=head1 DESCRIPTION
BusyBox is a multi-call binary that combines many common Unix utilities into a
-single executable. Most people will create a symlink to busybox for each
-function name, and BusyBox will act like whatever you invoke it as.
+single executable. Most people will create a link to busybox for each function
+they wish to use, and BusyBox will act like whatever it was invoked as. For
+example,
+
+ ln -s ./busybox ls
+ ./ls
+
+will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled
+into busybox). You can also invoke BusyBox by providing it the command to run
+on the command line. For example,
+
+ ./busybox ls
+
+will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.
BusyBox has been written with size-optimization in mind. It is very easy to
-include or exclude the commands you want installed. BusyBox tries to make
-itself useful to small systems with limited resources.
+include or exclude the commands (or features) you want installed. BusyBox
+tries to make itself useful to small systems with limited resources.
=head1 COMMANDS
-Currently defined functions:
-busybox, cat, chmod, chown, chgrp, chroot, clear, chvt, cp, date,
-dd, df, dmesg, du, fbset, find, free, deallocvt, fsck.minix, mkfs.minix,
-grep, head, hostname, init, linuxrc, kill, ln, ls, lsmod, mkdir,
-mknod, mkswap, more, mount, mv, ping, poweroff, ps, pwd, reboot,
-rm, rmdir, sed, sleep, sort, sync, syslogd, swapon, swapoff, tail,
-tar, tee, touch, true, false, uname, umount, uniq, update, zcat,
-gunzip, gzip
+Currently defined functions include:
+
+ basename, cat, chmod, chown, chgrp, chroot, clear, chvt, cp, mv, date,
+ dd, df, dirname, dmesg, du, dutmp, echo, fbset, fdflush, find, free,
+ freeramdisk, deallocvt, fsck.minix, mkfs.minix, grep, gunzip, gzip,
+ halt, head, hostid, hostname, init, kill, killall, length, ln, loadacm,
+ loadfont, loadkmap, ls, lsmod, makedevs, math, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod,
+ mkswap, mnc, more, mount, mt, nslookup, poweroff, ping, printf, ps,
+ pwd, reboot, rm, rmdir, rmmod, sed, sh, fdisk, sfdisk, sleep, sort,
+ sync, syslogd, logger, logname, swapon, swapoff, tail, tar, [, test,
+ tee, touch, tr, true, false, tty, umount, uname, uptime, uniq, update,
+ usleep, wc, whoami, yes, zcat
+
+=head1 OPTIONS
+
+Common Options:
+
+ Most BusyBox commands support the "--help" option to provide a
+ terse runtime description of their behavior.
=over 4
+=item basename
+
+Usage: basename [file ...]
+
+Strips directory and suffix from filenames.
+
+Example:
+
+ $ basename /usr/local/bin/foo
+ foo
+ $ basename /usr/local/bin/
+ bin
+
=item cat
Usage: cat [file ...]
-
+
+Concatenates files and prints them to the standard output.
+
+Example:
+
+ $ cat /proc/uptime
+ 110716.72 17.67
=item chmod
Usage: chmod [-R] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
-Each MODE is one or more of the letters ugoa, one of the symbols +-= and
-one or more of the letters rwxst.
-
+Changes file access permissions for the specified file(s) or directory(s).
+Each MODE is defined by combining the letters for WHO has access to the file,
+an OPERATOR for selecting how the permissions should be changed, and a
+PERISSION for the file(s) or directory(s).
+
+WHO may be chosen from:
+
+ u the User who owns the file
+ g users in the file's Group
+ o Other users not in the file's group
+ a All users
+
+OPERATOR may be chosen from:
+
+ + add a permission
+ - remove a permission
+ = assign a permission
+
+PERMISSION may be chosen from:
+
+ r Read
+ w Write
+ x eXecute (or access for directories)
+ s Set user (or group) ID bit
+ t sTickey bit (for directories prevents removing files by non-owners)
+
+Alternately, permissions may be set numerically where the first three
+numbers are calculated by adding the octal values:
+
+ 4 Read
+ 2 Write
+ 1 eXecute
+
+An optional fourth digit may also be used to specify
+
+ 4 Set user ID
+ 2 Set group ID
+ 1 sTickey bit
+
Options:
-R change files and directories recursively.
