BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux
busybox <applet> [arguments...] # or
<applet> [arguments...] # if symlinked
BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities you usually find in GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts.
BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind. It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded system.
BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable. Then run 'make' to compile BusyBox using your configuration.
After the compile has finished, you should use 'make install' to install BusyBox. This will install the 'bin/busybox' binary, in the target directory specified by CONFIG_PREFIX. CONFIG_PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox, or you can specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a command line like 'make CONFIG_PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled any applet installation scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will also be installed in the location pointed to by CONFIG_PREFIX.
BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program that performs the same job as more than one utility program. That means there is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large number of utilities. This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common operations.
You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the command line. For example, entering
/bin/busybox ls
will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.
Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary.
For example, entering
ln -s /bin/busybox ls
./ls
will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run the 'make install' command.
If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary.
Most BusyBox applets support the --help argument to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available.
Currently available applets include:
[, [[, arp, arping, ash, awk, basename, blkid, cat, chmod, chown,
chroot, clear, cmp, cp, crond, cut, date, dd, df, dirname, dmesg,
du, e2fsck, echo, egrep, env, ether-wake, expr, fdisk, fgrep, find,
flock, free, fsck.ext2, fsck.ext3, fsync, ftpget, ftpput, grep,
gunzip, gzip, head, ifconfig, insmod, kill, killall, klogd, less,
ln, logger, login, ls, lsmod, lsusb, md5sum, mkdir, mkdosfs, mke2fs,
mkfs.ext2, mkfs.ext3, mkfs.vfat, mknod, mkswap, modprobe, more,
mount, mv, nc, netstat, nice, nohup, nslookup, pidof, ping, ping6,
pivot_root, printf, ps, pscan, pwd, rm, rmdir, rmmod, route, sed,
sendmail, setconsole, sh, sleep, sort, strings, swapoff, swapon,
sync, syslogd, tail, tar, telnet, telnetd, test, top, touch, tr,
traceroute, traceroute6, true, tune2fs, udhcpc, umount, uname,
unzip, uptime, usleep, vconfig, vi, watch, wc, wget, which, zcat
| arp | |
| [-vn] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -a [HOSTNAME] |
| [-v] | [-i IF] -d HOSTNAME [pub] |
| [-v] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -s HOSTNAME HWADDR [temp] |
| [-v] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -s HOSTNAME HWADDR [netmask MASK] pub |
| [-v] | [-H HWTYPE] [-i IF] -Ds HOSTNAME IFACE [netmask MASK] pub |
Manipulate ARP cache
Options:
-a Display (all) hosts
-s Set new ARP entry
-d Delete a specified entry
-v Verbose
-n Don't resolve names
-i IF Network interface
-D Read <hwaddr> from given device
-A,-p AF Protocol family
-H HWTYPE Hardware address type
arping [-fqbDUA] [-c CNT] [-w TIMEOUT] [-I IFACE] [-s SRC_IP] DST_IP
Send ARP requests/replies
Options:
-f Quit on first ARP reply
-q Quiet
-b Keep broadcasting, don't go unicast
-D Duplicated address detection mode
-U Unsolicited ARP mode, update your neighbors
-A ARP answer mode, update your neighbors
-c N Stop after sending N ARP requests
-w TIMEOUT Time to wait for ARP reply, seconds
-I IFACE Interface to use (default eth0)
-s SRC_IP Sender IP address
DST_IP Target IP address
awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]...
Options:
-v VAR=VAL Set variable
-F SEP Use SEP as field separator
-f FILE Read program from FILE
basename FILE [SUFFIX]
Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE
blkid
Print UUIDs of all filesystems
cat [FILE]...
Concatenate FILEs and print them to stdout
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
Options:
-R Recurse
chown [-RhLHP]... OWNER[<.|:>[GROUP]] FILE...
Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP
Options:
-R Recurse
-h Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
-L Traverse all symlinks to directories
-H Traverse symlinks on command line only
-P Don't traverse symlinks (default)
chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]
Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT
clear
Clear screen
cmp [-l] [-s] FILE1 [FILE2]
Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)
Options:
-l Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
for all differing bytes
-s Quiet
cp [OPTIONS] SOURCE DEST
Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
Options:
-a Same as -dpR
-R,-r Recurse
-d,-P Preserve symlinks (default if -R)
-L Follow all symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-p Preserve file attributes if possible
-f Overwrite
-i Prompt before overwrite
-l,-s Create (sym)links
crond -fbS -l N -L LOGFILE -c DIR
-f Foreground
-b Background (default)
-S Log to syslog (default)
-l Set log level. 0 is the most verbose, default 8
-L Log to file
-c Working dir
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout
Options:
-b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
-c LIST Output only characters from LIST
-d CHAR Use CHAR instead of tab as the field delimiter
-s Output only the lines containing delimiter
-f N Print only these fields
-n Ignored
date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [TIME]
Display time (using +FMT), or set time
Options:
[-s,--set] TIME Set time to TIME
-u,--utc Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
-R,--rfc-2822 Output RFC-2822 compliant date string
-I[SPEC] Output ISO-8601 compliant date string
SPEC='date' (default) for date only,
'hours', 'minutes', or 'seconds' for date and
time to the indicated precision
-r,--reference FILE Display last modification time of FILE
-d,--date TIME Display TIME, not 'now'
-D FMT Use FMT for -d TIME conversion
Recognized TIME formats:
hh:mm[:ss]
[YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss]
YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]
[[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss]
| dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N] [obs=N] [bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N] | |
| [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync] |
Copy a file with converting and formatting
Options:
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
ibs=N Read N bytes at a time
obs=N 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
conv=notrunc Don't truncate output file
conv=noerror Continue after read errors
conv=sync Pad blocks with zeros
conv=fsync Physically write data out before finishing
Numbers may be suffixed by c (x1), w (x2), b (x512), kD (x1000), k (x1024), MD (x1000000), M (x1048576), GD (x1000000000) or G (x1073741824)
df [-Pkmh] [FILESYSTEM]...
