NAME

BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux


SYNTAX

 BusyBox <function> [arguments...]  # or
 <function> [arguments...]          # if symlinked


DESCRIPTION

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 fileutils, shellutils, findutils, textutils, grep, gzip, tar, etc. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded system. 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 a kernel, a shell (such as ash), and an editor (such as elvis-tiny or ae).


USAGE

When you create a link to BusyBox for the function you wish to use, when BusyBox is called using that link it will behave as if the command itself has been invoked.

For example, entering

        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 issuing the command as an argument on the command line. For example, entering

        ./BusyBox ls

will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'.


COMMON OPTIONS

Most BusyBox commands support the -h option to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior.


COMMANDS

Currently defined functions include:

adjtimex, ar, basename, busybox, cat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chroot, chvt, clear, cmp, cp, cpio, cut, date, dc, dd, deallocvt, df, dirname, dmesg, dos2unix, dpkg, dpkg-deb, du, dumpkmap, dutmp, echo, expr, false, fbset, fdflush, find, free, freeramdisk, fsck.minix, getopt, grep, gunzip, gzip, halt, head, hostid, hostname, id, ifconfig, init, insmod, kill, killall, klogd, length, ln, loadacm, loadfont, loadkmap, logger, logname, ls, lsmod, makedevs, md5sum, mkdir, mkfifo, mkfs.minix, mknod, mkswap, mktemp, more, mount, mt, mv, nc, nslookup, ping, pivot_root, poweroff, printf, ps, pwd, rdate, readlink, reboot, renice, reset, rm, rmdir, rmmod, route, rpm2cpio, sed, setkeycodes, sh, sleep, sort, stty, swapoff, swapon, sync, syslogd, tail, tar, tee, telnet, test, tftp, touch, tr, true, tty, umount, uname, uniq, unix2dos, update, uptime, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, watchdog, wc, wget, which, whoami, xargs, yes, zcat, [

adjtimex
adjtimex [-q] [-o offset] [-f frequency] [-p timeconstant] [-t tick]

Reads and optionally sets system timebase parameters. See adjtimex(2).

Options:

        -q              quiet mode - do not print
        -o offset       time offset, microseconds
        -f frequency    frequency adjust, integer kernel units (65536 is 1ppm)
                        (positive values make the system clock run fast)
        -t tick         microseconds per tick, usually 10000
        -p timeconstant

-------------------------------

ar
ar -[ov][ptx] ARCHIVE FILES

Extract or list FILES from an ar archive.

Options:

        -o              preserve original dates
        -p              extract to stdout
        -t              list
        -x              extract
        -v              verbosely list files processed

-------------------------------

basename
basename FILE [SUFFIX]

Strips directory path and suffixes from FILE. If specified, also removes any trailing SUFFIX.

Example:

        $ basename /usr/local/bin/foo
        foo
        $ basename /usr/local/bin/
        bin
        $ basename /foo/bar.txt .txt
        bar

-------------------------------

cat
cat [FILE]...

Concatenates FILE(s) and prints them to stdout.

Example:

        $ cat /proc/uptime
        110716.72 17.67

-------------------------------

chgrp
chgrp [OPTION]... GROUP FILE...

Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP.

Options:

        -R      Changes 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

-------------------------------

chmod
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      Changes 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

-------------------------------

chown
chown [ -Rh ]... OWNER[<.|:>[GROUP]] FILE...

Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP.

Options:

        -R      Changes files and directories recursively.
        -h      Do not dereference symbolic links.

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

-------------------------------

chroot
chroot NEWROOT [COMMAND...]

Run COMMAND with root directory set to NEWROOT.

Example:

        $ ls -l /bin/ls
        lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root          12 Apr 13 00:46 /bin/ls -> /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*

-------------------------------

chvt
chvt N

Changes the foreground virtual terminal to /dev/ttyN

-------------------------------

clear
clear

Clear screen.

-------------------------------

cmp
cmp FILE1 [FILE2]
        -s      quiet mode - do not print
Compare files.

-------------------------------

cp
cp [OPTION]... SOURCE DEST

Copies SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

        -a      Same as -dpR
        -d      Preserves links
        -p      Preserves file attributes if possible
        -f      force (implied; ignored) - always set
        -R      Copies directories recursively

-------------------------------

cpio
cpio -[dimtuv][F cpiofile]

Extract or list files from a cpio archive Main operation mode:

        d               make leading directories
        i               extract
        m               preserve mtime
        t               list
        u               unconditional overwrite         F               input from file

-------------------------------

cut
cut [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Prints selected fields from each input FILE to standard output.

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

Example:

        $ echo "Hello world" | cut -f 1 -d ' '
        Hello
        $ echo "Hello world" | cut -f 2 -d ' '
        world

-------------------------------

date
date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]

Displays the current time in the given FORMAT, or sets the system date.

Options:

        -R              Outputs RFC-822 compliant date string
        -d STRING       display time described by STRING, not `now'
        -s              Sets time described by STRING
        -u              Prints or sets Coordinated Universal Time

Example:

        $ date
        Wed Apr 12 18:52:41 MDT 2000

-------------------------------

dc
dc expression ...

This is a Tiny RPN calculator that understands the following operations: +, -, /, *, and, or, not, eor. i.e., 'dc 2 2 add' -> 4, and 'dc 8 8 \* 2 2 + /' -> 16

Example:

        $ dc 2 2 +
        4
        $ dc 8 8 * 2 2 + /
        16
        $ dc 0 1 and
        0
        $ dc 0 1 or
        1
        $ echo 72 9 div 8 mul | dc
        64

-------------------------------

dd
dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N]
[seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync]

Copy a file, converting and formatting according to 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
        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

Numbers may be suffixed by c (x1), w (x2), b (x512), kD (x1000), k (x1024), MD (x1000000), M (x1048576), GD (x1000000000) or G (x1073741824).

Example:

        $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ram1 bs=1M count=4
        4+0 records in
        4+0 records out

-------------------------------

deallocvt
deallocvt N

Deallocate unused virtual terminal /dev/ttyN

-------------------------------

df
df [-hmk] [FILESYSTEM ...]

