NAME

SYNTAX

 busybox <applet> [arguments...]  # or

 <applet> [arguments...]          # if symlinked

DESCRIPTION

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.

USAGE

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.

COMMON OPTIONS

COMMANDS

        [, [[, addgroup, ar, arch, ascii, ash, awk, base32, base64,
        basename, bc, bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, chat, chgrp, chmod,
        chown, chpst, chroot, cksum, clear, cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crc32,
        crond, crontab, cttyhack, cut, date, dc, dd, delgroup, diff,
        dirname, dnsd, dnsdomainname, dos2unix, dpkg, dpkg-deb, du, echo,
        ed, egrep, env, envdir, envuidgid, expand, expr, factor, fakeidentd,
        fallocate, false, fatattr, fgrep, find, flock, fold, fsync, ftpd,
        ftpget, ftpput, getopt, grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, halt, hd, head,
        hexdump, hexedit, hostid, hostname, httpd, hush, id, inetd, install,
        iostat, ipcalc, kill, killall, killall5, klogd, less, link, ln,
        logger, logname, logread, lpq, lpr, ls, lzcat, lzma, lzop, makemime,
        man, md5sum, microcom, mim, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mktemp, more,
        mpstat, mv, nc, nice, nl, nmeter, nohup, nologin, nslookup, ntpd,
        nuke, od, paste, patch, pgrep, pidof, ping, ping6, pipe_progress,
        pkill, pmap, popmaildir, poweroff, printenv, printf, ps, pscan, pwd,
        pwdx, readlink, readprofile, realpath, reboot, reformime, renice,
        reset, resize, resume, rev, rm, rmdir, rpm, rpm2cpio, run-parts,
        runsv, runsvdir, script, scriptreplay, sed, sendmail, seq, setsid,
        setuidgid, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha3sum, sha512sum, shred, shuf,
        sleep, smemcap, softlimit, sort, split, ssl_client, stat, strings,
        stty, su, sulogin, sum, sv, svc, svlogd, svok, sync, syslogd, tac,
        tail, tar, tcpsvd, tee, telnet, telnetd, test, tftp, tftpd, timeout,
        top, touch, tr, traceroute, traceroute6, true, truncate, ts, tty,
        ttysize, uname, uncompress, unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlink,
        unlzma, unxz, unzip, users, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vi, volname,
        w, wall, watch, wc, wget, which, who, whoami, whois, xargs, xxd, xz,
        xzcat, yes, zcat

COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS

addgroup

addgroup [-g GID] [-S] [USER] GROUP

Add a group or add a user to a group

        -g GID  Group id
        -S      Create a system group
    

ar

ar x|p|t|r [-ov] ARCHIVE [FILE]...

Extract or list FILEs from an ar archive, or create it

        x       Extract
        p       Extract to stdout
        t       List
        r       Create
        -o      Restore mtime
        -v      Verbose
    

arch

arch

Print system architecture

ash

ash [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE [ARGS] | -s [ARGS]]

Unix shell interpreter

awk

awk [OPTIONS] [AWK_PROGRAM] [FILE]...

        -v VAR=VAL      Set variable
        -F SEP          Use SEP as field separator
        -f FILE         Read program from FILE
        -e AWK_PROGRAM
    

base32

base32 [-d] [-w COL] [FILE]

Base32 encode or decode FILE to standard output

        -d      Decode data
        -w COL  Wrap lines at COL (default 76, 0 disables)
    

base64

base64 [-d] [-w COL] [FILE]

Base64 encode or decode FILE to standard output

        -d      Decode data
        -w COL  Wrap lines at COL (default 76, 0 disables)
    

basename

basename FILE [SUFFIX]

Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE

bc

bc [-sqlw] [FILE]...

Arbitrary precision calculator

        -q      Quiet
        -l      Load standard library
        -s      Be POSIX compatible
        -w      Warn if extensions are used
    

$BC_LINE_LENGTH changes output width

bunzip2

bunzip2 [-cfk] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

bzcat

bzcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

bzip2

bzip2 [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm

        -1..9   Compression level
        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

cal

cal [-jy] [[MONTH] YEAR]

Display a calendar

        -j      Use julian dates
        -y      Display the entire year
    

cat

cat [-nbvteA] [FILE]...