Print filesystem usage statistics
Options:
-P POSIX output format
-k 1024-byte blocks (default)
-m 1M-byte blocks
-h Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
dirname FILENAME
Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME
dmesg [-c] [-n LEVEL] [-s SIZE]
Print or control the kernel ring buffer
Options:
-c Clear ring buffer after printing
-n LEVEL Set console logging level
-s SIZE Buffer size
du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...
Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory. Disk space is printed in units of 1024 bytes.
Options:
-a Show file sizes too
-L Follow all symlinks
-H Follow symlinks on command line
-d N Limit output to directories (and files with -a) of depth < N
-c Show grand total
-l Count sizes many times if hard linked
-s Display only a total for each argument
-x Skip directories on different filesystems
-h Sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G )
-m Sizes in megabytes
-k Sizes in kilobytes (default)
e2fsck [-panyrcdfvstDFSV] [-b superblock] [-B blocksize] [-I inode_buffer_blocks] [-P process_inode_size] [-l|-L bad_blocks_file] [-C fd] [-j external_journal] [-E extended-options] device
Check ext2/ext3 file system
Options:
-p Automatic repair (no questions)
-n Make no changes to the filesystem
-y Assume 'yes' to all questions
-c Check for bad blocks and add them to the badblock list
-f Force checking even if filesystem is marked clean
-v Verbose
-b superblock Use alternative superblock
-B blocksize Force blocksize when looking for superblock
-j journal Set location of the external journal
-l file Add to badblocks list
-L file Set badblocks list
echo [-neE] [ARG]...
Print the specified ARGs to stdout
Options:
-n Suppress trailing newline
-e Interpret backslash escapes (i.e., \t=tab)
-E Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)
env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [PROG ARGS]
Print the current environment or run PROG after setting up the specified environment
Options:
-, -i Start with an empty environment
-u Remove variable from the environment
ether-wake [-b] [-i iface] [-p aa:bb:cc:dd[:ee:ff]] MAC
Send a magic packet to wake up sleeping machines. MAC must be a station address (00:11:22:33:44:55) or a hostname with a known 'ethers' entry.
Options:
-b Send wake-up packet to the broadcast address
-i iface Interface to use (default eth0)
-p pass Append four or six byte password PW to the packet
expr EXPRESSION
Print the value of EXPRESSION to stdout
EXPRESSION may be:
ARG1 | ARG2 ARG1 if it is neither null nor 0, otherwise ARG2
ARG1 & ARG2 ARG1 if neither argument is null or 0, otherwise 0
ARG1 < ARG2 1 if ARG1 is less than ARG2, else 0. Similarly:
ARG1 <= ARG2
ARG1 = ARG2
ARG1 != ARG2
ARG1 >= ARG2
ARG1 > ARG2
ARG1 + ARG2 Sum of ARG1 and ARG2. Similarly:
ARG1 - ARG2
ARG1 * ARG2
ARG1 / ARG2
ARG1 % ARG2
STRING : REGEXP Anchored pattern match of REGEXP in STRING
match STRING REGEXP Same as STRING : REGEXP
substr STRING POS LENGTH Substring of STRING, POS counted from 1
index STRING CHARS Index in STRING where any CHARS is found, or 0
length STRING Length of STRING
quote TOKEN Interpret TOKEN as a string, even if
it is a keyword like 'match' or an
operator like '/'
(EXPRESSION) Value of EXPRESSION
Beware that many operators need to be escaped or quoted for shells. Comparisons are arithmetic if both ARGs are numbers, else lexicographical. Pattern matches return the string matched between \( and \) or null; if \( and \) are not used, they return the number of characters matched or 0.
