hard link
1824 -f Remove existing destination file
1834 $ ln -s BusyBox /tmp/ls
1836 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Apr 12 18:39 ls -> BusyBox*
1841 <sect1 id="loadacm">
1842 <title>loadacm</title>
1849 Load an acm from stdin.
1858 $ loadacm < /etc/i18n/acmname
1863 <sect1 id="loadfont">
1864 <title>loadfont</title>
1871 Load a console font from stdin.
1880 $ loadfont < /etc/i18n/fontname
1885 <sect1 id="loadkmap">
1886 <title>loadkmap</title>
1893 Load a binary keyboard translation table from stdin.
1902 $ loadkmap < /etc/i18n/lang-keymap
1908 <title>logger</title>
1911 Usage: logger [OPTION]... [MESSAGE]
1915 Write MESSAGE to the system log. If MESSAGE is omitted, log
1925 -s Log to stderr as well as the system log
1926 -t Log using the specified tag (defaults to user name)
1927 -p Enter the message with the specified priority
1928 This may be numerical or a ``facility.level'' pair
1943 <sect1 id="logname">
1944 <title>logname</title>
1951 Print the name of the current user.
1970 Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
1983 -a Do not hide entries starting with .
1984 -c With -l: show ctime (the time of last
1985 modification of file status information)
1986 -d List directory entries instead of contents
1987 -e List both full date and full time
1988 -l Use a long listing format
1989 -n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
1990 -p Append indicator (one of /=@|) to entries
1991 -u With -l: show access time (the time of last
1993 -x List entries by lines instead of by columns
1994 -A Do not list implied . and ..
1995 -C List entries by columns
1996 -F Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
1997 -L list entries pointed to by symbolic links
1998 -R List subdirectories recursively
2013 <title>lsmod</title>
2020 List currently loaded kernel modules.
2024 <sect1 id="makedevs">
2025 <title>makedevs</title>
2028 Usage: makedevsf NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR FIRST LAST [s]
2032 Create a range of block or character special files.
2041 b Make a block (buffered) device
2042 c or u Make a character (un-buffered) device
2043 p Make a named pipe. MAJOR and MINOR are ignored for named pipes
2048 FIRST specifies the number appended to NAME to create
2049 the first device. LAST specifies the number of the last
2050 item that should be created. If 's' is the last
2051 argument, the base device is created as well.
2060 $ makedevs /dev/ttyS c 4 66 2 63
2061 [creates ttyS2-ttyS63]
2062 $ makedevs /dev/hda b 3 0 0 8 s
2063 [creates hda,hda1-hda8]
2069 <title>md5sum</title>
2072 Usage: md5sum [OPTION]... FILE...
2076 Print or check MD5 checksums.
2085 -b Read files in binary mode
2086 -c Check MD5 sums against given list
2087 -t Read files in text mode (default)
2093 The following two options are useful only when verifying
2099 -s Don't output anything, status code shows success
2100 -w Warn about improperly formated MD5 checksum lines
2111 6fd11e98b98a58f64ff3398d7b324003 busybox
2113 6fd11e98b98a58f64ff3398d7b324003 busybox
2114 6fd11e98b98a58f64ff3398d7b324002 busybox
2115 md5sum: MD5 check failed for 'busybox'
2122 <title>mkdir</title>
2125 Usage: mkdir [OPTION]... DIRECTORY...
2129 Create the DIRECTORY(s), if they do not already exist.
2138 -m Set permission mode (as in chmod), not rwxrwxrwx - umask
2139 -p No error if directory exists, make parent directories as needed
2151 /tmp/foo: File exists
2152 $ mkdir /tmp/foo/bar/baz
2153 /tmp/foo/bar/baz: No such file or directory
2154 $ mkdir -p /tmp/foo/bar/baz
2160 <title>mkfifo</title>
2163 Usage: mkfifo [OPTION] NAME
2167 Create a named pipe (identical to 'mknod NAME p').
2176 -m MODE Create the pipe using the specified mode (default a=rw)