Print FILEs to stdout

        -n      Number output lines
        -b      Number nonempty lines
        -v      Show nonprinting characters as ^x or M-x
        -t      ...and tabs as ^I
        -e      ...and end lines with $
        -A      Same as -vte
    

chat

chat EXPECT [SEND [EXPECT [SEND]]...]

Useful for interacting with a modem connected to stdin/stdout. A script consists of "expect-send" argument pairs. Example:

chat '' ATZ OK ATD123456 CONNECT '' ogin: pppuser word: ppppass '~'

chgrp

chgrp [-Rh]... GROUP FILE...

Change the group membership of FILEs to GROUP

        -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
        -R      Recurse
    

chmod

chmod [-R] MODE[,MODE]... FILE...

MODE is octal number (bit pattern sstrwxrwxrwx) or [ugoa]{+|-|=}[rwxXst]

        -R      Recurse
    

chown

chown [-Rh]... USER[:[GRP]] FILE...

Change the owner and/or group of FILEs to USER and/or GRP

        -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
        -R      Recurse
    

chpst

chpst [-vP012] [-u USER[:GRP]] [-U USER[:GRP]] [-e DIR] [-/ DIR] [-n NICE] [-m BYTES] [-d BYTES] [-o N] [-p N] [-f BYTES] [-c BYTES] PROG ARGS

Change the process state, run PROG

        -u USER[:GRP]   Set uid and gid
        -U USER[:GRP]   Set $UID and $GID in environment
        -e DIR          Set environment variables as specified by files
                        in DIR: file=1st_line_of_file
        -/ DIR          Chroot to DIR
        -n NICE         Add NICE to nice value
        -m BYTES        Same as -d BYTES -s BYTES -l BYTES
        -d BYTES        Limit data segment
        -o N            Limit number of open files per process
        -p N            Limit number of processes per uid
        -f BYTES        Limit output file sizes
        -c BYTES        Limit core file size
        -v              Verbose
        -P              Create new process group
        -0              Close stdin
        -1              Close stdout
        -2              Close stderr
    

chroot

chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT

cksum

cksum FILE...

Calculate CRC32 checksum of FILEs

clear

clear

Clear screen

cmp

cmp [-ls] FILE1 [FILE2]

Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)

        -l      Write the byte numbers (decimal) and values (octal)
                for all differing bytes
        -s      Quiet
    

comm

comm [-123] FILE1 FILE2

Compare FILE1 with FILE2

        -1      Suppress lines unique to FILE1
        -2      Suppress lines unique to FILE2
        -3      Suppress lines common to both files
    

cp

cp [-arPLHpfinlsTu] SOURCE DEST or: cp [-arPLHpfinlsu] SOURCE... { -t DIRECTORY | DIRECTORY }

Copy SOURCEs to DEST

        -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
        -n      Don't overwrite
        -l,-s   Create (sym)links
        -T      Refuse to copy if DEST is a directory
        -t DIR  Copy all SOURCEs into DIR
        -u      Copy only newer files
    

cpio

cpio [-dmvu] [-F FILE] [-R USER[:GRP]] [-ti] [EXTR_FILE]...

Extract (-i) or list (-t) files from a cpio archive

Main operation mode:

        -t      List
        -i      Extract EXTR_FILEs (or all)
Options:

        -d      Make leading directories
        -m      Restore mtime
        -v      Verbose
        -u      Overwrite
        -F FILE Input (-t,-i,-p) or output (-o) file
        -R USER[:GRP]   Set owner of created files
        -L      Dereference symlinks
        -0      Input is separated by NULs
    

crc32

crc32 FILE...

Calculate CRC32 checksum of FILEs

crond

crond [-fbS] [-l N] [-d N] [-L LOGFILE] [-c DIR]

        -f      Foreground
        -b      Background (default)
        -S      Log to syslog (default)
        -l N    Set log level. Most verbose 0, default 8
        -d N    Set log level, log to stderr
        -L FILE Log to FILE
        -c DIR  Cron dir. Default:/var/spool/cron/crontabs
    

crontab

crontab [-c DIR] [-u USER] [-ler]|[FILE]

        -c      Crontab directory
        -u      User
        -l      List crontab
        -e      Edit crontab
        -r      Delete crontab
        FILE    Replace crontab by FILE ('-': stdin)
    

cttyhack

cttyhack [PROG ARGS]