fdisk [-ul] [-C CYLINDERS] [-H HEADS] [-S SECTORS] [-b SSZ] DISK
Change partition table
Options:
-u Start and End are in sectors (instead of cylinders)
-l Show partition table for each DISK, then exit
-b 2048 (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
-C CYLINDERS Set number of cylinders/heads/sectors
-H HEADS
-S SECTORS
find [PATH]... [EXPRESSION]
Search for files. The default PATH is the current directory, default EXPRESSION is '-print'
EXPRESSION may consist of:
-follow Follow symlinks
-mindepth N Don't act on first N levels
-name PATTERN File name (w/o directory name) matches PATTERN
-iname PATTERN Case insensitive -name
-print Print (default and assumed)
-print0 Delimit output with null characters rather than
newlines
-exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by the
matching files
flock [-sxun] FD|{FILE [-c] PROG ARGS}
[Un]lock file descriptor, or lock FILE, run PROG
Options:
-s Shared lock
-x Exclusive lock (default)
-u Unlock FD
-n Fail rather than wait
free
Display the amount of free and used system memory
fsck.ext2 [-panyrcdfvstDFSV] [-b superblock] [-B blocksize] [-I inode_buffer_blocks] [-P process_inode_size] [-l|-L bad_blocks_file] [-C fd] [-j external_journal] [-E extended-options] device
Check ext2/ext3 file system
Options:
-p Automatic repair (no questions)
-n Make no changes to the filesystem
-y Assume 'yes' to all questions
-c Check for bad blocks and add them to the badblock list
-f Force checking even if filesystem is marked clean
-v Verbose
-b superblock Use alternative superblock
-B blocksize Force blocksize when looking for superblock
-j journal Set location of the external journal
-l file Add to badblocks list
-L file Set badblocks list
fsck.ext3 [-panyrcdfvstDFSV] [-b superblock] [-B blocksize] [-I inode_buffer_blocks] [-P process_inode_size] [-l|-L bad_blocks_file] [-C fd] [-j external_journal] [-E extended-options] device
Check ext2/ext3 file system
Options:
-p Automatic repair (no questions)
-n Make no changes to the filesystem
-y Assume 'yes' to all questions
-c Check for bad blocks and add them to the badblock list
-f Force checking even if filesystem is marked clean
-v Verbose
-b superblock Use alternative superblock
-B blocksize Force blocksize when looking for superblock
-j journal Set location of the external journal
-l file Add to badblocks list
-L file Set badblocks list
fsync [-d] FILE...
Write files' buffered blocks to disk
Options:
-d Avoid syncing metadata
ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE
Retrieve a remote file via FTP
Options:
-c Continue previous transfer
-v Verbose
-u Username
-p Password
-P Port number
ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE
Store a local file on a remote machine via FTP
Options:
-v Verbose
-u Username
-p Password
-P Port number
grep [-HhnlLoqvsriwFE] [-m N] [-A/B/C N] PATTERN/-e PATTERN.../-f FILE [FILE]...
Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)
Options:
-H Add 'filename:' prefix
-h Do not add 'filename:' prefix
-n Add 'line_no:' prefix
-l Show only names of files that match
-L Show only names of files that don't match
-c Show only count of matching lines
-o Show only the matching part of line
-q Quiet. Return 0 if PATTERN is found, 1 otherwise
-v Select non-matching lines
-s Suppress open and read errors
-r Recurse
-i Ignore case
-w Match whole words only
-F PATTERN is a literal (not regexp)
-E PATTERN is an extended regexp
-m N Match up to N times per file
-A N Print N lines of trailing context
-B N Print N lines of leading context
-C N Same as '-A N -B N'
-e PTRN Pattern to match
-f FILE Read pattern from file
gunzip [-cft] [FILE]...
Decompress FILEs (or stdin)
Options:
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
-t Test file integrity
gzip [-cfd] [FILE]...
Compress FILEs (or stdin)
Options:
-d Decompress
-c Write to stdout
-f Force
head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print first 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.
Options:
-n N[kbm] Print first N lines
-c N[kbm] Print first N bytes
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers
N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).
ifconfig [-a] interface [address]
Configure a network interface
Options:
[add ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
[del ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
[[-]broadcast [ADDRESS]] [[-]pointopoint [ADDRESS]]
[netmask ADDRESS] [dstaddr ADDRESS]
[hw ether ADDRESS] [metric NN] [mtu NN]
[[-]trailers] [[-]arp] [[-]allmulti]
[multicast] [[-]promisc] [txqueuelen NN] [[-]dynamic]
[up|down] ...
insmod FILE [SYMBOL=VALUE]...
Load the specified kernel modules into the kernel
kill [-l] [-SIG] PID...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs
Options:
-l List all signal names and numbers
killall [-l] [-q] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...
Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes
Options:
-l List all signal names and numbers
-q Don't complain if no processes were killed
klogd [-c N] [-n]
Kernel logger
Options:
-c N Only messages with level < N are printed to console
-n Run in foreground
less [-EMNmh~I?] [FILE]...
View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time
Options:
-E Quit once the end of a file is reached
-M,-m Display status line with line numbers
and percentage through the file
-N Prefix line number to each line
-I Ignore case in all searches
-~ Suppress ~s displayed past the end of the file
ln [OPTIONS] TARGET... LINK|DIR
Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s)
Options:
-s Make symlinks instead of hardlinks
-f Remove existing destinations
-n Don't dereference symlinks - treat like normal file
-b Make a backup of the target (if exists) before link operation
-S suf Use suffix instead of ~ when making backup files
logger [OPTIONS] [MESSAGE]
Write MESSAGE (or stdin) to syslog
Options:
-s Log to stderr as well as the system log
-t TAG Log using the specified tag (defaults to user name)
-p PRIO Priority (numeric or facility.level pair)
login [-p] [-h HOST] [[-f] USER]
Begin a new session on the system
Options:
-f Don't authenticate (user already authenticated)
-h Name of the remote host
-p Preserve environment
ls [-1AacCdeFilnpLRrSsTtuvwxXhk] [FILE]...