Print the filesystem space used and space available.

Options:

        -h      print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G )
        -m      print sizes in megabytes
        -k      print sizes in kilobytes(default)

Example:

        $ 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% /

-------------------------------

dirname
dirname [FILENAME ...]

Strips non-directory suffix from FILENAME

Example:

        $ dirname /tmp/foo
        /tmp
        $ dirname /tmp/foo/
        /tmp

-------------------------------

dmesg
dmesg [-c] [-n LEVEL] [-s SIZE]

Prints or controls the kernel ring buffer

Options:

        -c              Clears the ring buffer's contents after printing
        -n LEVEL        Sets console logging level
        -s SIZE         Use a buffer of size SIZE

-------------------------------

dos2unix
dos2unix [option] [FILE]

Converts FILE from dos format to unix format. When no option is given, the input is converted to the opposite output format. When no file is given, uses stdin for input and stdout for output.

Options:

        -u      output will be in UNIX format
        -d      output will be in DOS format

-------------------------------

dpkg
dpkg -i package_file [-CPru] package_name
        -i      Install the package
        -C      Configure an unpackaged package
        -P      Purge all files of a package
        -r      Remove all but the configuration files for a package
        -u      Unpack a package, but dont configure it

-------------------------------

dpkg_deb
dpkg_deb [-cefItxX] FILE [argument]

Perform actions on debian packages (.debs)

Options:

        -c      List contents of filesystem tree
        -e      Extract control files to [argument] directory
        -f      Display control field name starting with [argument]
        -I      Display the control filenamed [argument]
        -t      Extract filesystem tree to stdout in tar format
        -x      Extract packages filesystem tree to directory
        -X      Verbose extract

Example:

        $ dpkg-deb -X ./busybox_0.48-1_i386.deb /tmp

-------------------------------

du
du [-lsxhmk] [FILE]...

Summarizes disk space used for each FILE and/or directory. Disk space is printed in units of 1024 bytes.

Options:

        -l      count sizes many times if hard linked
        -s      display only a total for each argument
        -h      print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G )
        -m      print sizes in megabytes
        -x      skip directories on different filesystems
        -k      print sizes in kilobytes(default)

Example:

        $ 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    .

-------------------------------

dumpkmap
dumpkmap > keymap

Prints out a binary keyboard translation table to standard output.

Example:

        $ dumpkmap > keymap

-------------------------------

dutmp
dutmp [FILE]

Dump utmp file format (pipe delimited) from FILE or stdin to stdout. (i.e., 'dutmp /var/run/utmp')

Example:

        $ dutmp /var/run/utmp
        8|7||si|||0|0|0|955637625|760097|0
        2|0|~|~~|reboot||0|0|0|955637625|782235|0
        1|20020|~|~~|runlevel||0|0|0|955637625|800089|0
        8|125||l4|||0|0|0|955637629|998367|0
        6|245|tty1|1|LOGIN||0|0|0|955637630|998974|0
        6|246|tty2|2|LOGIN||0|0|0|955637630|999498|0
        7|336|pts/0|vt00andersen|andersen|:0.0|0|0|0|955637763|0|0

-------------------------------

echo
echo [-neE] [ARG ...]

Prints the specified ARGs to stdout

Options:

        -n      suppress trailing newline
        -e      interpret backslash-escaped characters (i.e., \t=tab)
        -E      disable interpretation of backslash-escaped characters

Example:

        $ echo "Erik is cool"
        Erik is cool
        $  echo -e "Erik\nis\ncool"
        Erik
        is
        cool
        $ echo "Erik\nis\ncool"
        Erik\nis\ncool

-------------------------------

env
env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [command]

Prints the current environment or runs a program after setting up the specified environment.

Options:

        -, -i   start with an empty environment
        -u      remove variable from the environment

-------------------------------

expr
expr EXPRESSION

Prints the value of EXPRESSION to standard output.

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    ARG1 is less than ARG2
        ARG1 <= ARG2    ARG1 is less than or equal to ARG2
        ARG1 =  ARG2    ARG1 is equal to ARG2
        ARG1 != ARG2    ARG1 is unequal to ARG2
        ARG1 >= ARG2    ARG1 is greater than or equal to ARG2
        ARG1 >  ARG2    ARG1 is greater than ARG2
        ARG1 +  ARG2    arithmetic sum of ARG1 and ARG2
        ARG1 -  ARG2    arithmetic difference of ARG1 and ARG2
        ARG1 *  ARG2    arithmetic product of ARG1 and ARG2
        ARG1 /  ARG2    arithmetic quotient of ARG1 divided by ARG2
        ARG1 %  ARG2    arithmetic remainder of ARG1 divided by 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.

-------------------------------

false
false

Return an exit code of FALSE (1).

Example:

        $ false
        $ echo $?
        1

-------------------------------

fbset
fbset [options] [mode]

Show and modify frame buffer settings

Example:

        $ fbset
        mode "1024x768-76"
                # D: 78.653 MHz, H: 59.949 kHz, V: 75.694 Hz
                geometry 1024 768 1024 768 16
                timings 12714 128 32 16 4 128 4
                accel false
                rgba 5/11,6/5,5/0,0/0
        endmode

-------------------------------

fdflush
fdflush DEVICE

Forces floppy disk drive to detect disk change

-------------------------------

find
find [PATH...] [EXPRESSION]

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 (leading directories removed) matches PATTERN.
        -print          Print (default and assumed).
        -type X         Filetype matches X (where X is one of: f,d,l,b,c,...)
        -perm PERMS     Permissions match any of (+NNN); all of (-NNN);
                        or exactly (NNN)
        -mtime TIME     Modified time is greater than (+N); less than (-N);
                        or exactly (N) days
        -newer FILE     Modified time is more recent than FILE's

Example:

        $ find / -name /etc/passwd
        /etc/passwd

-------------------------------

free
free

Displays the amount of free and used system memory

Example:

        $ free
                      total         used         free       shared      buffers
          Mem:       257628       248724         8904        59644        93124
         Swap:       128516         8404       120112
        Total:       386144       257128       129016

-------------------------------

freeramdisk
freeramdisk DEVICE

Frees all memory used by the specified ramdisk.