Give PROG a controlling tty if possible. Example for /etc/inittab (for busybox init): ::respawn:/bin/cttyhack /bin/sh Giving controlling tty to shell running with PID 1: $ exec cttyhack sh Starting interactive shell from boot shell script:

        setsid cttyhack sh
    

cut

cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print selected fields from FILEs to stdout

        -b LIST Output only bytes from LIST
        -c LIST Output only characters from LIST
        -d SEP  Field delimiter for input (default -f TAB, -F run of whitespace)
        -O SEP  Field delimeter for output (default = -d for -f, one space for -F)
        -D      Don't sort/collate sections or match -fF lines without delimeter
        -f LIST Print only these fields (-d is single char)
        -F LIST Print only these fields (-d is regex)
        -s      Output only lines containing delimiter
        -n      Ignored
    

date

date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [[-s] TIME]

Display time (using +FMT), or set time

        -u              Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
        [-s] TIME       Set time to TIME
        -d TIME         Display TIME, not 'now'
        -D FMT          FMT (strptime format) for -s/-d TIME conversion
        -r FILE         Display last modification time of FILE
        -R              Output RFC-2822 date
        -I[SPEC]        Output ISO-8601 date
                        SPEC=date (default), hours, minutes, seconds or ns
    

Recognized TIME formats:

        @seconds_since_1970
        hh:mm[:ss]
        [YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss]
        YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]
        [[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss]
        'date TIME' form accepts MMDDhhmm[[YY]YY][.ss] instead
    

dc

dc [-x] [-eSCRIPT]... [-fFILE]... [FILE]...

Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: Arithmetic: + - * / % ^ ~ - divide with remainder | - modular exponentiation v - square root p - print top of the stack without popping f - print entire stack k - pop the value and set precision i - pop the value and set input radix o - pop the value and set output radix Examples: dc -e'2 2 + p' -> 4, dc -e'8 8 * 2 2 + / p' -> 16

dd

dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N obs=N/bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N] [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync] [iflag=skip_bytes|count_bytes|fullblock|direct] [oflag=seek_bytes|append|direct]

Copy a file with converting and formatting

        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
        conv=swab       Swap every pair of bytes
        iflag=skip_bytes        skip=N is in bytes
        iflag=count_bytes       count=N is in bytes
        oflag=seek_bytes        seek=N is in bytes
        iflag=direct    O_DIRECT input
        oflag=direct    O_DIRECT output
        iflag=fullblock Read full blocks
        oflag=append    Open output in append mode
        status=noxfer   Suppress rate output
        status=none     Suppress all output
    

N may be suffixed by c (1), w (2), b (512), kB (1000), k (1024), MB, M, GB, G

delgroup

delgroup [USER] GROUP

Delete group GROUP from the system or user USER from group GROUP

diff

diff [-abBdiNqrTstw] [-L LABEL] [-S FILE] [-U LINES] FILE1 FILE2

Compare files line by line and output the differences between them. This implementation supports unified diffs only.

        -a      Treat all files as text
        -b      Ignore changes in the amount of whitespace
        -B      Ignore changes whose lines are all blank
        -d      Try hard to find a smaller set of changes
        -i      Ignore case differences
        -L      Use LABEL instead of the filename in the unified header
        -N      Treat absent files as empty
        -q      Output only whether files differ
        -r      Recurse
        -S      Start with FILE when comparing directories
        -T      Make tabs line up by prefixing a tab when necessary
        -s      Report when two files are the same
        -t      Expand tabs to spaces in output
        -U      Output LINES lines of context
        -w      Ignore all whitespace
    

dirname

dirname FILENAME

Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME

dnsd

dnsd [-dvs] [-c CONFFILE] [-t TTL_SEC] [-p PORT] [-i ADDR]

Small static DNS server daemon

        -c FILE Config file
        -t SEC  TTL
        -p PORT Listen on PORT
        -i ADDR Listen on ADDR
        -d      Daemonize
        -v      Verbose
        -s      Send successful replies only. Use this if you want
                to use /etc/resolv.conf with two nameserver lines:
                        nameserver DNSD_SERVER
                        nameserver NORMAL_DNS_SERVER
    

dos2unix

dos2unix [-ud] [FILE]

Convert FILE in-place from DOS to Unix format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout.