List directory contents
Options:
-1 List in a single column
-A Don't list . and ..
-a Don't hide entries starting with .
-C List by columns
-c With -l: sort by ctime
--color[={always,never,auto}] Control coloring
-d List directory entries instead of contents
-e List full date and time
-F Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
-i List inode numbers
-l Long listing format
-n List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
-p Append indicator (one of /=@|) to entries
-L List entries pointed to by symlinks
-R Recurse
-r Sort in reverse order
-S Sort by file size
-s List the size of each file, in blocks
-T N Assume tabstop every N columns
-t With -l: sort by modification time
-u With -l: sort by access time
-v Sort by version
-w N Assume the terminal is N columns wide
-x List by lines
-X Sort by extension
-h List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
lsmod
List the currently loaded kernel modules
md5sum [FILE]...
Print MD5 checksums
mkdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Create DIRECTORY
Options:
-m MODE Mode
-p No error if exists; make parent directories as needed
mkdosfs [-v] [-n LABEL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]
Make a FAT32 filesystem
Options:
-v Verbose
-n LBL Volume label
mke2fs [-c|-l filename] [-b block-size] [-f fragment-size] [-g blocks-per-group] [-i bytes-per-inode] [-j] [-J journal-options] [-N number-of-inodes] [-n] [-m reserved-blocks-percentage] [-o creator-os] [-O feature[,...]] [-q] [r fs-revision-level] [-E extended-options] [-v] [-F] [-L volume-label] [-M last-mounted-directory] [-S] [-T filesystem-type] device [blocks-count]
-b size Block size in bytes
-c Check for bad blocks before creating
-E opts Set extended options
-f size Fragment size in bytes
-F Force (ignore sanity checks)
-g num Number of blocks in a block group
-i ratio The bytes/inode ratio
-j Create a journal (ext3)
-J opts Set journal options (size/device)
-l file Read bad blocks list from file
-L lbl Set the volume label
-m percent Percent of fs blocks to reserve for admin
-M dir Set last mounted directory
-n Do not actually create anything
-N num Number of inodes to create
-o os Set the 'creator os' field
-O features Dir_index/filetype/has_journal/journal_dev/sparse_super
-q Quiet
-r rev Set filesystem revision
-S Write superblock and group descriptors only
-T fs-type Set usage type (news/largefile/largefile4)
-v Verbose
mkfs.ext2 [-c|-l filename] [-b block-size] [-f fragment-size] [-g blocks-per-group] [-i bytes-per-inode] [-j] [-J journal-options] [-N number-of-inodes] [-n] [-m reserved-blocks-percentage] [-o creator-os] [-O feature[,...]] [-q] [r fs-revision-level] [-E extended-options] [-v] [-F] [-L volume-label] [-M last-mounted-directory] [-S] [-T filesystem-type] device [blocks-count]
-b size Block size in bytes
-c Check for bad blocks before creating
-E opts Set extended options
-f size Fragment size in bytes
-F Force (ignore sanity checks)
-g num Number of blocks in a block group
-i ratio The bytes/inode ratio
-j Create a journal (ext3)
-J opts Set journal options (size/device)
-l file Read bad blocks list from file
-L lbl Set the volume label
-m percent Percent of fs blocks to reserve for admin
-M dir Set last mounted directory
-n Do not actually create anything
-N num Number of inodes to create
-o os Set the 'creator os' field
-O features Dir_index/filetype/has_journal/journal_dev/sparse_super
-q Quiet
-r rev Set filesystem revision
-S Write superblock and group descriptors only
-T fs-type Set usage type (news/largefile/largefile4)
-v Verbose
mkfs.ext3 [-c|-l filename] [-b block-size] [-f fragment-size] [-g blocks-per-group] [-i bytes-per-inode] [-j] [-J journal-options] [-N number-of-inodes] [-n] [-m reserved-blocks-percentage] [-o creator-os] [-O feature[,...]] [-q] [r fs-revision-level] [-E extended-options] [-v] [-F] [-L volume-label] [-M last-mounted-directory] [-S] [-T filesystem-type] device [blocks-count]
-b size Block size in bytes
-c Check for bad blocks before creating
-E opts Set extended options
-f size Fragment size in bytes
-F Force (ignore sanity checks)
-g num Number of blocks in a block group
-i ratio The bytes/inode ratio
-j Create a journal (ext3)
-J opts Set journal options (size/device)
-l file Read bad blocks list from file
-L lbl Set the volume label
-m percent Percent of fs blocks to reserve for admin
-M dir Set last mounted directory
-n Do not actually create anything
-N num Number of inodes to create
-o os Set the 'creator os' field
-O features Dir_index/filetype/has_journal/journal_dev/sparse_super
-q Quiet
-r rev Set filesystem revision
-S Write superblock and group descriptors only
-T fs-type Set usage type (news/largefile/largefile4)
-v Verbose
mkfs.vfat [-v] [-n LABEL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]
Make a FAT32 filesystem
Options:
-v Verbose
-n LBL Volume label
mknod [-m MODE] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR
Create a special file (block, character, or pipe)
Options:
-m MODE Creation mode (default a=rw)
TYPE:
b Block device
c or u Character device
p Named pipe (MAJOR and MINOR are ignored)
mkswap [-L LBL] BLOCKDEV [KBYTES]
Prepare BLOCKDEV to be used as swap partition
Options:
-L LBL Label
modprobe [-alrqvs] MODULE [symbol=value]...