Example:

        $ freeramdisk /dev/ram2

-------------------------------

fsck_minix
fsck_minix [-larvsmf] /dev/name

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.

-------------------------------

getopt
getopt [OPTIONS]...

Parse command options

        -a, --alternative               Allow long options starting with single -
        -l, --longoptions=longopts      Long options to be recognized
        -n, --name=progname             The name under which errors are reported
        -o, --options=optstring Short options to be recognized
        -q, --quiet                     Disable error reporting by getopt(3)
        -Q, --quiet-output              No normal output
        -s, --shell=shell               Set shell quoting conventions
        -T, --test                      Test for getopt(1) version
        -u, --unqote                    Do not quote the output

Example:

        $ cat getopt.test
        #!/bin/sh
        GETOPT=`getopt -o ab:c:: --long a-long,b-long:,c-long:: \
               -n 'example.busybox' -- "$@"`
        if [ $? != 0 ] ; then  exit 1 ; fi
        eval set -- "$GETOPT"
        while true ; do
         case $1 in
           -a|--a-long) echo "Option a" ; shift ;;
           -b|--b-long) echo "Option b, argument `$2'" ; shift 2 ;;
           -c|--c-long)
             case "$2" in
               "") echo "Option c, no argument"; shift 2 ;;
               *)  echo "Option c, argument `$2'" ; shift 2 ;;
             esac ;;
           --) shift ; break ;;
           *) echo "Internal error!" ; exit 1 ;;
         esac
        done

-------------------------------

grep
grep [-ihHnqvs] PATTERN [FILEs...]

Search for PATTERN in each FILE or standard input.

Options:

        -H      prefix output lines with filename where match was found
        -h      suppress the prefixing filename on output
        -i      ignore case distinctions
        -l      list names of files that match
        -n      print line number with output lines
        -q      be quiet. Returns 0 if result was found, 1 otherwise
        -v      select non-matching lines
        -s      suppress file open/read error messages

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

-------------------------------

gunzip
gunzip [OPTION]... FILE

Uncompress FILE (or standard input if FILE is '-').

Options:

        -c      Write output to standard output
        -t      Test compressed file integrity

Example:

        $ ls -la /tmp/BusyBox*
        -rw-rw-r--    1 andersen andersen   557009 Apr 11 10:55 /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar.gz
        $ gunzip /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar.gz
        $ ls -la /tmp/BusyBox*
        -rw-rw-r--    1 andersen andersen  1761280 Apr 14 17:47 /tmp/BusyBox-0.43.tar

-------------------------------

gzip
gzip [OPTION]... FILE

Compress FILE with maximum compression. When FILE is '-', reads standard input. Implies -c.

Options:

        -c      Write output to standard output instead of FILE.gz
        -d      decompress

Example:

        $ ls -la /tmp/busybox*
        -rw-rw-r--    1 andersen andersen  1761280 Apr 14 17:47 /tmp/busybox.tar
        $ gzip /tmp/busybox.tar
        $ ls -la /tmp/busybox*
        -rw-rw-r--    1 andersen andersen   554058 Apr 14 17:49 /tmp/busybox.tar.gz

-------------------------------

halt
halt

Halt the system.

-------------------------------

head
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

-------------------------------

hostid
hostid

Print out a unique 32-bit identifier for the machine.

-------------------------------

hostname
hostname [OPTION] {hostname | -F FILE}

Get or set the hostname or DNS domain name. If a hostname is given (or 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 FILE Use the contents of FILE to specify the hostname

Example:

        $ hostname
        sage

-------------------------------

id
id [OPTIONS]... [USERNAME]

Print information for USERNAME or the current user

Options:

        -g      prints only the group ID
        -u      prints only the user ID
        -n      print a name instead of a number (with for -ug)
        -r      prints the real user ID instead of the effective ID (with -ug)

Example:

        $ id
        uid=1000(andersen) gid=1000(andersen)

-------------------------------

ifconfig
ifconfig [-a] <interface> [<address>]

configure a network interface

Options:

        [[-]broadcast [<address>]]  [[-]pointopoint [<address>]]
        [netmask <address>]  [dstaddr <address>]
        [outfill <NN>] [keepalive <NN>]
        [hw ether <address>]  [metric <NN>]  [mtu <NN>]
        [[-]trailers]  [[-]arp]  [[-]allmulti]
        [multicast]  [[-]promisc]  [txqueuelen <NN>]  [[-]dynamic]
        [mem_start <NN>]  [io_addr <NN>]  [irq <NN>]
        [up|down] ...

-------------------------------

init
init

Init is the parent of all processes.

This version of init is designed to be run only by the kernel.

BusyBox init doesn't support multiple runlevels. The runlevels field of the /etc/inittab file is completely ignored by BusyBox init. If you want runlevels, use sysvinit.

BusyBox init works just fine without an inittab. If no inittab is found, it has the following default behavior:

        ::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS
        ::askfirst:/bin/sh
        ::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/reboot
        ::shutdown:/sbin/swapoff -a
        ::shutdown:/bin/umount -a -r
        ::restart:/sbin/init

if it detects that /dev/console is _not_ a serial console, it will also run:

        tty2::askfirst:/bin/sh
        tty3::askfirst:/bin/sh
        tty4::askfirst:/bin/sh

If you choose to use an /etc/inittab file, the inittab entry format is as follows:

