2 # For a description of the syntax of this configuration file,
3 # see scripts/kbuild/config-language.txt.
6 menu "Linux System Utilities"
12 dmesg is used to examine or control the kernel ring buffer. When the
13 Linux kernel prints messages to the system log, they are stored in
14 the kernel ring buffer. You can use dmesg to print the kernel's ring
15 buffer, clear the kernel ring buffer, change the size of the kernel
16 ring buffer, and change the priority level at which kernel messages
17 are also logged to the system console. Enable this option if you
18 wish to enable the 'dmesg' utility.
24 fbset is used to show or change the settings of a Linux frame buffer
25 device. The frame buffer device provides a simple and unique
26 interface to access a graphics display. Enable this option
27 if you wish to enable the 'fbset' utility.
29 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FBSET_FANCY
30 bool " Turn on extra fbset options"
32 depends on CONFIG_FBSET
34 This option enables extended fbset options, allowing one to set the
35 framebuffer size, color depth, etc. interface to access a graphics
36 display. Enable this option if you wish to enable extended fbset
39 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FBSET_READMODE
40 bool " Turn on fbset readmode support"
42 depends on CONFIG_FBSET
44 This option allows fbset to read the video mode database stored by
45 default as /etc/fb.modes, which can be used to set frame buffer
46 device to pre-defined video modes.
52 fdflush is only needed when changing media on slightly-broken
53 removable media drives. It is used to make Linux believe that a
54 hardware disk-change switch has been actuated, which causes Linux to
55 forget anything it has cached from the previous media. If you have
56 such a slightly-broken drive, you will need to run fdflush every time
57 you change a disk. Most people have working hardware and can safely
60 config CONFIG_FDFORMAT
64 fdformat is used to low-level format a floppy disk.
70 The fdisk utility is used to divide hard disks into one or more
71 logical disks, which are generally called partitions. This utility
72 can be used to list and edit the set of partitions or BSD style
73 'disk slices' that are defined on a hard drive.
75 config FDISK_SUPPORT_LARGE_DISKS
76 bool " support over 4GB disks"
78 depends on CONFIG_FDISK
80 Enable this option to support large disks > 4GB.
82 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
85 depends on CONFIG_FDISK
87 Enabling this option allows you to create or change a partition table
88 and write those changes out to disk. If you leave this option
89 disabled, you will only be able to view the partition table.
91 config CONFIG_FEATURE_AIX_LABEL
92 bool " Support AIX disklabels"
94 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
96 Enabling this option allows you to create or change AIX disklabels.
97 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
99 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SGI_LABEL
100 bool " Support SGI disklabels"
102 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
104 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SGI disklabels.
105 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
107 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SUN_LABEL
108 bool " Support SUN disklabels"
110 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
112 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SUN disklabels.
113 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
115 config CONFIG_FEATURE_OSF_LABEL
116 bool " Support BSD disklabels"
118 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
120 Enabling this option allows you to create or change BSD disklabels
121 and define and edit BSD disk slices.
123 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_ADVANCED
124 bool " Support expert mode"
126 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
128 Enabling this option allows you to do terribly unsafe things like
129 define arbitrary drive geometry, move the beginning of data in a
130 partition, and similarly evil things. Unless you have a very good
131 reason you would be wise to leave this disabled.
133 config CONFIG_FREERAMDISK
137 Linux allows you to create ramdisks. This utility allows you to
138 delete them and completely free all memory that was used for the
139 ramdisk. For example, if you boot Linux into a ramdisk and later
140 pivot_root, you may want to free the memory that is allocated to the
141 ramdisk. If you have no use for freeing memory from a ramdisk, leave
144 config CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX
148 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
149 with little overhead. It is not a journaling filesystem however and
150 can experience corruption if it is not properly unmounted or if the
151 power goes off in the middle of a write. This utility allows you to
152 check for and attempt to repair any corruption that occurs to a minix
155 config CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
159 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
160 with little overhead. If you wish to be able to create minix filesystems
161 this utility will do the job for you.
163 comment "Minix filesystem support"
164 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
166 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MINIX2
167 bool " Support Minix fs v2 (fsck_minix/mkfs_minix)"
169 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
171 If you wish to be able to create version 2 minix filesystems, enable this.
172 If you enabled 'mkfs_minix' then you almost certainly want to be using the
173 version 2 filesystem support.
179 The getopt utility is used to break up (parse) options in command
180 lines to make it easy to write complex shell scripts that also check
181 for legal (and illegal) options. If you want to write horribly
182 complex shell scripts, or use some horribly complex shell script
183 written by others, this utility may be for you. Most people will
184 wisely leave this disabled.
186 config CONFIG_HEXDUMP
190 The hexdump utility is used to display binary data in a readable
191 way that is comparable to the output from most hex editors.
193 config CONFIG_HWCLOCK
197 The hwclock utility is used to read and set the hardware clock
198 on a system. This is primarily used to set the current time on
199 shutdown in the hardware clock, so the hardware will keep the
200 correct time when Linux is _not_ running.
202 config CONFIG_FEATURE_HWCLOCK_LONGOPTIONS
203 bool " Support long options (--hctosys,...)"
205 depends on CONFIG_HWCLOCK
207 By default, the hwclock utility only uses short options. If you
208 are overly fond of its long options, such as --hctosys, --utc, etc)
209 then enable this option.