Options:
-a Load multiple MODULEs
-l List (MODULE is a pattern)
-r Remove MODULE (stacks) or do autoclean
-q Quiet
-v Verbose
-s Log to syslog
more [FILE]...
View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time
mount [OPTIONS] [-o OPTS] DEVICE NODE
Mount a filesystem. Filesystem autodetection requires /proc.
Options:
-a Mount all filesystems in fstab
-i Don't run mount helper
-r Read-only mount
-w Read-write mount (default)
-t FSTYPE Filesystem type
-O OPT Mount only filesystems with option OPT (-a only)
-o OPT:
loop Ignored (loop devices are autodetected)
[a]sync Writes are [a]synchronous
[no]atime Disable/enable updates to inode access times
[no]diratime Disable/enable atime updates to directories
[no]relatime Disable/enable atime updates relative to modification time
[no]dev (Dis)allow use of special device files
[no]exec (Dis)allow use of executable files
[no]suid (Dis)allow set-user-id-root programs
[r]shared Convert [recursively] to a shared subtree
[r]slave Convert [recursively] to a slave subtree
[r]private Convert [recursively] to a private subtree
[un]bindable Make mount point [un]able to be bind mounted
bind Bind a file or directory to another location
move Relocate an existing mount point
remount Remount a mounted filesystem, changing flags
ro/rw Same as -r/-w
There are filesystem-specific -o flags.
mv [-fin] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... DIRECTORY
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY
Options:
-f Don't prompt before overwriting
-i Interactive, prompt before overwrite
-n Don't overwrite an existing file
nc [-iN] [-wN] [-f FILE|IPADDR PORT] [-e PROG]
Open a pipe to IP:PORT or FILE
Options:
-e PROG Run PROG after connect
-w SEC Timeout for connect
-i SEC Delay interval for lines sent
-f FILE Use file (ala /dev/ttyS0) instead of network
netstat [-ral] [-tuwx] [-enW]
Display networking information
Options:
-r Routing table
-a All sockets
-l Listening sockets
Else: connected sockets
-t TCP sockets
-u UDP sockets
-w Raw sockets
-x Unix sockets
Else: all socket types
-e Other/more information
-n Don't resolve names
-W Wide display
nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG ARGS]
Change scheduling priority, run PROG
Options:
-n ADJUST Adjust priority by ADJUST
nohup PROG ARGS
Run PROG immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty
nslookup [HOST] [SERVER]
Query the nameserver for the IP address of the given HOST optionally using a specified DNS server
pidof [NAME]...
List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs
ping [OPTIONS] HOST
Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
Options:
-4,-6 Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
-c CNT Send only CNT pings
-s SIZE Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
-I IFACE/IP Use interface or IP address as source
-W SEC Seconds to wait for the first response (default:10)
(after all -c CNT packets are sent)
-w SEC Seconds until ping exits (default:infinite)
(can exit earlier with -c CNT)
-q Quiet, only displays output at start
and when finished
ping6 [OPTIONS] HOST
Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
Options:
-c CNT Send only CNT pings
-s SIZE Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
-I IFACE/IP Use interface or IP address as source
-q Quiet, only displays output at start
and when finished
pivot_root NEW_ROOT PUT_OLD
Move the current root file system to PUT_OLD and make NEW_ROOT the new root file system
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
Format and print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT, where FORMAT controls the output exactly as in C printf
ps
Show list of processes
Options:
w Wide output
pscan [-cb] [-p MIN_PORT] [-P MAX_PORT] [-t TIMEOUT] [-T MIN_RTT] HOST
Scan a host, print all open ports
Options:
-c Show closed ports too
-b Show blocked ports too
-p Scan from this port (default 1)
-P Scan up to this port (default 1024)
-t Timeout (default 5000 ms)
-T Minimum rtt (default 5 ms, increase for congested hosts)
pwd
Print the full filename of the current working directory
rm [-irf] FILE...
Remove (unlink) FILEs
Options:
-i Always prompt before removing
-f Never prompt
-R,-r Recurse
rmdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...
Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty
Options:
-p Include parents
rmmod [-wfa] [MODULE]...