2181 <sect1 id="mkfs.minix">
2182 <title>mkfs.minix</title>
2185 Usage: mkfs.minix [OPTION]... NAME [BLOCKS]
2189 Make a MINIX filesystem.
2198 -c Check the device for bad blocks
2199 -n [14|30] Specify the maximum length of filenames
2200 -i Specify the number of inodes for the filesystem
2201 -l FILENAME Read the bad blocks list from FILENAME
2202 -v Make a Minix version 2 filesystem
2208 <title>mknod</title>
2211 Usage: mknod [OPTION]... NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR
2215 Create a special file (block, character, or pipe).
2224 -m Create the special file using the specified mode (default a=rw)
2234 b Make a block (buffered) device
2235 c or u Make a character (un-buffered) device
2236 p Make a named pipe. MAJOR and MINOR are ignored for named pipes
2246 $ mknod /dev/fd0 b 2 0
2247 $ mknod -m 644 /tmp/pipe p
2253 <title>mkswap</title>
2256 Usage: mkswap [OPTION]... DEVICE [BLOCKS]
2260 Prepare a disk partition to be used as a swap partition.
2269 -c Check for read-ability.
2270 -v0 Make version 0 swap [max 128 Megs].
2271 -v1 Make version 1 swap [big!] (default for kernels > 2.1.117).
2272 BLOCKS Number of block to use (default is entire partition).
2278 <title>mktemp</title>
2281 Usage: mktemp TEMPLATE
2285 Creates a temporary file with its name based on
2286 TEMPLATE. TEMPLATE is any name with six `Xs' (i.e.
2296 $ mktemp /tmp/temp.XXXXXX
2298 $ ls -la /tmp/temp.mWiLjM
2299 -rw------- 1 andersen andersen 0 Apr 25 17:10 /tmp/temp.mWiLjM
2308 Usage: more [FILE]...
2312 Page through text one screenful at a time.
2327 <title>mount</title>
2330 Usage: mount [OPTION]...
2335 or: mount [OPTION]... DEVICE DIRECTORY
2349 -a Mount all filesystems in /etc/fstab
2350 -o One of the many filesystem options listed below
2351 -r Mount the filesystem read-only
2352 -t TYPE Specify the filesystem type
2353 -w Mount the filesystem read-write
2358 Options for use with the -o flag:
2363 async/sync Writes are asynchronous / synchronous
2364 atime/noatime Enable / disable updates to inode access times
2365 dev/nodev Allow / disallow use of special device files
2366 exec/noexec Allow / disallow use of executable files
2367 loop Mount a file via loop device
2368 suid/nosuid Allow / disallow set-user-id-root programs
2369 remount Remount a currently mounted filesystem
2370 ro/rw Mount filesystem read-only / read-write
2375 There are even more flags that are filesystem specific.
2376 You'll have to see the written documentation for those.
2386 /dev/hda3 on / type minix (rw)
2387 proc on /proc type proc (rw)
2388 devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
2389 $ mount /dev/fd0 /mnt -t msdos -o ro
2390 $ mount /tmp/diskimage /opt -t ext2 -o loop
2399 Usage: mt [OPTION] OPCODE VALUE
2403 Control magnetic tape drive operation.
2412 -f DEVICE Control DEVICE
2421 Usage: mv SOURCE DEST
2426 or: mv SOURCE... DIRECTORY
2431 Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
2440 $ mv /tmp/foo /bin/bar
2453 Open a pipe to HOST:PORT.
2462 $ nc foobar.somedomain.com 25
2463 220 foobar ESMTP Exim 3.12 #1 Sat, 15 Apr 2000 00:03:02 -0600
2465 214-Commands supported:
2466 214- HELO EHLO MAIL RCPT DATA AUTH
2467 214 NOOP QUIT RSET HELP
2469 221 foobar closing connection
2474 <sect1 id="nslookup">
2475 <title>nslookup</title>
2478 Usage: nslookup [HOST]
2482 Query the nameserver for the IP address of the given
2492 $ nslookup localhost
2506 Usage: ping [OPTION]... HOST
2510 Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to HOST.
2519 -c COUNT Send only COUNT pings
2520 -s SIZE Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default=56)
2521 -q Quiet mode, only displays output at start and when finished
2532 PING slag (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
2533 64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=20.1 ms
2535 --- debian ping statistics ---
2536 1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0% packet loss
2537 round-trip min/avg/max = 20.1/20.1/20.1 ms
2542 <sect1 id="poweroff">
2543 <title>poweroff</title>
2550 Shut down the system, and request that the kernel turn
2551 off power upon halting.
2556 <title>printf</title>
2559 Usage: printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
2563 Format and print the given data in a manner similar to
2564 the C printf command.