211 config CONFIG_FEATURE_HWCLOCK_ADJTIME_FHS
212 bool " Use FHS /var/lib/hwclock/adjtime"
214 depends on CONFIG_HWCLOCK
216 Starting with FHS 2.3, the adjtime state file is supposed to exist
217 at /var/lib/hwclock/adjtime instead of /etc/adjtime. If you wish
218 to use the FHS behavior, answer Y here, otherwise answer N for the
219 classic /etc/adjtime path.
221 http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARLIBHWCLOCKSTATEDIRECTORYFORHWCLO
226 select CONFIG_FEATURE_SUID
228 The ipcrm utility allows the removal of System V interprocess
229 communication (IPC) objects and the associated data structures
235 select CONFIG_FEATURE_SUID
237 The ipcs utility is used to provide information on the currently
238 allocated System V interprocess (IPC) objects in the system.
240 config CONFIG_LOSETUP
244 losetup is used to associate or detach a loop device with a regular
245 file or block device, and to query the status of a loop device. This
246 version does not currently support enabling data encryption.
252 The mkswap utility is used to configure a file or disk partition as
253 Linux swap space. This allows Linux to use the entire file or
254 partition as if it were additional RAM, which can greatly increase
255 the capability of low-memory machines. This additional memory is
256 much slower than real RAM, but can be very helpful at preventing your
257 applications being killed by the Linux out of memory (OOM) killer.
258 Once you have created swap space using 'mkswap' you need to enable
259 the swap space using the 'swapon' utility.
265 more is a simple utility which allows you to read text one screen
266 sized page at a time. If you want to read text that is larger than
267 the screen, and you are using anything faster than a 300 baud modem,
268 you will probably find this utility very helpful. If you don't have
269 any need to reading text files, you can leave this disabled.
271 config CONFIG_FEATURE_USE_TERMIOS
272 bool " Use termios to manipulate the screen"
274 depends on CONFIG_MORE
276 This option allows utilities such as 'more' and 'top' to determine
277 the size of the screen. If you leave this disabled, your utilities
278 that display things on the screen will be especially primitive and
279 will be unable to determine the current screen size, and will be
280 unable to move the cursor.
282 config CONFIG_PIVOT_ROOT
286 The pivot_root utility swaps the mount points for the root filesystem
287 with some other mounted filesystem. This allows you to do all sorts
288 of wild and crazy things with your Linux system and is far more
289 powerful than 'chroot'.
295 The rdate utility allows you to synchronize the date and time of your
296 system clock with the date and time of a remote networked system using
297 the RFC868 protocol, which is built into the inetd daemon on most
300 config CONFIG_READPROFILE
304 This allows you to parse /proc/profile for basic profiling.
306 config CONFIG_SWAPONOFF
310 This option enables both the 'swapon' and the 'swapoff' utilities.
311 Once you have created some swap space using 'mkswap', you also need
312 to enable your swap space with the 'swapon' utility. The 'swapoff'
313 utility is used, typically at system shutdown, to disable any swap
314 space. If you are not using any swap space, you can leave this
321 All files and filesystems in Unix are arranged into one big directory
322 tree. The 'mount' utility is used to graft a filesystem onto a
323 particular part of the tree. A filesystem can either live on a block
324 device, or it can be accessible over the network, as is the case with
325 NFS filesystems. Most people using BusyBox will also want to enable
328 config CONFIG_NFSMOUNT
329 bool " Support mounting NFS file systems"
331 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT
333 Enable mounting of NFS file systems.
339 When you want to remove a mounted filesystem from its current mount point,
340 for example when you are shutting down the system, the 'umount' utility is
341 the tool to use. If you enabled the 'mount' utility, you almost certainly
342 also want to enable 'umount'.
344 comment "Common options for mount/umount"
345 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
347 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MOUNT_LOOP
348 bool " Support loopback mounts"
350 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
352 Enabling this feature allows automatic mounting of files (containing
353 filesystem images) via the linux kernel's loopback devices. The mount
354 command will detect you are trying to mount a file instead of a block
355 device, and transparently associate the file with a loopback device.
356 The umount command will also free that loopback device.
358 You can still use the 'losetup' utility (to manually associate files
359 with loop devices) if you need to do something advanced, such as
360 specify an offset or cryptographic options to the loopback device.
361 (If you don't want umount to free the loop device, use "umount -D".)
363 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_SUPPORT
364 bool " Support for the old /etc/mtab file"
366 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
368 Historically, Unix systems kept track of the currently mounted
369 partitions in the file "/etc/mtab". These days, the kernel exports
370 the list of currently mounted partitions in "/proc/mounts", rendering
371 the old mtab file obsolete. (In modern systems, /etc/mtab should be
372 a symlink to /proc/mounts.)
374 The only reason to have mount maintain an /etc/mtab file itself is if
375 your stripped-down embedded system does not have a /proc directory.
376 If you must use this, keep in mind it's inherently brittle (for
377 example a mount under chroot won't update it), can't handle modern
378 features like separate per-process filesystem namespaces, requires
379 that your /etc directory be writeable, tends to get easily confused
380 by --bind or --move mounts, and so on. (In brief: avoid.)