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.
66 The fdisk utility is used to divide hard disks into one or more
67 logical disks, which are generally called partitions. This utility
68 can be used to list and edit the set of partitions or BSD style
69 'disk slices' that are defined on a hard drive.
71 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
74 depends on CONFIG_FDISK
76 Enabling this option allows you to create or change a partition table
77 and write those changes out to disk. If you leave this option
78 disabled, you will only be able to view the partition table.
80 config CONFIG_FEATURE_AIX_LABEL
81 bool " Support AIX disklabels"
83 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
85 Enabling this option allows you to create or change AIX disklabels.
86 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
88 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SGI_LABEL
89 bool " Support SGI disklabels"
91 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
93 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SGI disklabels.
94 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
96 config CONFIG_FEATURE_SUN_LABEL
97 bool " Support SUN disklabels"
99 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
101 Enabling this option allows you to create or change SUN disklabels.
102 Most people can safely leave this option disabled.
104 config CONFIG_FEATURE_OSF_LABEL
105 bool " Support BSD disklabels"
107 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
109 Enabling this option allows you to create or change BSD disklabels
110 and define and edit BSD disk slices.
112 config CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_ADVANCED
113 bool " Support expert mode"
115 depends on CONFIG_FDISK && CONFIG_FEATURE_FDISK_WRITABLE
117 Enabling this option allows you to do terribly unsafe things like
118 define arbitrary drive geometry, move the beginning of data in a
119 partition, and similarly evil things. Unless you have a very good
120 reason you would be wise to leave this disabled.
122 config CONFIG_FREERAMDISK
126 Linux allows you to create ramdisks. This utility allows you to
127 delete them and completely free all memory that was used for the
128 ramdisk. For example, if you boot Linux into a ramdisk and later
129 pivot_root, you may want to free the memory that is allocated to the
130 ramdisk. If you have no use for freeing memory from a ramdisk, leave
133 config CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX
137 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
138 with little overhead. It is not a journaling filesystem however and
139 can encounted corruption if it is not properly unmounted or if the
140 power goes off in the middle of a write. This utility allows you to
141 check for and attempt to repair any corruption that occurs to a minix
144 config CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
148 The minix filesystem is a nice, small, compact, read-write filesystem
149 with little overhead. If you wish to be able to create minix filesystems
150 this utility will do the job for you.
152 comment "Minix filesystem support"
153 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
155 config CONFIG_FEATURE_MINIX2
156 bool " Support Minix fs v2 (fsck_minix/mkfs_minix)"
158 depends on CONFIG_FSCK_MINIX || CONFIG_MKFS_MINIX
160 If you wish to be able to create version 2 minix filesystems, enable this.
161 If you enabled 'mkfs_minix' then you almost certainly want to be using the
162 version 2 filesystem support.
168 The getopt utility is used to break up (parse) options in command
169 lines to make it easy to write complex shell scripts that also check
170 for legal (and illegal) options. If you want to write horribly
171 complex shell scripts, or use some horribly complex shell script
172 written by others, this utility may be for you. Most people will
173 wisely leave this disabled.
175 config CONFIG_HEXDUMP
179 The hexdump utility is used to display binary data in a readable
180 way that is comparable to the output from most hex editors.
182 config CONFIG_HWCLOCK
186 The hwclock utility is used to read and set the hardware clock
187 on a system. This is primarily used to set the correct time in
188 the hardware close, so the hardware will keep the correct time
189 when Linux is _not_ running.
191 config CONFIG_FEATURE_HWCLOCK_LONGOPTIONS
192 bool " Support long options (--hctosys,...)"
194 depends on CONFIG_HWCLOCK
196 By default, the hwclock utility only uses short options. If you
197 are overly fond of the long options, such as --hctosys, --utc, etc)
198 then enable this option.
200 config CONFIG_LOSETUP
204 losetup is used to associate or detach a loop device with a regular
205 file or block device, and to query the status of a loop device. This
206 version does not currently support enabling data encryption.
212 The mkswap utility is used to configure a file or disk partition as
213 Linux swap space. This allows Linux to use the entire file or
214 partition as if it were additional RAM, which can greatly increase
215 the capability of low-memory machines. This additional memory is
216 much slower than real RAM, but can be very helpful at preventing your
217 applications being killed by the Linux out of memory (OOM) killer. Once
218 you have created swap space using 'mkswap' you need to enable the swap
219 space using the 'swapon' utility.
225 More is a simple utility which allows you to read text one screen
226 sized page at a time. If you want to read text that is larger than
227 the screen, and you are using anything faster than a 300 baud modem,
228 you will probably find this utility very helpful. If you don't have
229 any need to reading text files, you can leave this disabled.
231 config CONFIG_FEATURE_USE_TERMIOS
232 bool " Use termios to manipulate the screen"
234 depends on CONFIG_MORE
236 This option allows utilities such as 'more' and 'top' to determine
237 the size of the screen. If you leave this disabled, your utilities
238 that display things on the screen with be especially primitive and
239 will be unable to determine the current screen size, and will be
240 unable to move the cursor.
242 comment "Common options for ls and more"
243 depends on CONFIG_LS || CONFIG_MORE
245 config CONFIG_FEATURE_AUTOWIDTH
246 bool " Calculate terminal & column widths"
248 depends on CONFIG_LS || CONFIG_MORE
250 This option allows utilities such as 'ls' and 'more' to determine the
251 width of the screen, which can allow them to display additional text
252 or avoid wrapping text onto the next line. If you leave this
253 disabled, your utilities will be especially primitive and will be
254 unable to determine the current screen width.
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 syncronize 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 Please submit a patch to add help text for this item.
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 only useful
332 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