2573 $ printf "Val=%d\n" 5
2587 Report process status. This version of ps accepts no
2607 PID Uid Gid State Command
2609 2 root root S [kflushd]
2610 3 root root S [kupdate]
2611 4 root root S [kpiod]
2612 5 root root S [kswapd]
2613 742 andersen andersen S [bash]
2614 743 andersen andersen S -bash
2615 745 root root S [getty]
2616 2990 andersen andersen R ps
2629 Print the full filename of the current working
2646 <title>rdate</title>
2649 Usage: rdate [OPTION] HOST
2653 Get and possibly set the system date and time from a remote HOST.
2662 -s Set the system date and time (default).
2663 -p Print the date and time.
2669 <title>reboot</title>
2681 <title>renice</title>
2684 Usage: renice priority pid [pid ...]
2688 Changes priority of running processes. Allowed priorities range
2689 from 20 (the process runs only when nothing else is running) to 0
2690 (default priority) to -20 (almost nothing else ever gets to run).
2695 <title>reset</title>
2710 Usage: rm [OPTION]... FILE...
2714 Remove (unlink) the FILE(s). You may use '--' to
2715 indicate that all following arguments are non-options.
2724 -f Remove existing destinations, never prompt
2725 -r or -R Remove the contents of directories recursively
2741 <title>rmdir</title>
2744 Usage: rmdir DIRECTORY...
2748 Remove DIRECTORY(s) if they are empty.
2763 <title>rmmod</title>
2766 Usage: rmmod [OPTION]... [MODULE]...
2770 Unload MODULE(s) from the kernel.
2779 -a Try to remove all unused kernel modules
2798 Usage: sed [OPTION]... SCRIPT [FILE]...
2802 Allowed sed scripts come in the following form:
2817 NUMBER Match specified line number
2819 /REGEXP/ Match specified regexp
2824 ! inverts the meaning of the match
2833 s/regexp/replacement/[igp]
2834 which attempt to match regexp against the pattern space
2835 and if successful replaces the matched portion with replacement.
2837 which appends TEXT after the pattern space
2842 This version of sed matches full regular expressions.
2851 -e Add the script to the commands to be executed
2852 -n Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
2862 $ echo "foo" | sed -e 's/f[a-zA-Z]o/bar/g'
2868 <sect1 id="setkeycodes">
2869 <title>setkeycodes</title>
2872 Usage: setkeycodes SCANCODE KEYCODE ...
2876 Set entries into the kernel's scancode-to-keycode map,
2877 allowing unusual keyboards to generate usable keycodes.
2881 SCANCODE may be either xx or e0xx (hexadecimal), and
2882 KEYCODE is given in decimal.
2891 $ setkeycodes e030 127
2905 lash -- the BusyBox LAme SHell (command interpreter)
2909 This command does not yet have proper documentation.
2913 Use lash just as you would use any other shell. It
2914 properly handles pipes, redirects, job control, can be
2915 used as the shell for scripts (#!/bin/sh), and has a
2916 sufficient set of builtins to do what is needed. It does
2917 not (yet) support Bourne Shell syntax. If you need
2918 things like ``if-then-else'', ``while'', and such, use
2919 ash or bash. If you just need a very simple and
2920 extremely small shell, this will do the job.
2925 <title>sleep</title>
2932 Pause for N seconds.
2942 [2 second delay results]