Unload kernel modules
Options:
-w Wait until the module is no longer used
-f Force unload
-a Remove all unused modules (recursively)
route [{add|del|delete}]
Edit kernel routing tables
Options:
-n Don't resolve names
-e Display other/more information
-A inet{6} Select address family
sed [-efinr] SED_CMD [FILE]...
Options:
-e CMD Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
-f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
-i Edit files in-place (else sends result to stdout)
-n Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
-r Use extended regex syntax
If no -e or -f, the first non-option argument is the sed command string. Remaining arguments are input files (stdin if none).
sendmail [OPTIONS] [RECIPIENT_EMAIL]...
Read email from stdin and send it
Standard options:
-t Read additional recipients from message body
-f sender Sender (required)
-o options Various options. -oi implied, others are ignored
-i -oi synonym. implied and ignored
Busybox specific options:
-w seconds Network timeout
-H 'PROG ARGS' Run connection helper
Examples:
-H 'exec openssl s_client -quiet -tls1 -starttls smtp
-connect smtp.gmail.com:25' <email.txt
[4<username_and_passwd.txt | -au<username> -ap<password>]
-H 'exec openssl s_client -quiet -tls1
-connect smtp.gmail.com:465' <email.txt
[4<username_and_passwd.txt | -au<username> -ap<password>]
-S server[:port] Server
-au<username> Username for AUTH LOGIN
-ap<password> Password for AUTH LOGIN
-am<method> Authentication method. Ignored. LOGIN is implied
Other options are silently ignored; -oi -t is implied
setconsole [-r] [DEVICE]
Redirect system console output to DEVICE (default: /dev/tty)
Options:
-r Reset output to /dev/console
sleep [N]...
Pause for a time equal to the total of the args given, where each arg can have an optional suffix of (s)econds, (m)inutes, (h)ours, or (d)ays
sort [-nrugMcszbdfimSTokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][opts]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...
Sort lines of text
Options:
-b Ignore leading blanks
-c Check whether input is sorted
-d Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only)
-f Ignore case
-g General numerical sort
-i Ignore unprintable characters
-k Sort key
-M Sort month
-n Sort numbers
-o Output to file
-k Sort by key
-t CHAR Key separator
-r Reverse sort order
-s Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically)
-u Suppress duplicate lines
-z Lines are terminated by NUL, not newline
-mST Ignored for GNU compatibility
strings [-afo] [-n LEN] [FILE]...
Display printable strings in a binary file
Options:
-a Scan whole file (default)
-f Precede strings with filenames
-n LEN At least LEN characters form a string (default 4)
-o Precede strings with decimal offsets
swapoff [-a] [DEVICE]
Stop swapping on DEVICE
Options:
-a Stop swapping on all swap devices
swapon [-a] [DEVICE]
Start swapping on DEVICE
Options:
-a Start swapping on all swap devices
sync
Write all buffered blocks to disk
syslogd [OPTIONS]
System logging utility. This version of syslogd ignores /etc/syslog.conf
Options:
-n Run in foreground
-O FILE Log to given file (default:/var/log/messages)
-l N Set local log level
-S Smaller logging output
-s SIZE Max size (KB) before rotate (default:200KB, 0=off)
-b N N rotated logs to keep (default:1, max=99, 0=purge)
-R HOST[:PORT] Log to IP or hostname on PORT (default PORT=514/UDP)
-L Log locally and via network (default is network only if -R)
tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Print last 10 lines of each FILE (or stdin) to stdout. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.
Options:
-f Print data as file grows
-s SECONDS Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
-n N[kbm] Print last N lines
-c N[kbm] Print last N bytes
-q Never print headers
-v Always print headers
N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2). If N starts with a '+', output begins with the Nth item from the start of each file, not from the end.
tar -[cxtzjvO] [-X FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...
Create, extract, or list files from a tar file
Operation:
c Create
x Extract
t List
Options:
f Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
C Change to DIR before operation
v Verbose
z (De)compress using gzip
j (De)compress using bzip2
O Extract to stdout
h Follow symlinks
X File with names to exclude
T File with names to include
telnet HOST [PORT]
Connect to telnet server
telnetd [OPTIONS]
Handle incoming telnet connections
Options:
-l LOGIN Exec LOGIN on connect
-f ISSUE_FILE Display ISSUE_FILE instead of /etc/issue
-K Close connection as soon as login exits
(normally wait until all programs close slave pty)
-p PORT Port to listen on
-b ADDR[:PORT] Address to bind to
-F Run in foreground
-i Inetd mode
test EXPRESSION ]
Check file types, compare values etc. Return a 0/1 exit code depending on logical value of EXPRESSION
top [-b] [-nCOUNT] [-dSECONDS]
Provide a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and display a screenful of them.
touch [-c] [-d DATE] [-r FILE] FILE [FILE]...
Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s]
Options:
-c Don't create files
-d DT Date/time to use
-r FILE Use FILE's date/time
tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]
Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from stdin, writing to stdout
Options:
-c Take complement of STRING1
-d Delete input characters coded STRING1
-s Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character
| traceroute [-46FIldnrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-p PORT] [-q PROBES] | |
| [-s SRC_IP] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-g GATEWAY] [-i IFACE] | |
| [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES] |
Trace the route to HOST
Options:
-4,-6 Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
-F Set the don't fragment bit
-I Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams
-l Display the TTL value of the returned packet
-d Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
-n Print numeric addresses
-r Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
-v Verbose
-m Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
-p Base UDP port number used in probes
(default 33434)
-q Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
-s IP address to use as the source address
-t Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
-w Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)
-g Loose source route gateway (8 max)
| traceroute6 [-dnrv] [-m MAXTTL] [-p PORT] [-q PROBES] | |
| [-s SRC_IP] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-i IFACE] | |
| HOST [BYTES] |
Trace the route to HOST
Options:
-d Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
-n Print numeric addresses
-r Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
-v Verbose
-m Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
-p Base UDP port number used in probes
(default is 33434)
-q Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
-s IP address to use as the source address
-t Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
-w Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)
true
Return an exit code of TRUE (0)
tune2fs [-c MOUNT_CNT] [-i DAYS] [-L LABEL] BLOCKDEV
Adjust filesystem options on ext[23] filesystems
| udhcpc [-fbnqoCRB] [-i IFACE] [-r IP] [-s PROG] [-p PIDFILE] | |
| [-H HOSTNAME] [-V VENDOR] [-x OPT:VAL]... [-O OPT]... |
-i,--interface IFACE Interface to use (default eth0)
-p,--pidfile FILE Create pidfile
-s,--script PROG Run PROG at DHCP events (default )
-B,--broadcast Request broadcast replies
-t,--retries N Send up to N discover packets
-T,--timeout N Pause between packets (default 3 seconds)
-A,--tryagain N Wait N seconds after failure (default 20)
-f,--foreground Run in foreground
-b,--background Background if lease is not obtained
-n,--now Exit if lease is not obtained
-q,--quit Exit after obtaining lease
-R,--release Release IP on exit
-S,--syslog Log to syslog too
-O,--request-option OPT Request option OPT from server (cumulative)
-o,--no-default-options Don't request any options (unless -O is given)
-r,--request IP Request this IP address
-x OPT:VAL Include option OPT in sent packets (cumulative)
Examples of string, numeric, and hex byte opts:
-x hostname:bbox - option 12
-x lease:3600 - option 51 (lease time)
-x 0x3d:0100BEEFC0FFEE - option 61 (client id)
-F,--fqdn NAME Ask server to update DNS mapping for NAME
-H,-h,--hostname NAME Send NAME as client hostname (default none)
-V,--vendorclass VENDOR Vendor identifier (default 'udhcp VERSION')
-C,--clientid-none Don't send MAC as client identifier
Signals:
USR1 Renew current lease
USR2 Release current lease
umount [OPTIONS] FILESYSTEM|DIRECTORY
Unmount file systems
Options:
-r Try to remount devices as read-only if mount is busy
-l Lazy umount (detach filesystem)
-f Force umount (i.e., unreachable NFS server)
-d Free loop device if it has been used
uname [-amnrspv]
Print system information
Options:
-a Print all
-m The machine (hardware) type
-n Hostname
-r OS release
-s OS name (default)
-p Processor type
-v OS version
unzip [-opts[modifiers]] FILE[.zip] [LIST] [-x XLIST] [-d DIR]
Extract files from ZIP archives
Options:
-l List archive contents (with -q for short form)
-n Never overwrite files (default)
-o Overwrite
-p Send output to stdout
-q Quiet
-x XLST Exclude these files
-d DIR Extract files into DIR
uptime
Display the time since the last boot
usleep N
Pause for N microseconds
vconfig COMMAND [OPTIONS]
Create and remove virtual ethernet devices
Options:
add [interface-name] [vlan_id]
rem [vlan-name]
set_flag [interface-name] [flag-num] [0 | 1]
set_egress_map [vlan-name] [skb_priority] [vlan_qos]
set_ingress_map [vlan-name] [skb_priority] [vlan_qos]
set_name_type [name-type]
vi [OPTIONS] [FILE]...
Edit FILE
Options:
-c Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
-R Read-only
-H Short help regarding available features
watch [-n SEC] [-t] PROG ARGS
Run PROG periodically
Options:
-n Loop period in seconds (default 2)
-t Don't print header
wc [-cmlwL] [FILE]...
Count lines, words, and bytes for each FILE (or stdin)
Options:
-c Count bytes
-m Count characters
-l Count newlines
-w Count words
-L Print longest line length
wget [-csq] [-O FILE] [-Y on/off] [-P DIR] [-U AGENT][-T SEC] URL
Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP
Options:
-s Spider mode - only check file existence
-c Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
-q Quiet
-P DIR Save to DIR (default .)
-T SEC Network read timeout is SEC seconds
-O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
-U STR Use STR for User-Agent header
-Y Use proxy ('on' or 'off')
which [COMMAND]...
Locate a COMMAND
zcat FILE
Decompress to stdout
GNU Libc (glibc) uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the behavior of the C library for the local environment, and to configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group information. This is implemented using an /etc/nsswitch.conf configuration file, and using one or more of the /lib/libnss_* libraries. BusyBox tries to avoid using any libc calls that make use of NSS. Some applets however, such as login and su, will use libc functions that require NSS.
