blob: 17e7722a69e68f50a257590920d727401c1054a7 [file] [log] [blame]
Eric Andersencc8ed391999-10-05 16:24:54 +00001Please see the LICENSE file for copyright information.
Erik Andersen330fd2b2000-05-19 05:35:19 +00002
3BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single
4small executable. It provides minimalist replacements for most of the utilities
5you usually find in fileutils, shellutils, findutils, textutils, grep, gzip,
6tar, etc. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or
7emdedded system. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options then
8their full featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide
9the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts.
Eric Andersencc8ed391999-10-05 16:24:54 +000010
Erik Andersen330fd2b2000-05-19 05:35:19 +000011BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.
12It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or
13features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded
14systems. To create a working system, just add a kernel, a shell (such as ash),
15and an editor (such as elvis-tiny or ae).
Eric Andersencc8ed391999-10-05 16:24:54 +000016
Erik Andersen330fd2b2000-05-19 05:35:19 +000017Busybox was originally written to support the Debian Rescue/Install disks, but
18it also makes an excellent environment for any small or embedded system.
Eric Andersencc8ed391999-10-05 16:24:54 +000019
Erik Andersen330fd2b2000-05-19 05:35:19 +000020As of version 0.20 there is a version number. : ) Also as of version 0.20,
21BusyBox is now modularized to easily allow you to build only the components you
22need, thereby reducing binary size. To turn off unwanted Busybox components,
23simply edit the file busybox.def.h and comment out the components you do not
24need using C++ style (//) comments.
25
26After the build is complete a busybox.links file is generated which is then
27used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the busybox binary for all
28compiled in functions. By default, 'make install' will place the symlink
29forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment
30variable (i.e. make PREFIX="/tmp/foo" install)
Eric Andersencc8ed391999-10-05 16:24:54 +000031
Eric Andersena29dec22000-06-22 00:19:33 +000032----------------
33Getting help:
34When you find you need help, you can check out the BusyBox mailing list
35archives at http://opensource.lineo.com/lists/busybox/ or even join
36the mailing list if you are interested.
37
38----------------
39Bugs:
40If you find bugs, follow the instructions at http://bugs.lineo.com/Reporting.html
41and submit a bug report. This way, we can be sure nothing falls through the
42cracks...
43
44----------------
45FTP:
46Source for the latest released version can always be downloaded from
47 ftp://ftp.lineo.com/pub/busybox.
48
49----------------
50CVS:
51BusyBox now has its own publically browsable CVS tree at:
52 http://opensource.lineo.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb/busybox/
53
54Anonymous CVS access is available. For instructions, check out:
55 http://opensource.lineo.com/cvs_anon.html
56
57For those that are actively contributing there is even CVS write access:
58 http://opensource.lineo.com/cvs_write.html
59
60
61----------------
62
Eric Andersended62591999-11-18 00:19:26 +000063Please feed suggestions, bug reports, insults, and bribes back to:
64 Erik Andersen
65 <andersen@lineo.com>
Eric Andersen664584b1999-12-11 23:25:59 +000066 <andersee@debian.org>
Eric Andersencc8ed391999-10-05 16:24:54 +000067
Eric Andersen84b00921999-12-11 04:16:51 +000068<blatent plug>
69Many thanks to go to Lineo for paying me to work on busybox.
70</blatent plug>
71