2951 Usage: sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
2955 Sort lines of text in FILE(s).
2964 -n Compare numerically
2965 -r Reverse after sorting
2975 $ echo -e "e\nf\nb\nd\nc\na" | sort
2986 <sect1 id="swapoff">
2987 <title>swapoff</title>
2990 Usage: swapoff [OPTION] [DEVICE]
2994 Stop swapping virtual memory pages on DEVICE.
3003 -a Stop swapping on all swap devices
3009 <title>swapon</title>
3012 Usage: swapon [OPTION] [DEVICE]
3016 Start swapping virtual memory pages on the given device.
3025 -a Start swapping on all swap devices
3038 Write all buffered filesystem blocks to disk.
3042 <sect1 id="syslogd">
3043 <title>syslogd</title>
3046 Usage: syslogd [OPTION]...
3050 Linux system and kernel (provides klogd) logging
3051 utility. Note that this version of syslogd/klogd ignores
3061 -m NUM Interval between MARK lines (default=20min, 0=off)
3062 -n Run as a foreground process
3063 -K Do not start up the klogd process
3064 -O FILE Use an alternate log file (default=/var/log/messages)
3065 -R HOST[:PORT] Log remotely to IP or hostname on PORT (default PORT=514/UDP)
3066 -L Log locally as well as network logging (default is network only)
3076 $ syslogd -R masterlog:514
3077 $ syslogd -R 192.168.1.1:601
3086 Usage: tail [OPTION] [FILE]...
3090 Print last 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
3091 With more than one FILE, precede each with a header
3092 giving the file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -,
3102 -n NUM Print last NUM lines instead of last 10
3103 -f Output data as the file grows. This version
3104 of 'tail -f' supports only one file at a time.
3114 $ tail -n 1 /etc/resolv.conf
3124 Usage: tar [MODE] [OPTION] [FILE]...
3132 MODE may be chosen from
3149 f FILE Use FILE for tarfile (or stdin if '-')
3151 exclude FILE File to exclude
3152 v List files processed
3162 $ zcat /tmp/tarball.tar.gz | tar -xf -
3163 $ tar -cf /tmp/tarball.tar /usr/local
3172 Usage: tee [OPTION]... [FILE]...
3176 Copy stdin to FILE(s), and also to stdout.
3185 -a Append to the given FILEs, do not overwrite
3195 $ echo "Hello" | tee /tmp/foo
3204 <title>telnet</title>
3207 Usage: telnet HOST [PORT]
3211 Establish interactive communication with another
3212 computer over a network using the TELNET protocol.
3217 <title>test, [</title>
3220 Usage: test EXPRESSION
3228 Check file types and compare values returning an exit
3229 code determined by the value of EXPRESSION.
3255 <title>touch</title>
3258 Usage: touch [OPTION]... FILE...
3262 Update the last-modified date on (or create) FILE(s).
3271 -c Do not create files
3282 /bin/ls: /tmp/foo: No such file or directory
3285 -rw-rw-r-- 1 andersen andersen 0 Apr 15 01:11 /tmp/foo
3294 Usage: tr [OPTION]... STRING1 [STRING2]
3298 Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters from stdin,
3308 -c Take complement of STRING1
3309 -d Delete input characters coded STRING1
3310 -s Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character
3320 $ echo "gdkkn vnqkc" | tr [a-y] [b-z]
3334 Return an exit code of TRUE (1).
3358 Print the file name of the terminal connected to stdin.
3367 -s Print nothing, only return an exit status
3384 <title>umount</title>
3387 Usage: umount [OPTION]... DEVICE|DIRECTORY
3400 -a Unmount all file systems
3401 -r Try to remount devices as read-only if mount is busy
3402 -f Force filesystem umount (i.e. unreachable NFS server)
3403 -l Do not free loop device (if a loop device has been used)
3419 <title>uname</title>
3422 Usage: uname [OPTION]...
3426 Print certain system information. With no OPTION, same
3436 -a Print all information
3437 -m Print the machine (hardware) type
3438 -n Print the machine's network node hostname
3439 -r Print the operating system release
3440 -s Print the operating system name
3441 -p Print the host processor type
3442 -v Print the operating system version
3453 Linux debian 2.2.15pre13 #5 Tue Mar 14 16:03:50 MST 2000 i686 unknown
3462 Usage: uniq [INPUT [OUTPUT]]
3466 Discard all but one of successive identical lines from
3467 INPUT (or stdin), writing to OUTPUT (or stdout).
3476 -c prefix lines by the number of occurrences
3477 -d only print duplicate lines
3478 -u only print unique lines
3488 $ echo -e "a\na\nb\nc\nc\na" | sort | uniq
3496 <sect1 id="unix2dos">
3497 <title>unix2dos</title>
3500 Usage: unix2dos < unixfile > dosfile
3504 Converts a text file from unix format to dos format.
3510 <title>unrpm</title>
3513 Usage: unrpm < package.rpm | gzip -d | cpio -idmuv
3517 Extracts an rpm archive.
3523 <title>update</title>
3526 Usage: update [OPTION]...
3530 Periodically flush filesystem buffers.
3539 -S Force use of sync(2) instead of flushing
3540 -s SECS Call sync this often (default 30)
3541 -f SECS Flush some buffers this often (default 5)
