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 graphic display. Enable this option if you wish
28 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 graphic
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
60 say leave this disabled.
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 CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
80 depends on CONFIG_FDISK
82 Enabling this option allows you to create or change a partition table
83 and write those changes out to disk. If you leave this option
84 disabled, you will only be able to view the partition table.
86 config CONFIG_FEATURE_AIX_LABEL
87 bool " Support AIX disklabels"
89 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
91 Enabling this option allows you to create or change AIX disklabels.
92 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
94 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SGI_LABEL
95 bool " Support SGI disklabels"
97 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
99 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SGI disklabels.
100 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
102 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SUN_LABEL
103 bool " Support SUN disklabels"
105 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
107 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SUN disklabels.
108 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
110 config CONFIG_FEATURE_OSF_LABEL
111 bool " Support BSD disklabels"
113 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
115 Enabling this option allows you to create or change BSD disklabels
116 and define and edit BSD disk slices.
118 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_ADVANCED
119 bool " Support expert mode"
121 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
123 Enabling this option allows you to do terribly unsafe things like
124 define arbitrary drive geometry, move the beginning of data in a
125 partition, and similarly evil things. Unless you have a very good
126 reason you would be wise to leave this disabled.
128 config CONFIG_FREERAMDISK
132 Linux allows you to create ramdisks. This utility allows you to
133 delete them and completely free all memory that was used for the
134 ramdisk. For example, if you boot Linux into a ramdisk and later
135 pivot_root, you may want to free the memory that is allocated to the
136 ramdisk. If you have no use for freeing memory from a ramdisk, leave
139 config CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX
143 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
144 with little overhead. It is not a journaling filesystem however and
145 can encounted corruption if it is not properly unmounted or if the
146 power goes off in the middle of a write. This utility allows you to
147 check for and attempt to repair any corruption that occurs to a minix
150 config CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
154 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
155 with little overhead. If you wish to be able to create minix filesystems
156 this utility will do the job for you.
158 comment "Minix filesystem support"
159 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
161 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MINIX2
162 bool " Support Minix fs v2 (fsck_minix/mkfs_minix)"
164 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
166 If you wish to be able to create version 2 minix filesystems, enable this.
167 If you enabled 'mkfs_minix' then you almost certainly want to be using the
168 version 2 filesystem support.
174 The getopt utility is used to break up (parse) options in command
175 lines to make it easy to write complex shell scripts that also check
176 for legal (and illegal) options. If you want to write horribly
177 complex shell scripts, or use some horribly complex shell script
178 written by others, this utility may be for you. Most people will
179 wisely leave this disabled.
181 config CONFIG_HEXDUMP
185 The hexdump utility is used to display binary data in a readable
186 way that is comparable to the output from most hex editors.
188 config CONFIG_HWCLOCK
192 The hwclock utility is used to read and set the hardware clock
193 on a system. This is primarily used to set the correct time in
194 the hardware close, so the hardware will keep the correct time
195 when Linux is _not_ running.
197 config CONFIG_FEATURE_HWCLOCK_LONGOPTIONS
198 bool " Support long options (--hctosys,...)"
200 depends on CONFIG_HWCLOCK
202 By default, the hwclock utility only uses short options. If you
203 are overly fond of the long options, such as --hctosys, --utc, etc)
204 then enable this option.
206 config CONFIG_LOSETUP
210 losetup is used to associate or detach a loop device with a regular
211 file or block device, and to query the status of a loop device. This
212 version does not currently support enabling data encryption.
218 The mkswap utility is used to configure a file or disk partition as
219 Linux swap space. This allows Linux to use the entire file or
220 partition as if it were additional RAM, which can greatly increase
221 the capability of low-memory machines. This additional memory is
222 much slower than real RAM, but can be very helpful at preventing your
223 applications being killed by the Linux out of memory (OOM) killer. Once
224 you have created swap space using 'mkswap' you need to enable the swap
225 space using the 'swapon' utility.
231 More is a simple utility which allows you to read text one screen
232 sized page at a time. If you want to read text that is larger than
233 the screen, and you are using anything faster than a 300 baud modem,
234 you will probably find this utility very helpful. If you don't have
235 any need to reading text files, you can leave this disabled.