        <id>:<runlevels>:<action>:<process>
        <id>:
                WARNING: This field has a non-traditional meaning for BusyBox init!
                The id field is used by BusyBox init to specify the controlling tty for
                the specified process to run on.  The contents of this field are
                appended to "/dev/" and used as-is.  There is no need for this field to
                be unique, although if it isn't you may have strange results.  If this
                field is left blank, the controlling tty is set to the console.  Also
                note that if BusyBox detects that a serial console is in use, then only
                entries whose controlling tty is either the serial console or /dev/null
                will be run.  BusyBox init does nothing with utmp.  We don't need no
                stinkin' utmp.
        <runlevels>:
                The runlevels field is completely ignored.
        <action>:
                Valid actions include: sysinit, respawn, askfirst, wait, 
                once, restart, ctrlaltdel, and shutdown.
                The available actions can be classified into two groups: actions
                that are run only once, and actions that are re-run when the specified
                process exits.
                Run only-once actions:
                        'sysinit' is the first item run on boot.  init waits until all
                        sysinit actions are completed before continuing.  Following the
                        completion of all sysinit actions, all 'wait' actions are run.
                        'wait' actions, like  'sysinit' actions, cause init to wait until
                        the specified task completes.  'once' actions are asynchronous,
                        therefore, init does not wait for them to complete.  'restart' is
                        the action taken to restart the init process.  By default this should
                        simply run /sbin/init, but can be a script which runs pivot_root or it
                        can do all sorts of other interesting things.  The 'ctrlaltdel' init
                        actions are run when the system detects that someone on the system
                       console has pressed the CTRL-ALT-DEL key combination.  Typically one
                       wants to run 'reboot' at this point to cause the system to reboot.
                        Finally the 'shutdown' action specifies the actions to taken when
                       init is told to reboot.  Unmounting filesystems and disabling swap
                       is a very good here
                Run repeatedly actions:
                        'respawn' actions are run after the 'once' actions.  When a process
                        started with a 'respawn' action exits, init automatically restarts
                        it.  Unlike sysvinit, BusyBox init does not stop processes from
                        respawning out of control.  The 'askfirst' actions acts just like
                        respawn, except that before running the specified process it
                        displays the line "Please press Enter to activate this console."
                        and then waits for the user to press enter before starting the
                        specified process.
                Unrecognized actions (like initdefault) will cause init to emit an
                error message, and then go along with its business.  All actions are
                run in the reverse order from how they appear in /etc/inittab.
        <process>:
                Specifies the process to be executed and it's command line.

Example /etc/inittab file:

        # This is run first except when booting in single-user mode.
        #
        ::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS

        # /bin/sh invocations on selected ttys
        #
        # Start an "askfirst" shell on the console (whatever that may be)
        ::askfirst:-/bin/sh
        # Start an "askfirst" shell on /dev/tty2-4
        tty2::askfirst:-/bin/sh
        tty3::askfirst:-/bin/sh
        tty4::askfirst:-/bin/sh

        # /sbin/getty invocations for selected ttys
        #
        tty4::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
        tty5::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

        # Example of how to put a getty on a serial line (for a terminal)
        #
        #::respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
        #::respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS1 9600 vt100
        #
        # Example how to put a getty on a modem line.
        #::respawn:/sbin/getty 57600 ttyS2

        # Stuff to do when restarting the init process
        ::restart:/sbin/init

        # Stuff to do before rebooting
        ::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/reboot
        ::shutdown:/bin/umount -a -r
        ::shutdown:/sbin/swapoff -a

-------------------------------

insmod
insmod [OPTION]... MODULE [symbol=value]...

Loads the specified kernel modules into the kernel.

Options:

        -f      Force module to load into the wrong kernel version.
        -k      Make module autoclean-able.
        -v      verbose output
        -L      Lock to prevent simultaneous loads of a module
        -x      do not export externs

-------------------------------

kill
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

-------------------------------

killall
killall [-signal] process-name [process-name ...]

Send a signal (default is SIGTERM) to the specified process(es).

Options:

        -l      List all signal names and numbers.

Example:

        $ killall apache

-------------------------------

klogd
klogd -n

Kernel logger. Options:

        -n      Run as a foreground process.

-------------------------------

lash
lash [FILE]... or: sh -c command [args]...

lash: The BusyBox LAme SHell (command interpreter)

This command does not yet have proper documentation.

Use lash just as you would use any other shell. It properly handles pipes, redirects, job control, can be used as the shell for scripts, and has a sufficient set of builtins to do what is needed. It does not (yet) support Bourne Shell syntax. If you need things like ``if-then-else'', ``while'', and such use ash or bash. If you just need a very simple and extremely small shell, this will do the job.

-------------------------------

length
length STRING

Prints out the length of the specified STRING.

Example:

        $ length Hello
        5

-------------------------------

ln
ln [OPTION] TARGET... LINK_NAME|DIRECTORY

Create a link named LINK_NAME or DIRECTORY to the specified TARGET

You may use '--' to indicate that all following arguments are non-options.

Options:

        -s      make symbolic links instead of hard links
        -f      remove existing destination files
        -n      no dereference symlinks - treat like normal file

Example:

        $ ln -s BusyBox /tmp/ls
        $ ls -l /tmp/ls
        lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            7 Apr 12 18:39 ls -> BusyBox*

-------------------------------

loadacm
loadacm < mapfile

Loads an acm from standard input.

Example:

        $ loadacm < /etc/i18n/acmname

-------------------------------

loadfont
loadfont < font

Loads a console font from standard input.

Example:

        $ loadfont < /etc/i18n/fontname

-------------------------------

loadkmap
loadkmap < keymap

Loads a binary keyboard translation table from standard input.

Example:

        $ loadkmap < /etc/i18n/lang-keymap

-------------------------------

logger
logger [OPTION]... [MESSAGE]

Write MESSAGE to the system log. If MESSAGE is omitted, log stdin.

Options:

        -s      Log to stderr as well as the system log.
        -t      Log using the specified tag (defaults to user name).
        -p      Enter the message with the specified priority.
                This may be numerical or a ``facility.level'' pair.

Example:

        $ logger "hello"

-------------------------------

logname
logname

Print the name of the current user.

Example:

        $ logname
        root

-------------------------------

logread
logread

Shows the messages from syslogd (using circular buffer).

-------------------------------

losetup
losetup [OPTION]... LOOPDEVICE [FILE]

Associate LOOPDEVICE with FILE.

Options:

        -d              Disassociate LOOPDEVICE.
        -o OFFSET       Start OFFSET bytes into FILE.

-------------------------------

ls
ls [-1AacCdeFilnpLRrSsTtuvwxXhk] [filenames...]