3547 <title>uptime</title>
3554 Display how long the system has been running since boot.
3564 1:55pm up 2:30, load average: 0.09, 0.04, 0.00
3570 <title>usleep</title>
3577 Pause for N microseconds.
3587 [pauses for 1 second]
3592 <sect1 id="uudecode">
3593 <title>uudecode</title>
3596 Usage: uudecode [OPTION] [FILE]
3600 Uudecode a uuencoded file.
3609 -o FILE Direct output to FILE
3619 $ uudecode -o busybox busybox.uu
3621 -rwxr-xr-x 1 ams ams 245264 Jun 7 21:35 busybox
3626 <sect1 id="uuencode">
3627 <title>uuencode</title>
3630 Usage: uuencode [OPTION] [INFILE] OUTFILE
3643 -m Use base64 encoding as of RFC1521
3653 $ uuencode busybox busybox
3655 M?T5,1@$!`0````````````(``P`!````L+@$"#0```!0N@,``````#0`(``&
3657 $ uudecode busybox busybox > busybox.uu
3663 <sect1 id="watchdog">
3664 <title>watchdog</title>
3667 Usage: watchdog device
3671 Periodically writes to watchdog device B<device>.
3679 Usage: wc [OPTION]... [FILE]...
3683 Print line, word, and byte counts for each FILE, and a
3684 total line if more than one FILE is specified. With no
3694 -c Print the byte counts
3695 -l Print the newline counts
3696 -L Print the length of the longest line
3697 -w Print the word counts
3708 31 46 1365 /etc/passwd
3714 <title>which</title>
3717 Usage: which [COMMAND]...
3737 <title>whoami</title>
3744 Print the user name associated with the current
3761 <title>xargs</title>
3764 Usage: xargs [OPTIONS] [COMMAND] [ARGS...]
3768 Executes COMMAND on every item given by standard input.
3777 -t Print the command just before it is run
3789 $ find . -name '*.c' -print | xargs rm
3798 Usage: yes [STRING]...
3802 Repeatedly output a line with all specified STRING(s),
3811 Usage: zcat [OPTION]... FILE
3815 Uncompress FILE (or stdin if FILE is '-') to stdout.
3824 -t Test compressed file integrity
3839 <chapter id="LIBC-NSS">
3840 <title>LIBC NSS</title>
3843 GNU Libc uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the
3844 behavior of the C library for the local environment, and to
3845 configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group
3846 information. BusyBox has made it Policy that it will never use
3847 NSS, and will never use libc calls that make use of NSS. This
3848 allows you to run an embedded system without the need for
3849 installing an /etc/nsswitch.conf file and without /lib/libnss_*
3850 libraries installed.
3854 If you are using a system that is using a remote LDAP server for
3855 authentication via GNU libc NSS, and you want to use BusyBox,
3856 then you will need to adjust the BusyBox source. Chances are
3857 though, that if you have enough space to install of that stuff
3858 on your system, then you probably want the full GNU utilities.
3862 <chapter id="SEE-ALSO">
3863 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
3866 <literal>textutils(1),</literal>
3867 <literal>shellutils(1),</literal>
3872 <chapter id="MAINTAINER">
3873 <title>MAINTAINER</title>
3876 Erik Andersen <andersee@debian.org> <andersen@lineo.com>
3880 <chapter id="AUTHORS">
3881 <title>AUTHORS</title>
3884 The following people have made significant contributions to
3885 BusyBox -- whether they know it or not.
3889 Erik Andersen <andersee@debian.org>
3893 Edward Betts <edward@debian.org>
3897 John Beppu <beppu@lineo.com>
3901 Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>
3905 Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org>
3909 Dave Cinege <dcinege@psychosis.com>
3913 Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@debian.org>
3917 Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@debian.org>
3921 Matt Kraai <kraai@alumni.carnegiemellon.edu>
3925 John Lombardo <john@deltanet.com>
3929 Glenn McGrath <bug1@netconnect.com.au>
3933 Bruce Perens <bruce@perens.com>
3937 Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com>, <crosenth@covad.com>
3941 Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>
3945 Gyepi Sam <gyepi@praxis-sw.com>
3949 Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>
3953 Mark Whitley <markw@lineo.com>
3957 Charles P. Wright <cpwright@villagenet.com>
3961 Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es>
3966 </book> <!-- End of the book -->