        -u      dos2unix
        -d      unix2dos
    

dpkg

dpkg [-ilCPru] [-F OPT] PACKAGE

Install, remove and manage Debian packages

        -i,--install    Install the package
        -l,--list       List of installed packages
        --configure     Configure an unpackaged package
        -P,--purge      Purge all files of a package
        -r,--remove     Remove all but the configuration files for a package
        --unpack        Unpack a package, but don't configure it
        --force-depends Ignore dependency problems
        --force-confnew Overwrite existing config files when installing
        --force-confold Keep old config files when installing
    

dpkg-deb

dpkg-deb [-cefxX] FILE [DIR]

Perform actions on Debian packages (.deb)

        -c      List files
        -f      Print control fields
        -e      Extract control files to DIR (default: ./DEBIAN)
        -x      Extract files to DIR (no default)
        -X      Verbose extract
    

du

du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...

Summarize disk space used for FILEs (or directories)

        -a      Show file sizes too
        -b      Apparent size (including holes)
        -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)
    

echo

echo [-neE] [ARG]...

Print ARGs to stdout

        -n      No trailing newline
        -e      Interpret backslash escapes (\t=tab etc)
        -E      Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)
    

ed

ed [FILE]

env

env [-i0] [-u NAME]... [-] [NAME=VALUE]... [PROG ARGS]

Print current environment or run PROG after setting up environment

        -, -i   Start with empty environment
        -0      NUL terminated output
        -u NAME Remove variable from environment
    

envdir

envdir DIR PROG ARGS

Set various environment variables as specified by files in the directory DIR, run PROG

envuidgid

envuidgid USER PROG ARGS

Set $UID to USER's uid and $GID to USER's gid, run PROG

expand

expand [-i] [-t N] [FILE]...

Convert tabs to spaces, writing to stdout

        -i      Don't convert tabs after non blanks
        -t      Tabstops every N chars
    

expr

expr EXPRESSION

Print the value of EXPRESSION

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 LEN   Substring of STRING, POS counts 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.

factor

factor [NUMBER]...

Print prime factors

fakeidentd

fakeidentd [-fiw] [-b ADDR] [STRING]

Provide fake ident (auth) service

        -f      Run in foreground
        -i      Inetd mode
        -w      Inetd 'wait' mode
        -b ADDR Bind to specified address
        STRING  Ident answer string (default: nobody)
    

fallocate

fallocate [-o OFS] -l LEN FILE

Preallocate space for FILE

        -o OFS  Offset of range
        -l LEN  Length of range
    

fatattr

fatattr [-+rhsvda] FILE...

Change file attributes on FAT filesystem

        -       Clear attributes
        +       Set attributes
        r       Read only
        h       Hidden
        s       System
        v       Volume label
        d       Directory
        a       Archive
    

find

find [-HL] [PATH]... [OPTIONS] [ACTIONS]

Search for files and perform actions on them. First failed action stops processing of current file. Defaults: PATH is current directory, action is '-print'

        -L,-follow      Follow symlinks
        -H              ...on command line only
        -xdev           Don't descend directories on other filesystems
        -maxdepth N     Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
                        actions to command line arguments only
        -mindepth N     Don't act on first N levels
        -depth          Act on directory *after* traversing it
    

Actions:

        ( ACTIONS )     Group actions for -o / -a
        ! ACT           Invert ACT's success/failure
        ACT1 [-a] ACT2  If ACT1 fails, stop, else do ACT2
        ACT1 -o ACT2    If ACT1 succeeds, stop, else do ACT2
                        Note: -a has higher priority than -o
        -name PATTERN   Match file name (w/o directory name) to PATTERN
        -iname PATTERN  Case insensitive -name
        -path PATTERN   Match path to PATTERN
        -ipath PATTERN  Case insensitive -path
        -regex PATTERN  Match path to regex PATTERN
        -type X         File type is X (one of: f,d,l,b,c,s,p)
        -executable     File is executable
        -perm MASK      At least one mask bit (+MASK), all bits (-MASK),
                        or exactly MASK bits are set in file's mode
        -mtime DAYS     mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N days in the past
        -mmin MINS      mtime is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N minutes in the past
        -newer FILE     mtime is more recent than FILE's
        -inum N         File has inode number N
        -user NAME/ID   File is owned by given user
        -group NAME/ID  File is owned by given group
        -size N[bck]    File size is N (c:bytes,k:kbytes,b:512 bytes(def.))
                        +/-N: file size is bigger/smaller than N
        -links N        Number of links is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N
        -empty          Match empty file/directory
        -prune          If current file is directory, don't descend into it
If none of the following actions is specified, -print is assumed
        -print          Print file name
        -print0         Print file name, NUL terminated
        -exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by
                        file name. Fails if CMD exits with nonzero
        -exec CMD ARG + Run CMD with {} replaced by list of file names
        -delete         Delete current file/directory. Turns on -depth option
        -quit           Exit
    

