2 # For a description of the syntax of this configuration file,
3 # see scripts/kbuild/config-language.txt.
6 menu "Linux System Utilities"
13 dmesg is used to examine or control the kernel ring buffer. When the
14 Linux kernel prints messages to the system log, they are stored in
15 the kernel ring buffer. You can use dmesg to print the kernel's ring
16 buffer, clear the kernel ring buffer, change the size of the kernel
17 ring buffer, and change the priority level at which kernel messages
18 are also logged to the system console. Enable this option if you
19 wish to enable the 'dmesg' utility.
25 fbset is used to show or change the settings of a Linux frame buffer
26 device. The frame buffer device provides a simple and unique
27 interface to access a graphics display. Enable this option
28 if you wish to enable the 'fbset' utility.
31 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FBSET_FANCY
32 bool " Turn on extra fbset options"
34 depends on CONFIG_FBSET
36 This option enables extended fbset options, allowing one to set the
37 framebuffer size, color depth, etc. interface to access a graphics
38 display. Enable this option if you wish to enable extended fbset
41 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FBSET_READMODE
42 bool " Turn on fbset readmode support"
44 depends on CONFIG_FBSET
46 This option allows fbset to read the video mode database stored by
47 default as /etc/fb.modes, which can be used to set frame buffer
48 device to pre-defined video modes.
54 fdflush is only needed when changing media on slightly-broken
55 removable media drives. It is used to make Linux believe that a
56 hardware disk-change switch has been actuated, which causes Linux to
57 forget anything it has cached from the previous media. If you have
58 such a slightly-broken drive, you will need to run fdflush every time
59 you change a disk. Most people have working hardware and can safely
62 config CONFIG_FDFORMAT
66 fdformat is used to low-level format a floppy disk.
72 The fdisk utility is used to divide hard disks into one or more
73 logical disks, which are generally called partitions. This utility
74 can be used to list and edit the set of partitions or BSD style
75 'disk slices' that are defined on a hard drive.
77 config FDISK_SUPPORT_LARGE_DISKS
78 bool " support over 4GB disks"
80 depends on CONFIG_FDISK
83 Enable this option to support large disks > 4GB.
85 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
88 depends on CONFIG_FDISK
90 Enabling this option allows you to create or change a partition table
91 and write those changes out to disk. If you leave this option
92 disabled, you will only be able to view the partition table.
94 config CONFIG_FEATURE_AIX_LABEL
95 bool " Support AIX disklabels"
97 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
99 Enabling this option allows you to create or change AIX disklabels.
100 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
102 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SGI_LABEL
103 bool " Support SGI disklabels"
105 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
107 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SGI disklabels.
108 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
110 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SUN_LABEL
111 bool " Support SUN disklabels"
113 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
115 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SUN disklabels.
116 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
118 config CONFIG_FEATURE_OSF_LABEL
119 bool " Support BSD disklabels"
121 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
123 Enabling this option allows you to create or change BSD disklabels
124 and define and edit BSD disk slices.
126 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_ADVANCED
127 bool " Support expert mode"
129 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
131 Enabling this option allows you to do terribly unsafe things like
132 define arbitrary drive geometry, move the beginning of data in a
133 partition, and similarly evil things. Unless you have a very good
134 reason you would be wise to leave this disabled.
136 config CONFIG_FREERAMDISK
140 Linux allows you to create ramdisks. This utility allows you to
141 delete them and completely free all memory that was used for the
142 ramdisk. For example, if you boot Linux into a ramdisk and later
143 pivot_root, you may want to free the memory that is allocated to the
144 ramdisk. If you have no use for freeing memory from a ramdisk, leave
147 config CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX
151 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
152 with little overhead. It is not a journaling filesystem however and
153 can experience corruption if it is not properly unmounted or if the
154 power goes off in the middle of a write. This utility allows you to
155 check for and attempt to repair any corruption that occurs to a minix
158 config CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
162 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
163 with little overhead. If you wish to be able to create minix filesystems
164 this utility will do the job for you.
166 comment "Minix filesystem support"
167 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
169 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MINIX2
170 bool " Support Minix fs v2 (fsck_minix/mkfs_minix)"
172 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
174 If you wish to be able to create version 2 minix filesystems, enable this.
175 If you enabled 'mkfs_minix' then you almost certainly want to be using the
176 version 2 filesystem support.
182 The getopt utility is used to break up (parse) options in command
183 lines to make it easy to write complex shell scripts that also check
184 for legal (and illegal) options. If you want to write horribly
185 complex shell scripts, or use some horribly complex shell script
186 written by others, this utility may be for you. Most people will
187 wisely leave this disabled.
189 config CONFIG_HEXDUMP
193 The hexdump utility is used to display binary data in a readable
194 way that is comparable to the output from most hex editors.