List directory contents

Options:

        -1      list files in a single column
        -A      do not list implied . and ..
        -a      do not hide entries starting with .
        -C      list entries by columns
        -c      with -l: show ctime
        -d      list directory entries instead of contents
        -e      list both full date and full time
        -F      append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
        -i      list the i-node for each file
        -l      use a 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 symbolic links
        -R      list subdirectories recursively
        -r      sort the listing in reverse order
        -S      sort the listing by file size
        -s      list the size of each file, in blocks
        -T NUM  assume Tabstop every NUM columns
        -t      with -l: show modification time
        -u      with -l: show access time
        -v      sort the listing by version
        -w NUM  assume the terminal is NUM columns wide
        -x      list entries by lines instead of by columns
        -X      sort the listing by extension
        -h      print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G )
        -k      print sizes in kilobytes(default)

-------------------------------

lsmod
lsmod

List the currently loaded kernel modules.

-------------------------------

makedevs
makedevs NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR FIRST LAST [s]

Creates a range of block or character special files

TYPEs include:

        b:      Make a block (buffered) device.
        c or u: Make a character (un-buffered) device.
        p:      Make a named pipe. MAJOR and MINOR are ignored for named pipes.

FIRST specifies the number appended to NAME to create the first device. LAST specifies the number of the last item that should be created. If 's' is the last argument, the base device is created as well.

For example:

        makedevs /dev/ttyS c 4 66 2 63   ->  ttyS2-ttyS63
        makedevs /dev/hda b 3 0 0 8 s    ->  hda,hda1-hda8

Example:

        $ makedevs /dev/ttyS c 4 66 2 63
        [creates ttyS2-ttyS63]
        $ makedevs /dev/hda b 3 0 0 8 s
        [creates hda,hda1-hda8]

-------------------------------

md5sum
md5sum [OPTION] [FILE]... or: md5sum [OPTION] -c [FILE]

Print or check MD5 checksums.

Options: With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

        -b      read files in binary mode
        -c      check MD5 sums against given list
        -t      read files in text mode (default)
        -g      read a string

The following two options are useful only when verifying checksums:

        -s      don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      warn about improperly formated MD5 checksum lines

Example:

        $ md5sum < busybox
        6fd11e98b98a58f64ff3398d7b324003
        $ md5sum busybox
        6fd11e98b98a58f64ff3398d7b324003  busybox
        $ md5sum -c -
        6fd11e98b98a58f64ff3398d7b324003  busybox
        busybox: OK
        ^D

-------------------------------

mkdir
mkdir [OPTION] DIRECTORY...

Create the DIRECTORY(ies) if they do not already exist

Options:

        -m      set permission mode (as in chmod), not rwxrwxrwx - umask
        -p      no error if existing, make parent directories as needed

Example:

        $ mkdir /tmp/foo
        $ mkdir /tmp/foo
        /tmp/foo: File exists
        $ mkdir /tmp/foo/bar/baz
        /tmp/foo/bar/baz: No such file or directory
        $ mkdir -p /tmp/foo/bar/baz

-------------------------------

mkfifo
mkfifo [OPTIONS] name

Creates a named pipe (identical to 'mknod name p')

Options:

        -m      create the pipe using the specified mode (default a=rw)

-------------------------------

mkfs_minix
mkfs_minix [-c | -l filename] [-nXX] [-iXX] /dev/name [blocks]

Make a MINIX filesystem.

Options:

        -c              Check the device for bad blocks
        -n [14|30]      Specify the maximum length of filenames
        -i INODES       Specify the number of inodes for the filesystem
        -l FILENAME     Read the bad blocks list from FILENAME
        -v              Make a Minix version 2 filesystem

-------------------------------

mknod
mknod [OPTIONS] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR

Create a special file (block, character, or pipe).

Options:

        -m      create the special file using the specified mode (default a=rw)

TYPEs include:

        b:      Make a block (buffered) device.
        c or u: Make a character (un-buffered) device.
        p:      Make a named pipe. MAJOR and MINOR are ignored for named pipes.

Example:

        $ mknod /dev/fd0 b 2 0 
        $ mknod -m 644 /tmp/pipe p

-------------------------------

mkswap
mkswap [-c] [-v0|-v1] device [block-count]

Prepare a disk partition to be used as a swap partition.

Options:

        -c              Check for read-ability.
        -v0             Make version 0 swap [max 128 Megs].
        -v1             Make version 1 swap [big!] (default for kernels >
                        2.1.117).
        block-count     Number of block to use (default is entire partition).

-------------------------------

mktemp
mktemp [-q] TEMPLATE

Creates a temporary file with its name based on TEMPLATE. TEMPLATE is any name with six `Xs' (i.e., /tmp/temp.XXXXXX).

Example:

        $ mktemp /tmp/temp.XXXXXX
        /tmp/temp.mWiLjM
        $ ls -la /tmp/temp.mWiLjM
        -rw-------    1 andersen andersen        0 Apr 25 17:10 /tmp/temp.mWiLjM

-------------------------------

modprobe
modprobe [FILE ...]

Used for hight level module loading and unloading.

Example:

        $ modprobe cdrom

-------------------------------

more
more [FILE ...]

More is a filter for viewing FILE one screenful at a time.

Example:

        $ dmesg | more

-------------------------------

mount
mount [flags] DEVICE NODE [-o options,more-options]

Mount a filesystem

Flags:

        -a:             Mount all filesystems in fstab.
        -f:             "Fake" Add entry to mount table but don't mount it.
        -n:             Don't write a mount table entry.
        -o option:      One of many filesystem options, listed below.
        -r:             Mount the filesystem read-only.
        -t fs-type:     Specify the filesystem type.
        -w:             Mount for reading and writing (default).

Options for use with the ``-o'' flag:

        async/sync:     Writes are asynchronous / synchronous.
        atime/noatime:  Enable / disable updates to inode access times.
        dev/nodev:      Allow use of special device files / disallow them.
        exec/noexec:    Allow use of executable files / disallow them.
        loop:           Mounts a file via loop device.
        suid/nosuid:    Allow set-user-id-root programs / disallow them.
        remount:        Re-mount a mounted filesystem, changing its flags.
        ro/rw:          Mount for read-only / read-write.
        bind:           Use the linux 2.4.x "bind" feature.

