make menuconfig # This creates a file called ".config"
make # This creates the "busybox" executable
- make install # or make PREFIX=/path/from/root install
+ make install # or make CONFIG_PREFIX=/path/from/root install
The full list of configuration and install options is available by typing:
The easy way to try out BusyBox for the first time, without having to install
it, is to enable all features and then use "standalone shell" mode with a
-blank command $PATH:
+blank command $PATH.
- make allyesconfig
+To enable all features, use "make defconfig", which produces the largest
+general-purpose configuration. (It's allyesconfig minus debugging options,
+optional packaging choices, and a few special-purpose features requiring
+extra configuration to use.)
+
+ make defconfig
make
PATH= ./busybox ash
programs by that name. Supplying an empty command path (as above) means
the only commands busybox can find are the built-in ones.
-(Note that the standalone shell requires the /proc directory to function.)
+Note that the standalone shell requires CONFIG_BUSYBOX_EXEC_PATH
+to be set appropriately, depending on whether or not /proc/self/exe is
+available or not. If you do not have /proc, then point that config option
+to the location of your busybox binary, usually /bin/busybox.
Configuring Busybox:
====================
Busybox is optimized for size, but enabling the full set of functionality
-still results in a fairly large executable (more than 1 megabyte when
-statically linked). To save space, busybox can be configured with only the
+still results in a fairly large executable -- more than 1 megabyte when
+statically linked. To save space, busybox can be configured with only the
set of applets needed for each environment. The minimal configuration, with
all applets disabled, produces a 4k executable. (It's useless, but very small.)
-The manual configurators "make config" and "make menuconfig" modify the
-existing configuration. Quick ways to get starting configurations include
-"make allyesconfig" (enables almost all options), "make allnoconfig" (disables
-all options), "make allbaseconfig" (enables all applets but disables all
-optional features), and "make defconfig" (reset to defaults).
+The manual configurator "make menuconfig" modifies the existing configuration.
+(For systems without ncurses, try "make config" instead.) The two most
+interesting starting configurations are "make allnoconfig" (to start with
+everything disabled and add just what you need), and "make defconfig" (to
+start with everything enabled and remove what you don't need). If menuconfig
+is run without an existing configuration, make defconfig will run first to
+create a known starting point.
+
+Other starting configurations (mostly used for testing purposes) include
+"make allbareconfig" (enables all applets but disables all optional features),
+"make allyesconfig" (enables absolutely everything including debug features),
+and "make randconfig" (produce a random configuration).
Configuring BusyBox produces a file ".config", which can be saved for future
-use.
+use. Run "make oldconfig" to bring a .config file from an older version of
+busybox up to date.
Installing Busybox:
===================
binary for each applet enabled in busybox, and making sure these symlinks are
in the shell's command $PATH. Running "make install" creates these symlinks,
or "make install-hardlinks" creates hardlinks instead (useful on systems with
-a limited number of inodes). This install process ues the file
+a limited number of inodes). This install process uses the file
"busybox.links" (created by make), which contains the list of enabled applets
and the path at which to install them.
-The special applet name "busybox" (or with any optional suffix, such as
-"busybox-static") uses the first argument to determine which applet to behave
-as (for example, "./busybox cat LICENSE"). (Running the busybox applet with
-no arguments gives a list of all enabled applets.)
+Installing links to busybox is not always necessary. The special applet name
+"busybox" (or with any optional suffix, such as "busybox-static") uses the
+first argument to determine which applet to behave as, for example
+"./busybox cat LICENSE". (Running the busybox applet with no arguments gives
+a list of all enabled applets.) The standalone shell can also call busybox
+applets without links to busybox under other names in the filesystem. You can
+also configure a standaone install capability into the busybox base applet,
+and then install such links at runtime with one of "busybox --install" (for
+hardlinks) or "busybox --install -s" (for symlinks).
+
+If you enabled the busybox shared library feature (libbusybox.so) and want
+to run tests without installing, set your LD_LIBRARY_PATH accordingly when
+running the executable:
+
+ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` ./busybox
Building out-of-tree:
=====================
By default, the BusyBox build puts its temporary files in the source tree.
-Building from a read-only source tree, or to building multiple
-configurations from the same source directory, requires the ability to
-put the temporary files somewhere else.
+Building from a read-only source tree, or building multiple configurations from
+the same source directory, requires the ability to put the temporary files
+somewhere else.
-To build out of tree, use the O=$BUILDPATH option during the configuration
-step, as in:
+To build out of tree, cd to an empty directory and configure busybox from there:
- make O=/some/empty/directory allyesconfig
- cd /some/empty/directory
+ make -f /path/to/source/Makefile defconfig
make
- make PREFIX=. install
-
-(Note, O= requires an absolute path.)
+ make install
-Alternately, cd to the empty directory and do this instead:
+Alternately, use the O=$BUILDPATH option (with an absolute path) during the
+configuration step, as in:
- make top_srcdir=/path/to/source -f /path/to/source/Makefile allyesconfig
+ make O=/some/empty/directory allyesconfig
+ cd /some/empty/directory
make
- make install
+ make CONFIG_PREFIX=. install
More Information:
=================
projects / oweals / busybox.git / blobdiff