flock

flock [-sxun] FD | { FILE [-c] PROG ARGS }

[Un]lock file descriptor, or lock FILE, run PROG

        -s      Shared lock
        -x      Exclusive lock (default)
        -u      Unlock FD
        -n      Fail rather than wait
    

fold

fold [-bs] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

Wrap input lines in FILEs (or stdin), writing to stdout

        -b      Count bytes rather than columns
        -s      Break at spaces
        -w      Use WIDTH columns instead of 80
    

fsync

fsync [-d] FILE...

Write all buffered blocks in FILEs to disk

        -d      Avoid syncing metadata
    

ftpd

ftpd [-wvS] [-a USER] [-t SEC] [-T SEC] [DIR]

FTP server. Chroots to DIR, if this fails (run by non-root), cds to it. It is an inetd service, inetd.conf line: 21 stream tcp nowait root ftpd ftpd /files/to/serve Can be run from tcpsvd:

        tcpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 21 ftpd /files/to/serve

        -w      Allow upload
        -A      No login required, client access occurs under ftpd's UID
        -a USER Enable 'anonymous' login and map it to USER
        -v      Log errors to stderr. -vv: verbose log
        -S      Log errors to syslog. -SS: verbose log
        -t,-T N Idle and absolute timeout
    

ftpget

ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE

Download a file via FTP

        -c      Continue previous transfer
        -v      Verbose
        -u USER Username
        -p PASS Password
        -P PORT
    

ftpput

ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE

Upload a file to a FTP server

        -v      Verbose
        -u USER Username
        -p PASS Password
        -P PORT
    

getopt

getopt [OPTIONS] [--] OPTSTRING PARAMS

        -a              Allow long options starting with single -
        -l LOPT[,...]   Long options to recognize
        -n PROGNAME     The name under which errors are reported
        -o OPTSTRING    Short options to recognize
        -q              No error messages on unrecognized options
        -Q              No normal output
        -s SHELL        Set shell quoting conventions
        -T              Version test (exits with 4)
        -u              Don't quote output
    

Example:

O=`getopt -l bb: -- ab:c:: "$@"` || exit 1 eval set -- "$O" while true; do case "$1" in -a) echo A; shift;; -b|--bb) echo "B:'$2'"; shift 2;; -c) case "$2" in "") echo C; shift 2;; *) echo "C:'$2'"; shift 2;; esac;; --) shift; break;; *) echo Error; exit 1;; esac done

grep

grep [-HhnlLoqvsrRiwFE] [-m N] [-A|B|C N] { PATTERN | -e PATTERN... | -f FILE... } [FILE]...

Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)

        -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
        -R      Recurse and dereference symlinks
        -i      Ignore case
        -w      Match whole words only
        -x      Match whole lines 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
    

groups

groups [USER]

Print the groups USER is in

gunzip

gunzip [-cfkt] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

gzip

gzip [-cfkdt123456789] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin)

        -1..9   Compression level
        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

halt

halt [-d DELAY] [-nf]

Halt the system

        -d SEC  Delay interval
        -n      Do not sync
        -f      Force (don't go through init)
    

hd

hd FILE...

hd is an alias for hexdump -C

head

head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print first 10 lines of FILEs (or stdin). With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.

        -n N[bkm]       Print first N lines
        -n -N[bkm]      Print all except N last lines
        -c [-]N[bkm]    Print first N bytes
                        (b:*512 k:*1024 m:*1024^2)
        -q              Never print headers
        -v              Always print headers
    

hexdump

hexdump [-bcdoxCv] [-e FMT] [-f FMT_FILE] [-n LEN] [-s OFS] [FILE]...