There are EVEN MORE flags that are specific to each filesystem. You'll have to see the written documentation for those filesystems.

Example:

        $ mount
        /dev/hda3 on / type minix (rw)
        proc on /proc type proc (rw)
        devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
        $ mount /dev/fd0 /mnt -t msdos -o ro
        $ mount /tmp/diskimage /opt -t ext2 -o loop

-------------------------------

mt
mt [-f device] opcode value

Control magnetic tape drive operation

Available Opcodes:

bsf bsfm bsr bss datacompression drvbuffer eof eom erase fsf fsfm fsr fss load lock mkpart nop offline ras1 ras2 ras3 reset retension rew rewoffline seek setblk setdensity setpart tell unload unlock weof wset

-------------------------------

mv
mv SOURCE DEST or: mv SOURCE... DIRECTORY

Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

Example:

        $ mv /tmp/foo /bin/bar

-------------------------------

nc
nc [OPTIONS] [IP] [port]

Netcat opens a pipe to IP:port

Options:

        -l              listen mode, for inbound connects
        -p PORT         local port number
        -e PROG         program to exec after connect (dangerous!)

Example:

        $ nc foobar.somedomain.com 25
        220 foobar ESMTP Exim 3.12 #1 Sat, 15 Apr 2000 00:03:02 -0600
        help
        214-Commands supported:
        214-    HELO EHLO MAIL RCPT DATA AUTH
        214     NOOP QUIT RSET HELP
        quit
        221 foobar closing connection

-------------------------------

nslookup
nslookup [HOST] [SERVER]

Queries the nameserver for the IP address of the given HOST optionally using a specified DNS server

Example:

        $ nslookup localhost
        Server:     default
        Address:    default

        Name:       debian
        Address:    127.0.0.1

-------------------------------

pidof
pidof process-name [process-name ...]

Lists the PIDs of all processes with names that match the names on the command line

Example:

        $ pidof init
        1

-------------------------------

ping
ping [OPTION]... host

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts.

Options:

        -c COUNT        Send only COUNT pings.
        -s SIZE         Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default=56).
        -q              Quiet mode, only displays output at start
                        and when finished.

Example:

        $ ping localhost
        PING slag (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
        64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=20.1 ms

        --- debian ping statistics ---
        1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0% packet loss
        round-trip min/avg/max = 20.1/20.1/20.1 ms

-------------------------------

pivot_root
pivot_root NEW_ROOT PUT_OLD

Move the current root file system to PUT_OLD and make NEW_ROOT the new root file system.

-------------------------------

poweroff
poweroff

Halt the system and request that the kernel shut off the power.

-------------------------------

printf
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT...]

Formats and prints ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT, Where FORMAT controls the output exactly as in C printf.

Example:

        $ printf "Val=%d\n" 5
        Val=5

-------------------------------

ps
ps

Report process status

This version of ps accepts no options.

Example:

        $ ps
          PID  Uid      Gid State Command
            1 root     root     S init
            2 root     root     S [kflushd]
            3 root     root     S [kupdate]
            4 root     root     S [kpiod]
            5 root     root     S [kswapd]
          742 andersen andersen S [bash]
          743 andersen andersen S -bash
          745 root     root     S [getty]
         2990 andersen andersen R ps

-------------------------------

pwd
pwd

Print the full filename of the current working directory.

Example:

        $ pwd
        /root

-------------------------------

rdate
rdate [OPTION] HOST

Get and possibly set the system date and time from a remote HOST.

Options:

        -s      Set the system date and time (default).
        -p      Print the date and time.

-------------------------------

readlink
readlink

Read a symbolic link.

-------------------------------

reboot
reboot

Reboot the system.

-------------------------------

renice
renice priority pid [pid ...]

Changes priority of running processes. Allowed priorities range from 20 (the process runs only when nothing else is running) to 0 (default priority) to -20 (almost nothing else ever gets to run).

-------------------------------

reset
reset

Resets the screen.

-------------------------------

rm
rm [OPTION]... FILE...

Remove (unlink) the FILE(s). You may use '--' to indicate that all following arguments are non-options.

Options:

        -i              always prompt before removing each destination  -f              remove existing destinations, never prompt
        -r or -R        remove the contents of directories recursively

Example:

        $ rm -rf /tmp/foo

-------------------------------

rmdir
rmdir [OPTION]... DIRECTORY...

Remove the DIRECTORY(ies), if they are empty.

Example:

        # rmdir /tmp/foo

-------------------------------

rmmod
rmmod [OPTION]... [MODULE]...

Unloads the specified kernel modules from the kernel.

Options:

        -a      Try to remove all unused kernel modules.

Example:

        $ rmmod tulip

-------------------------------

route
route [{add|del|flush}]

Edit the kernel's routing tables

-------------------------------

rpm2cpio
rpm2cpio package.rpm

Outputs a cpio archive of the rpm file.

-------------------------------

sed
sed [-nef] pattern [files...]

Options:

        -n              suppress automatic printing of pattern space
        -e script       add the script to the commands to be executed
        -f scriptfile   add the contents of script-file to the commands to be executed

If no -e or -f is given, the first non-option argument is taken as the sed script to interpret. All remaining arguments are names of input files; if no input files are specified, then the standard input is read.

Example:

        $ echo "foo" | sed -e 's/f[a-zA-Z]o/bar/g'
        bar

-------------------------------

setkeycodes
setkeycodes SCANCODE KEYCODE ...

Set entries into the kernel's scancode-to-keycode map, allowing unusual keyboards to generate usable keycodes.

SCANCODE may be either xx or e0xx (hexadecimal), and KEYCODE is given in decimal

Example:

        $ setkeycodes e030 127

-------------------------------

sleep
sleep N

Pause for N seconds.

Example:

        $ sleep 2
        [2 second delay results]

-------------------------------

sort
sort [-nru] [FILE]...

Sorts lines of text in the specified files

Options:

        -u      suppress duplicate lines
        -r      sort in reverse order
        -n      sort numerics

Example:

        $ echo -e "e\nf\nb\nd\nc\na" | sort
        a
        b
        c
        d
        e
        f

-------------------------------

stty
stty [-a|g] [-F DEVICE] [SETTING]...