196 config CONFIG_HWCLOCK
200 The hwclock utility is used to read and set the hardware clock
201 on a system. This is primarily used to set the current time on
202 shutdown in the hardware clock, so the hardware will keep the
203 correct time when Linux is _not_ running.
205 config CONFIG_FEATURE_HWCLOCK_LONGOPTIONS
206 bool " Support long options (--hctosys,...)"
208 depends on CONFIG_HWCLOCK
210 By default, the hwclock utility only uses short options. If you
211 are overly fond of its long options, such as --hctosys, --utc, etc)
212 then enable this option.
214 config CONFIG_LOSETUP
218 losetup is used to associate or detach a loop device with a regular
219 file or block device, and to query the status of a loop device. This
220 version does not currently support enabling data encryption.
226 The mkswap utility is used to configure a file or disk partition as
227 Linux swap space. This allows Linux to use the entire file or
228 partition as if it were additional RAM, which can greatly increase
229 the capability of low-memory machines. This additional memory is
230 much slower than real RAM, but can be very helpful at preventing your
231 applications being killed by the Linux out of memory (OOM) killer.
232 Once you have created swap space using 'mkswap' you need to enable
233 the swap space using the 'swapon' utility.
239 more is a simple utility which allows you to read text one screen
240 sized page at a time. If you want to read text that is larger than
241 the screen, and you are using anything faster than a 300 baud modem,
242 you will probably find this utility very helpful. If you don't have
243 any need to reading text files, you can leave this disabled.
245 config CONFIG_FEATURE_USE_TERMIOS
246 bool " Use termios to manipulate the screen"
248 depends on CONFIG_MORE
250 This option allows utilities such as 'more' and 'top' to determine
251 the size of the screen. If you leave this disabled, your utilities
252 that display things on the screen will be especially primitive and
253 will be unable to determine the current screen size, and will be
254 unable to move the cursor.
256 config CONFIG_PIVOT_ROOT
260 The pivot_root utility swaps the mount points for the root filesystem
261 with some other mounted filesystem. This allows you to do all sorts
262 of wild and crazy things with your Linux system and is far more
263 powerful than 'chroot'.
269 The rdate utility allows you to synchronize the date and time of your
270 system clock with the date and time of a remote networked system using
271 the RFC868 protocol, which is built into the inetd daemon on most
274 config CONFIG_SWAPONOFF
278 This option enables both the 'swapon' and the 'swapoff' utilities.
279 Once you have created some swap space using 'mkswap', you also need
280 to enable your swap space with the 'swapon' utility. The 'swapoff'
281 utility is used, typically at system shutdown, to disable any swap
282 space. If you are not using any swap space, you can leave this
289 All files and filesystems in Unix are arranged into one big directory
290 tree. The 'mount' utility is used to graft a filesystem onto a
291 particular part of the tree. A filesystem can either live on a block
292 device, or it can be accessible over the network, as is the case with
293 NFS filesystems. Most people using BusyBox will also want to enable
296 config CONFIG_NFSMOUNT
297 bool " Support mounting NFS file systems"
299 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT
301 Enable mounting of NFS file systems.
307 When you want to remove a mounted filesystem from its current mount point,
308 for example when you are shutting down the system, the 'umount' utility is
309 the tool to use. If you enabled the 'mount' utility, you almost certainly
310 also want to enable 'umount'.
312 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MOUNT_FORCE
313 bool " Support forced filesystem unmounting"
315 depends on CONFIG_UMOUNT
317 This allows you to _force_ a filesystem to be umounted. This is generally
318 only useful when you want to get rid of an unreachable NFS system.
320 comment "Common options for mount/umount"
321 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
323 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MOUNT_LOOP
324 bool " Support for loop devices"
326 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
328 Enabling this feature allows mount to use the '-o' loop options,
329 which lets you loop mount files. Mount will automagically setup and
330 free the necessary loop devices so you do not need to mess with the
331 'losetup' utility unless you really want to. This is really
332 only useful if you plan to loop mount files.
334 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_SUPPORT
335 bool " Support for a real /etc/mtab (instead of /proc/mounts)"
337 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
339 If your root filesystem is writable and you wish to have the 'mount'
340 utility create an mtab file listing the filesystems which have been
341 mounted then you should enable this option. Most people that use
342 BusyBox have a read-only root filesystem, so they will leave this
343 option disabled and BusyBox will use the /proc/mounts file.
345 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_FILENAME
346 string " mtab file location"
348 depends on CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_SUPPORT
350 Some people have a read only root filesystem, but they also wish to
351 have the 'mount' utility create an mtab file listing the filesystems
352 which have been mounted. This option allows you to specify an alternative
353 location for the mtab file, such as /var/mtab, or /tmp/mtab. The default
354 value is /etc/mtab, which is where this file is located on most desktop