Display FILEs (or stdin) in a user specified format

        -b              1-byte octal display
        -c              1-byte character display
        -d              2-byte decimal display
        -o              2-byte octal display
        -x              2-byte hex display
        -C              hex+ASCII 16 bytes per line
        -v              Show all (no dup folding)
        -e FORMAT_STR   Example: '16/1 "%02x|""\n"'
        -f FORMAT_FILE
        -n LENGTH       Show only first LENGTH bytes
        -s OFFSET       Skip OFFSET bytes
    

hexedit

hexedit FILE

Edit FILE in hexadecimal

hostid

hostid

Print out a unique 32-bit identifier for the machine

hostname

hostname [-sidf] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE]

Show or set hostname or DNS domain name

        -s      Short
        -i      Addresses for the hostname
        -d      DNS domain name
        -f      Fully qualified domain name
        -F FILE Use FILE's content as hostname
    

httpd

httpd [-ifv[v]] [-c CONFFILE] [-p [IP:]PORT] [-u USER[:GRP]] [-r REALM] [-h HOME] or httpd -d/-e/-m STRING

Listen for incoming HTTP requests

        -i              Inetd mode
        -f              Don't daemonize
        -v[v]           Verbose
        -p [IP:]PORT    Bind to IP:PORT (default *:80)
        -u USER[:GRP]   Set uid/gid after binding to port
        -r REALM        Authentication Realm for Basic Authentication
        -h HOME         Home directory (default .)
        -c FILE         Configuration file (default {/etc,HOME}/httpd.conf)
        -m STRING       MD5 crypt STRING
        -e STRING       HTML encode STRING
        -d STRING       URL decode STRING
    

hush

hush [-enxl] [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE [ARGS] | -s [ARGS]]

Unix shell interpreter

id

id [-ugGnr] [USER]

Print information about USER or the current user

        -u      User ID
        -g      Group ID
        -G      Supplementary group IDs
        -n      Print names instead of numbers
        -r      Print real ID instead of effective ID
    

inetd

inetd [-fe] [-q N] [-R N] [CONFFILE]

Listen for network connections and launch programs

        -f      Run in foreground
        -e      Log to stderr
        -q N    Socket listen queue (default 128)
        -R N    Pause services after N connects/min
                (default 0 - disabled)
        Default CONFFILE is /etc/inetd.conf
    

install

install [-cdDsp] [-o USER] [-g GRP] [-m MODE] [-t DIR] [SOURCE]... DEST

Copy files and set attributes

        -c      Just copy (default)
        -d      Create directories
        -D      Create leading target directories
        -s      Strip symbol table
        -p      Preserve date
        -o USER Set ownership
        -g GRP  Set group ownership
        -m MODE Set permissions
        -t DIR  Install to DIR
    

iostat

iostat [-c] [-d] [-t] [-z] [-k|-m] [ALL|BLOCKDEV...] [INTERVAL [COUNT]]

Report CPU and I/O statistics

        -c      Show CPU utilization
        -d      Show device utilization
        -t      Print current time
        -z      Omit devices with no activity
        -k      Use kb/s
        -m      Use Mb/s
    

ipcalc

ipcalc [-bnmphs] ADDRESS[/PREFIX] [NETMASK]

Calculate and display network settings from IP address

        -b      Broadcast address
        -n      Network address
        -m      Default netmask for IP
        -p      Prefix for IP/NETMASK
        -h      Resolved host name
        -s      No error messages
    

kill

kill [-l] [-SIG] PID...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs

        -l      List all signal names and numbers
    

killall

killall [-lq] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes

        -l      List all signal names and numbers
        -q      Don't complain if no processes were killed
    

killall5

killall5 [-l] [-SIG] [-o PID]...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to all processes outside current session

        -l      List all signal names and numbers
        -o PID  Don't signal this PID
    

klogd

klogd [-c N] [-n]

Log kernel messages to syslog

        -c N    Print to console messages more urgent than prio N (1-8)
        -n      Run in foreground
    

less

less [-EFIMmNSRh~] [FILE]...