237 config CONFIG_FEATURE_USE_TERMIOS
238 bool " Use termios to manipulate the screen"
240 depends on CONFIG_MORE
242 This option allows utilities such as 'more' and 'top' to determine
243 the size of the screen. If you leave this disabled, your utilities
244 that display things on the screen with be especially primitive and
245 will be unable to determine the current screen size, and will be
246 unable to move the cursor.
248 comment "Common options for ls and more"
249 depends on CONFIG_LS || CONFIG_MORE
251 config CONFIG_FEATURE_AUTOWIDTH
252 bool " Calculate terminal & column widths"
254 depends on CONFIG_LS || CONFIG_MORE
256 This option allows utilities such as 'ls' and 'more' to determine the
257 width of the screen, which can allow them to display additional text
258 or avoid wrapping text onto the next line. If you leave this
259 disabled, your utilities will be especially primitive and will be
260 unable to determine the current screen width.
262 config CONFIG_PIVOT_ROOT
266 The pivot_root utility swaps the mount points for the root filesystem
267 with some other mounted filesystem. This allows you to do all sorts
268 of wild and crazy things with your Linux system and is far more
269 powerful than 'chroot'.
275 The rdate utility allows you to syncronize the date and time of your
276 system clock with the date and time of a remote networked system using
277 the RFC868 protocol, which is built into the inetd daemon on most
280 config CONFIG_SWAPONOFF
284 This option enables both the 'swapon' and the 'swapoff' utilities.
285 Once you have created some swap space using 'mkswap', you also need
286 to enable your swap space with the 'swapon' utility. The 'swapoff'
287 utility is used, typically at system shutdown, to disable any swap
288 space. If you are not using any swap space, you can leave this
295 All files and filesystems in Unix are arranged into one big directory
296 tree. The 'mount' utility is used to graft a filesystem onto a
297 particular part of the tree. A filesystem can either live on a block
298 device, or it can be accessible over the network, as is the case with
299 NFS filesystems. Most people using BusyBox will also want to enable
302 config CONFIG_NFSMOUNT
303 bool " Support mounting nfs file systems"
305 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT
307 Enable mounting of NFS file systems.
313 When you want to remove a mounted filesystem from its current mount point,
314 for example when you are shutting down the system, the 'umount' utility is
315 the tool to use. If you enabled the 'mount' utility, you almost certainly
316 also want to enable 'umount'.
318 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MOUNT_FORCE
319 bool " Support forced filesystem unmounting"
321 depends on CONFIG_UMOUNT
323 This allows you to _force_ a filesystem to be umounted. This is generally
324 only useful when you want to get rid of an unreachable NFS system.
326 comment "Common options for mount/umount"
327 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
329 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MOUNT_LOOP
330 bool " Support for loop devices"
332 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
334 Enabling this feature allows mount to use the '-o' loop options,
335 which lets you loop mount files. Mount will automagically setup and
336 free the necessary loop devices so you do not need to mess with the
337 'losetup' utility unless you really want to. This is really only useful
338 if you plan to loop mount files.
340 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_SUPPORT
341 bool " Support for a real /etc/mtab (instead of /proc/mounts)"
343 depends on CONFIG_MOUNT || CONFIG_UMOUNT
345 If your root filesystem is writable and you wish to have the 'mount'
346 utility create an mtab file listing the filesystems which have been
347 mounted then you should enable this option. Most people that use
348 BusyBox have a read-only root filesystem, so they will leave this
349 option disabled and BusyBox will use the /proc/mounts file.
351 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_FILENAME
352 string " mtab file location"
354 depends on CONFIG_FEATURE_MTAB_SUPPORT
356 Some people have a read only root filesystem, but they also wish to
357 have the 'mount' utility create an mtab file listing the filesystems
358 which have been mounted. This option allows you to specify an alternative
359 location for the mtab file, such as /var/mtab, or /tmp/mtab. The default
360 value is /etc/mtab, which is where this file is located on most desktop