Without arguments, prints baud rate, line discipline, and deviations from stty sane.

Options:

        -F DEVICE       open device instead of stdin
        -a              print all current settings in human-readable form
        -g              print in stty-readable form
        [SETTING]       see manpage

-------------------------------

swapoff
swapoff [OPTION] [DEVICE]

Stop swapping virtual memory pages on DEVICE.

Options:

        -a      Stop swapping on all swap devices

-------------------------------

swapon
swapon [OPTION] [DEVICE]

Start swapping virtual memory pages on DEVICE.

Options:

        -a      Start swapping on all swap devices

-------------------------------

sync
sync

Write all buffered filesystem blocks to disk.

-------------------------------

syslogd
syslogd [OPTION]...

Linux system and kernel logging utility. Note that this version of syslogd ignores /etc/syslog.conf.

Options:

        -m NUM          Interval between MARK lines (default=20min, 0=off)
        -n              Run as a foreground process
        -O FILE         Use an alternate log file (default=/var/log/messages)
        -R HOST[:PORT]  Log to IP or hostname on PORT (default PORT=514/UDP)
        -L              Log locally and via network logging (default is network only)

Example:

        $ syslogd -R masterlog:514
        $ syslogd -R 192.168.1.1:601

-------------------------------

tail
tail [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Print last 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:

        -c N[kbm]       output the last N bytes
        -n N[kbm]       print last N lines instead of last 10
        -f              output data as the file grows
        -q              never output headers giving file names
        -s SEC          wait SEC seconds between reads with -f
        -v              always output headers giving file names

If the first character of N (bytes or lines) is a '+', output begins with the Nth item from the start of each file, otherwise, print the last N items in the file. N bytes may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (1024^2).

Example:

        $ tail -n 1 /etc/resolv.conf
        nameserver 10.0.0.1

-------------------------------

tar
tar -[cxtvO] [--exclude FILE] [-X FILE][-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE(s)] ...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file.

Options:

        c               create
        x               extract
        t               list

File selection:

        f               name of TARFILE or "-" for stdin
        O               extract to stdout
        exclude         file to exclude
        X               file with names to exclude
        C               change to directory DIR before operation
        v               verbosely list files processed

Example:

        $ zcat /tmp/tarball.tar.gz | tar -xf -
        $ tar -cf /tmp/tarball.tar /usr/local

-------------------------------

tee
tee [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Copy standard input to each FILE, and also to standard output.

Options:

        -a      append to the given FILEs, do not overwrite

Example:

        $ echo "Hello" | tee /tmp/foo
        $ cat /tmp/foo
        Hello

-------------------------------

telnet
telnet HOST [PORT]

Telnet is used to establish interactive communication with another computer over a network using the TELNET protocol.

-------------------------------

test
test EXPRESSION or [ EXPRESSION ]

Checks file types and compares values returning an exit code determined by the value of EXPRESSION.

Example:

        $ test 1 -eq 2
        $ echo $?
        1
        $ test 1 -eq 1
        $ echo $? 
        0
        $ [ -d /etc ]
        $ echo $?
        0
        $ [ -d /junk ]
        $ echo $?
        1

-------------------------------

tftp
tftp [OPTION]... HOST [PORT]

Transfers a file from/to a tftp server using ``octet'' mode.

Options:

        -b SIZE Transfer blocks of SIZE octets.
        -g      Get file.
        -l FILE Transfer local FILE.
        -p      Put file.
        -r FILE Transfer remote FILE.

-------------------------------

time
time [OPTION]... COMMAND [ARGS...]

Runs the program COMMAND with arguments ARGS. When COMMAND finishes,

-------------------------------

touch
touch [-c] FILE [FILE ...]

Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s].

Options:

        -c      Do not create any files

Example:

        $ ls -l /tmp/foo
        /bin/ls: /tmp/foo: No such file or directory
        $ touch /tmp/foo
        $ ls -l /tmp/foo
        -rw-rw-r--    1 andersen andersen        0 Apr 15 01:11 /tmp/foo

-------------------------------

tr
tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]

Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters from standard input, writing to standard output.

Options:

        -c      take complement of STRING1
        -d      delete input characters coded STRING1
        -s      squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character

Example:

        $ echo "gdkkn vnqkc" | tr [a-y] [b-z]
        hello world

-------------------------------

traceroute
traceroute [-dnrv] [-m max_ttl] [-p port#] [-q nqueries]
[-s src_addr] [-t tos] [-w wait] host [data size]

trace the route ip packets follow going to ``host'' Options:

        -d      set SO_DEBUG options to socket
        -n      Print hop addresses numerically rather than symbolically
        -r      Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host
        -v      Verbose output
        -m max_ttl      Set the max time-to-live (max number of hops)
        -p port#        Set the base UDP port number used in probes
                (default is 33434)
        -q nqueries     Set the number of probes per ``ttl'' to nqueries
                (default is 3)
        -s src_addr     Use the following IP address as the source address
        -t tos  Set the type-of-service in probe packets to the following value
                (default 0)
        -w wait Set the time (in seconds) to wait for a response to a probe
                (default 3 sec.).

-------------------------------

true
true

Return an exit code of TRUE (0).

Example:

        $ true
        $ echo $?
        0

-------------------------------

tty
tty

Print the file name of the terminal connected to standard input.

Options:

        -s      print nothing, only return an exit status

Example:

        $ tty
        /dev/tty2

-------------------------------

umount
umount [flags] FILESYSTEM|DIRECTORY

Unmount file systems

Flags:

        -a      Unmount all file systems in /etc/mtab
        -n      Don't erase /etc/mtab entries
        -r      Try to remount devices as read-only if mount is busy
        -f      Force umount (i.e., unreachable NFS server)
        -l      Do not free loop device (if a loop device has been used)

Example:

        $ umount /dev/hdc1

-------------------------------

uname
uname [OPTION]...

Print certain system information. With no OPTION, same as -s.