View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time

        -E      Quit once the end of a file is reached
        -F      Quit if entire file fits on first screen
        -I      Ignore case in all searches
        -M,-m   Display status line with line numbers
                and percentage through the file
        -N      Prefix line number to each line
        -S      Truncate long lines
        -R      Remove color escape codes in input
        -~      Suppress ~s displayed past EOF
    

link

link FILE LINK

Create hard LINK to FILE

ln

ln [-sfnbtv] [-S SUF] TARGET... LINK|DIR

Create a link LINK or DIR/TARGET to the specified TARGET(s)

        -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
        -T      Treat LINK as a file, not DIR
        -v      Verbose
    

logger

logger [-s] [-t TAG] [-p PRIO] [MESSAGE]

Write MESSAGE (or stdin) to syslog

        -s      Log to stderr as well as the system log
        -t TAG  Log using the specified tag (defaults to user name)
        -p PRIO Priority (number or FACILITY.LEVEL pair)
    

logname

logname

Print the name of the current user

logread

logread [-fF]

Show messages in syslogd's circular buffer

        -f      Output data as log grows
        -F      Same as -f, but dump buffer first
    

lpq

lpq [-P queue[@host[:port]]] [-U USERNAME] [-d JOBID]... [-fs]

        -P      lp service to connect to (else uses $PRINTER)
        -d      Delete jobs
        -f      Force any waiting job to be printed
        -s      Short display
    

lpr

lpr -P queue[@host[:port]] -U USERNAME -J TITLE -Vmh [FILE]...

        -P      lp service to connect to (else uses $PRINTER)
        -m      Send mail on completion
        -h      Print banner page too
        -V      Verbose
    

ls

ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinshrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

List directory contents

        -1      One column output
        -a      Include names starting with .
        -A      Like -a, but exclude . and ..
        -x      List by lines
        -d      List directory names, not contents
        -L      Follow symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -R      Recurse
        -p      Append / to directory names
        -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to names
        -l      Long format
        -i      List inode numbers
        -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
        -s      List allocated blocks
        -lc     List ctime
        -lu     List atime
        --full-time     List full date/time
        -h      Human readable sizes (1K 243M 2G)
        --group-directories-first
        -S      Sort by size
        -X      Sort by extension
        -v      Sort by version
        -t      Sort by mtime
        -tc     Sort by ctime
        -tu     Sort by atime
        -r      Reverse sort order
        -w N    Format N columns wide
        --color[={always,never,auto}]
    

lzcat

lzcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

lzma

lzma -d [-cfk] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

lzop

lzop [-cfUvd123456789CF] [FILE]...

        -1..9   Compression level
        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -U      Delete input files
        -v      Verbose
        -F      Don't store or verify checksum
        -C      Also write checksum of compressed block
    

makemime

makemime [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Create multipart MIME-encoded message from FILEs

        -o FILE Output. Default: stdout
        -a HDR  Add header(s). Examples:
                "From: user@host.org", "Date: `date -R`"
        -c CT   Content type. Default: application/octet-stream
        -C CS   Charset. Default: us-ascii
    

Other options are silently ignored

man

man [-aw] [SECTION] MANPAGE[.SECTION]...

Display manual page

        -a      Display all pages
        -w      Show page locations
    

$COLUMNS overrides output width

md5sum

md5sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check MD5 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
    

microcom

microcom [-d DELAY_MS] [-t TIMEOUT_MS ] [-s SPEED] [-X] TTY

Copy bytes from stdin to TTY and from TTY to stdout

        -d DELAY        Wait up to DELAY ms for TTY output before sending
                        every next byte to it
        -t TIMEOUT      Exit if both stdin and TTY are silent for TIMEOUT ms
        -s SPEED        Set serial line to SPEED
        -X              Disable special meaning of NUL and Ctrl-X from stdin
    

mim

mim [-f FILE] [SHELL_OPTIONS] [TARGET] ...

Run a script from a Makefile-like specification file

        -f FILE         Spec file (default Mimfile)
    

mkdir

mkdir [-m MODE] [-p] DIRECTORY...