+Example:
+
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
+ $ chmod u+x /tmp/foo
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -rwxrw-r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo*
+ $ chmod 444 /tmp/foo
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
=item chown
Usage: chown [OPTION]... OWNER[.[GROUP] FILE...
-Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP.
+Changes the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP.
Options:
-R change files and directories recursively
-
+
+Example:
+
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -r--r--r-- 1 andersen andersen 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
+ $ chown root /tmp/foo
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -r--r--r-- 1 root andersen 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
+ $ chown root.root /tmp/foo
+ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
=item chgrp
-R change files and directories recursively
+Example:
+
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -r--r--r-- 1 andersen andersen 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
+ $ chgrp root /tmp/foo
+ $ ls -l /tmp/foo
+ -r--r--r-- 1 andersen root 0 Apr 12 18:25 /tmp/foo
=item chroot
Run COMMAND with root directory set to NEWROOT.
+Exmaple:
-=item clear
+ $ ls -l /bin/ls
+ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Apr 13 00:46 /bin/ls -> /bin/busybox
+ $ mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt -t minix
+ $ chroot /mnt
+ $ ls -l /bin/ls
+ -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 40816 Feb 5 07:45 /bin/ls*
+=item clear
+Clears the screen.
=item chvt
Usage: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE DEST
-or: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
+ or: cp [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
- -a same as -dpR
- -d preserve links
- -p preserve file attributes if possible
- -R copy directories recursively
-
+ -a same as -dpR
+ -d preserve links
+ -p preserve file attributes if possable
+ -R copy directories recursively
=item date
+Usage: date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
+
+ or: date [OPTION] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
+Display the current time in the given FORMAT, or set the system date.
+
+Options:
+ -R output RFC-822 compliant date string
+ -s set time described by STRING
+ -u print or set Coordinated Universal Time
+
+Example:
+
+ $ date
+ Wed Apr 12 18:52:41 MDT 2000
=item dd
-Usage: dd [if=name] [of=name] [bs=n] [count=n]
+Usage: dd [if=name] [of=name] [bs=n] [count=n] [skip=n] [seek=n]
Copy a file, converting and formatting according to options
- if=FILE read from FILE instead of stdin
- of=FILE write to FILE instead of stout
- bs=n read and write N BYTES at a time
- count=n copy only n input blocks
- BYTES may be suffixed by w (x2), k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).
+ if=FILE read from FILE instead of stdin
+ of=FILE write to FILE instead of stdout
+ bs=n read and write n bytes at a time
+ count=n copy only n input blocks
+ skip=n skip n input blocks
+ seek=n skip n output blocks
+
+Numbers may be suffixed by w (x2), k (x1024), b (x512), or M (x1024^2)
+Example:
+
+ $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ram1 bs=1M count=4
+ 4+0 records in
+ 4+0 records out
+
=item df
-Usage: df
+Usage: df [filesystem ...]
+
+Prints the filesystem space used and space available.
+
+Exmaple:
+
+ $ df
+ Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
+ /dev/sda3 8690864 8553540 137324 98% /
+ /dev/sda1 64216 36364 27852 57% /boot
+ $ df /dev/sda3
+ Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
+ /dev/sda3 8690864 8553540 137324 98% /
=item dmesg
Usage: dmesg [-c] [-n level] [-s bufsize]
+Print or controls the kernel ring buffer.
=item du
-Usage: Usage: du [OPTION]... [FILE]...
+Usage: du [OPTION]... [FILE]...
- -s display only a total for each argument
-
+Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory.
+Disk space is printed in units of 1k (i.e. 1024 bytes).
+
+Options:
+ -l count sizes many times if hard linked
+ -s display only a total for each argument
+
+Example:
+
+ $ ./busybox du
+ 16 ./CVS
+ 12 ./kernel-patches/CVS
+ 80 ./kernel-patches
+ 12 ./tests/CVS
+ 36 ./tests
+ 12 ./scripts/CVS
+ 16 ./scripts
+ 12 ./docs/CVS
+ 104 ./docs
+ 2417 .