Options:

        -a      print all information
        -m      the machine (hardware) type
        -n      print the machine's network node hostname
        -r      print the operating system release
        -s      print the operating system name
        -p      print the host processor type
        -v      print the operating system version

Example:

        $ uname -a
        Linux debian 2.2.15pre13 #5 Tue Mar 14 16:03:50 MST 2000 i686 unknown

-------------------------------

uniq
uniq [OPTION]... [INPUT [OUTPUT]]

Discard all but one of successive identical lines from INPUT (or standard input), writing to OUTPUT (or standard output).

Options:

        -c      prefix lines by the number of occurrences
        -d      only print duplicate lines
        -u      only print unique lines

Example:

        $ echo -e "a\na\nb\nc\nc\na" | sort | uniq
        a
        b
        c

-------------------------------

unix2dos
unix2dos [option] [FILE]

Converts FILE from unix format to dos format. When no option is given, the input is converted to the opposite output format. When no file is given, uses stdin for input and stdout for output. Options:

        -u      output will be in UNIX format
        -d      output will be in DOS format

-------------------------------

update
update [options]

Periodically flushes filesystem buffers.

Options:

        -S      force use of sync(2) instead of flushing
        -s SECS call sync this often (default 30)
        -f SECS flush some buffers this often (default 5)

-------------------------------

uptime
uptime

Display the time since the last boot.

Example:

        $ uptime
          1:55pm  up  2:30, load average: 0.09, 0.04, 0.00

-------------------------------

usleep
usleep N

Pause for N microseconds.

Example:

        $ usleep 1000000
        [pauses for 1 second]

-------------------------------

uudecode
uudecode [FILE]...

Uudecode a file that is uuencoded.

Options:

        -o FILE direct output to FILE

Example:

        $ uudecode -o busybox busybox.uu
        $ ls -l busybox
        -rwxr-xr-x   1 ams      ams        245264 Jun  7 21:35 busybox

-------------------------------

uuencode
uuencode [OPTION] [INFILE] REMOTEFILE

Uuencode a file.

Options:

        -m      use base64 encoding per RFC1521

Example:

        $ uuencode busybox busybox
        begin 755 busybox
        <encoded file snipped>
        $ uudecode busybox busybox > busybox.uu
        $

-------------------------------

vi
vi [OPTION] [FILE]...

edit FILE.

Options:

        -R      Read-only- do not write to the file.

-------------------------------

watchdog
watchdog DEV

Periodically write to watchdog device DEV

-------------------------------

wc
wc [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Print line, word, and byte counts for each FILE, and a total line if more than one FILE is specified. With no FILE, read standard input.

Options:

        -c      print the byte counts
        -l      print the newline counts
        -L      print the length of the longest line
        -w      print the word counts

Example:

        $ wc /etc/passwd
             31      46    1365 /etc/passwd

-------------------------------

wget
wget [-c|--continue] [-q|--quiet] [-O|--output-document file]
[--header 'header: value'] [-P DIR] url

wget retrieves files via HTTP or FTP

Options:

        -c      continue retrieval of aborted transfers
        -q      quiet mode - do not print
        -P      Set directory prefix to DIR
        -O      save to filename ('-' for stdout)

-------------------------------

which
which [COMMAND ...]

Locates a COMMAND.

Example:

        $ which login
        /bin/login

-------------------------------

whoami
whoami

Prints the user name associated with the current effective user id.

-------------------------------

xargs
xargs [COMMAND] [ARGS...]

Executes COMMAND on every item given by standard input.

Example:

        $ ls | xargs gzip
        $ find . -name '*.c' -print | xargs rm

-------------------------------

yes
yes [OPTION]... [STRING]...

Repeatedly outputs a line with all specified STRING(s), or 'y'.

-------------------------------

zcat
zcat FILE

Uncompress to stdout.

-------------------------------


LIBC NSS

GNU Libc 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. BusyBox has made it Policy that it will never use NSS, and will never use and libc calls that make use of NSS. This allows you to run an embedded system without the need for installing an /etc/nsswitch.conf file and without and /lib/libnss_* libraries installed.

If you are using a system that is using a remote LDAP server for authentication via GNU libc NSS, and you want to use BusyBox, then you will need to adjust the BusyBox source. Chances are though, that if you have enough space to install of that stuff on your system, then you probably want the full GNU utilities.


SEE ALSO

textutils(1), shellutils(1), etc...


MAINTAINER

Erik Andersen <andersee@debian.org> <andersen@codepoet.org>


AUTHORS

The following people have contributed code to BusyBox whether they know it or not.


Erik Andersen <andersee@debian.org> <andersen@codepoet.org>

    Tons of new stuff, major rewrite of most of the
    core apps, tons of new apps as noted in header files.

John Beppu <beppu@codepoet.org>

    du, head, nslookup, sort, tee, uniq (so Kraai could rewrite them ;-),
    documentation

Edward Betts <edward@debian.org>

    expr, hostid, logname, tty, wc, whoami, yes

=for html <br>

Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>

    tiny-ls(ls)

Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org>

    fbset, ping, hostname, and mkfifo

Dave Cinege <dcinege@psychosis.com>

    more(v2), makedevs, dutmp, modularization, auto links file, 
    various fixes, Linux Router Project maintenance

Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@recycle.lbl.gov>

    various fixes, shell rewrite

Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@debian.org>

    cp_mv.c, the test suite, various fixes to utility.c, &c.

Sterling Huxley <sterling@europa.com>

    vi (!!!)

Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@debian.org>

    mktemp.c

Matt Kraai <kraai@alumni.carnegiemellon.edu>

    documentation, bugfixes

John Lombardo <john@deltanet.com>

    dirname, tr

Glenn McGrath <bug1@netconnect.com.au>

    ar.c

Vladimir Oleynik <dzo@simtreas.ru>

    cmdedit, stty-port, locale, various fixes 
    and irreconcilable critic of everything not perfect.

Bruce Perens <bruce@pixar.com>

    Original author of BusyBox. His code is still in many apps.

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>

    sed remix, bug fixes, style-guide, etc.

Charles P. Wright <cpwright@villagenet.com>

    gzip, mini-netcat(nc)

Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es>

    tarcat (since removed), loadkmap, various fixes, Debian maintenance