If you enable CONFIG_USE_BB_PWD_GRP, BusyBox will use internal functions to directly access the /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow files without using NSS. This may allow you to run your system without the need for installing any of the NSS configuration files and libraries.
When used with glibc, the BusyBox 'networking' applets will similarly require that you install at least some of the glibc NSS stuff (in particular, /etc/nsswitch.conf, /lib/libnss_dns*, /lib/libnss_files*, and /lib/libresolv*).
Shameless Plug: As an alternative, one could use a C library such as uClibc. In addition to making your system significantly smaller, uClibc does not require the use of any NSS support files or libraries.
Denis Vlasenko <vda.linux@googlemail.com>
The following people have contributed code to BusyBox whether they know it or not. If you have written code included in BusyBox, you should probably be listed here so you can obtain your bit of eternal glory. If you should be listed here, or the description of what you have done needs more detail, or is incorrect, please send in an update.
Emanuele Aina <emanuele.aina@tiscali.it> run-parts
Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>
Tons of new stuff, major rewrite of most of the
core apps, tons of new apps as noted in header files.
Lots of tedious effort writing these boring docs that
nobody is going to actually read.
Laurence Anderson <l.d.anderson@warwick.ac.uk>
rpm2cpio, unzip, get_header_cpio, read_gz interface, rpm
Jeff Angielski <jeff@theptrgroup.com>
ftpput, ftpget
Edward Betts <edward@debian.org>
expr, hostid, logname, whoami
John Beppu <beppu@codepoet.org>
du, nslookup, sort
Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>
tiny-ls(ls)
Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org>
fbset, ping, hostname
Dave Cinege <dcinege@psychosis.com>
more(v2), makedevs, dutmp, modularization, auto links file,
various fixes, Linux Router Project maintenance
Jordan Crouse <jordan@cosmicpenguin.net>
ipcalc
Magnus Damm <damm@opensource.se>
tftp client insmod powerpc support
Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@recycle.lbl.gov>
pristine source directory compilation, lots of patches and fixes.
Glenn Engel <glenne@engel.org>
httpd
Gennady Feldman <gfeldman@gena01.com>
Sysklogd (single threaded syslogd, IPC Circular buffer support,
logread), various fixes.
Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@debian.org>
cp_mv.c, the test suite, various fixes to utility.c, &c.
Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@debian.org>
mktemp.c
Matt Kraai <kraai@alumni.cmu.edu>
documentation, bugfixes, test suite
Stephan Linz <linz@li-pro.net>
ipcalc, Red Hat equivalence
John Lombardo <john@deltanet.com>
tr
Glenn McGrath <bug1@iinet.net.au>
Common unarchiving code and unarchiving applets, ifupdown, ftpgetput,
nameif, sed, patch, fold, install, uudecode.
Various bugfixes, review and apply numerous patches.
Manuel Novoa III <mjn3@codepoet.org>
cat, head, mkfifo, mknod, rmdir, sleep, tee, tty, uniq, usleep, wc, yes,
mesg, vconfig, make_directory, parse_mode, dirname, mode_string,
get_last_path_component, simplify_path, and a number trivial libbb routines
also bug fixes, partial rewrites, and size optimizations in
ash, basename, cal, cmp, cp, df, du, echo, env, ln, logname, md5sum, mkdir,
mv, realpath, rm, sort, tail, touch, uname, watch, arith, human_readable,
interface, dutmp, ifconfig, route
Vladimir Oleynik <dzo@simtreas.ru>
cmdedit; xargs(current), httpd(current);
ports: ash, crond, fdisk, inetd, stty, traceroute, top;
locale, various fixes
and irreconcilable critic of everything not perfect.
Bruce Perens <bruce@pixar.com>
Original author of BusyBox in 1995, 1996. Some of his code can
still be found hiding here and there...
Tim Riker <Tim@Rikers.org>
bug fixes, member of fan club
Kent Robotti <robotti@metconnect.com>
reset, tons and tons of bug reports and patches.
Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com>, <crosenth@covad.com>
wget - Contributed by permission of Covad Communications
Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>
Lots of bugs fixes and patches.
Gyepi Sam <gyepi@praxis-sw.com>
Remote logging feature for syslogd
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>
mkswap, fsck.minix, mkfs.minix
Mark Whitley <markw@codepoet.org>
grep, sed, cut, xargs(previous),
style-guide, new-applet-HOWTO, bug fixes, etc.
Charles P. Wright <cpwright@villagenet.com>
gzip, mini-netcat(nc)
Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es>
tarcat (since removed), loadkmap, various fixes, Debian maintenance
Tito Ragusa <farmatito@tiscali.it>
devfsd and size optimizations in strings, openvt and deallocvt.
Paul Fox <pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us>
vi editing mode for ash, various other patches/fixes
Roberto A. Foglietta <me@roberto.foglietta.name>
port: dnsd
Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>
misc
Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
initial e2fsprogs, printenv, setarch, sum, misc
Jie Zhang <jie.zhang@analog.com>
fixed two bugs in msh and hush (exitcode of killed processes)