+
=item fbset
Usage: fbset [options] [mode]
+Show and modify frame buffer device settings
+
Options:
-h
Search for files in a directory hierarchy. The default PATH is
the current directory; default EXPRESSION is '-print'
+
EXPRESSION may consist of:
+ -follow
+ Dereference symbolic links.
+ -name PATTERN
+ File name (with leading directories removed) matches PATTERN.
+ -print
+ print the full file name followed by a newline to stdout.
+
+Example:
- -follow
- Dereference symbolic links.
- -name PATTERN
- File name (with leading directories removed) matches PATTERN.
- -print
- print the full file name followed by a newline to stdout.
- This version of find matches full regular expresions.
+ $ find / -name /etc/passwd
+ /etc/passwd
=item free
Usage: free
+Displays the amount of free and used memory in the system.
+
+Example:
+
+ $ free
+ total used free shared buffers
+ Mem: 257628 248724 8904 59644 93124
+ Swap: 128516 8404 120112
+ Total: 386144 257128 129016
+
+
=item deallocvt
Usage: deallocvt N
-Deallocate unused virtual terminal /dev/ttyN
+Deallocates unused virtual terminal /dev/ttyN
=item fsck.minix
Performs a consistency check for MINIX filesystems.
-Options:
-
- -l Lists all filenames
- -r Perform interactive repairs
- -a Perform automatic repairs
- -v verbose
- -s Outputs super-block information
- -m Activates MINIX-like "mode not cleared" warnings
- -f Force file system check.
+OPTIONS:
+ -l Lists all filenames
+ -r Perform interactive repairs
+ -a Perform automatic repairs
+ -v verbose
+ -s Outputs super-block information
+ -m Activates MINIX-like "mode not cleared" warnings
+ -f Force file system check.
=item mkfs.minix
Make a MINIX filesystem.
-Options:
-
- -c Check the device for bad blocks
- -n [14|30] Specify the maximum length of filenames
- -i Specify the number of inodes for the filesystem
- -l FILENAME Read the bad blocks list from FILENAME
- -v Make a Minix version 2 filesystem
+OPTIONS:
+ -c Check the device for bad blocks
+ -n [14|30] Specify the maximum length of filenames
+ -i Specify the number of inodes for the filesystem
+ -l FILENAME Read the bad blocks list from FILENAME
+ -v Make a Minix version 2 filesystem
=item grep
+Usage: grep [OPTIONS]... PATTERN [FILE]...
+
+Search for PATTERN in each FILE or standard input.
+
+OPTIONS:
+ -h suppress the prefixing filename on output
+ -i ignore case distinctions
+ -n print line number with output lines
+ -q be quiet. Returns 0 if result was found, 1 otherwise
+
+This version of grep matches full regular expresions.
+Example:
+
+ $ grep root /etc/passwd
+ root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
+ $ grep ^[rR]oo. /etc/passwd
+ root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
+
=item head
-Usage: Usage: head [FILE]...
+Usage: head [OPTION] [FILE]...
Print first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.
With more than one FILE, precede each with a header giving the
file name. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
-
+
+Options:
+ -n NUM Print first NUM lines instead of first 10
+
+Example:
+
+ $ head -n 2 /etc/passwd
+ root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
+ daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh
=item hostname
Get or set the hostname or DNS domain name. If a hostname is given
(or a file with the -F parameter), the host name will be set.
-
+
Options:
+ -s Short
+ -i Addresses for the hostname
+ -d DNS domain name
+ -F FILE Use the contents of FILE to specify the hostname
- -s Short
- -i Addresses for the hostname
- -d DNS domain name
- -F FILE Use the contents of FILE to specify the hostname
-
+Example:
+
+ $ hostname
+ slag
=item kill
+Usage: kill [-signal] process-id [process-id ...]
+Send a signal (default is SIGTERM) to the specified process(es).
+
+Options:
+ -l List all signal names and numbers.
+
+Example:
+
+ $ ps | grep apache
+ 252 root root S [apache]
+ 263 www-data www-data S [apache]
+ 264 www-data www-data S [apache]
+ 265 www-data www-data S [apache]
+ 266 www-data www-data S [apache]
+ 267 www-data www-data S [apache]
+ $ kill 252
=item ln
projects / oweals / busybox.git / commitdiff