Create DIRECTORY

        -m MODE Mode
        -p      No error if exists; make parent directories as needed
    

mkfifo

mkfifo [-m MODE] NAME

Create named pipe

        -m MODE Mode (default a=rw)
    

mknod

mknod [-m MODE] NAME TYPE [MAJOR MINOR]

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

        -m MODE Creation mode (default a=rw)
TYPE:
        b       Block device
        c or u  Character device
        p       Named pipe (MAJOR MINOR must be omitted)
    

mktemp

mktemp [-dt] [-p DIR] [TEMPLATE]

Create a temporary file with name based on TEMPLATE and print its name. TEMPLATE must end with XXXXXX (e.g. [/dir/]nameXXXXXX). Without TEMPLATE, -t tmp.XXXXXX is assumed.

        -d      Make directory, not file
        -q      Fail silently on errors
        -t      Prepend base directory name to TEMPLATE
        -p DIR  Use DIR as a base directory (implies -t)
        -u      Do not create anything; print a name
    

Base directory is: -p DIR, else $TMPDIR, else /tmp

more

more [FILE]...

View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time

mpstat

mpstat [-A] [-I SUM|CPU|ALL|SCPU] [-u] [-P num|ALL] [INTERVAL [COUNT]]

Per-processor statistics

        -A                      Same as -I ALL -u -P ALL
        -I SUM|CPU|ALL|SCPU     Report interrupt statistics
        -P num|ALL              Processor to monitor
        -u                      Report CPU utilization
    

mv

mv [-finT] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... { -t DIRECTORY | DIRECTORY }

Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCEs to DIRECTORY

        -f      Don't prompt before overwriting
        -i      Interactive, prompt before overwrite
        -n      Don't overwrite an existing file
        -T      Refuse to move if DEST is a directory
        -t DIR  Move all SOURCEs into DIR
    

nc

nc [OPTIONS] HOST PORT - connect nc [OPTIONS] -l -p PORT [HOST] [PORT] - listen

        -e PROG Run PROG after connect (must be last)
        -l      Listen mode, for inbound connects
        -lk     With -e, provides persistent server
        -p PORT Local port
        -s ADDR Local address
        -w SEC  Timeout for connects and final net reads
        -i SEC  Delay interval for lines sent
        -n      Don't do DNS resolution
        -u      UDP mode
        -b      Allow broadcasts
        -v      Verbose
        -o FILE Hex dump traffic
        -z      Zero-I/O mode (scanning)
    

nice

nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG ARGS]

Change scheduling priority, run PROG

        -n ADJUST       Adjust priority by ADJUST
    

nl

nl [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Write FILEs to standard output with line numbers added

        -b STYLE        Which lines to number - a: all, t: nonempty, n: none
        -i N            Line number increment
        -s STRING       Use STRING as line number separator
        -v N            Start from N
        -w N            Width of line numbers
    

nmeter

nmeter [-d MSEC] FORMAT_STRING

Monitor system in real time

 -d MSEC        Milliseconds between updates, default:1000, none:-1
    

Format specifiers:

 %Nc or %[cN]   CPU. N - bar size (default 10)
                (displays: S:system U:user N:niced D:iowait I:irq i:softirq)
 %[nINTERFACE]  Network INTERFACE
 %m             Allocated memory
 %[mf]          Free memory
 %[mt]          Total memory
 %s             Allocated swap
 %f             Number of used file descriptors
 %Ni            Total/specific IRQ rate
 %x             Context switch rate
 %p             Forks
 %[pn]          # of processes
 %b             Block io
 %Nt            Time (with N decimal points)
 %NT            Zero-based timestamp (with N decimal points)
 %r             Print <cr> instead of <lf> at EOL
    

nohup

nohup PROG ARGS

Run PROG immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty

nologin

nologin

Politely refuse a login

nslookup

nslookup [-type=QUERY_TYPE] [-debug] HOST [DNS_SERVER]

Query DNS about HOST

QUERY_TYPE: soa,ns,a,aaaa,cname,mx,txt,ptr,srv,any

ntpd

ntpd [-dnqNwl] [-I IFACE] [-S PROG] [-k KEYFILE] [-p [keyno:N:]PEER]...

NTP client/server

        -d[d]   Verbose
        -n      Do not daemonize
        -q      Quit after clock is set
        -N      Run at high priority
        -w      Do not set time (only query peers), implies -n
        -S PROG Run PROG after stepping time, stratum change, and every 11 min
        -k FILE Key file (ntp.keys compatible)
        -p [keyno:NUM:]PEER
                Obtain time from PEER (may be repeated)
                Use key NUM for authentication
                If -p is not given, 'server HOST' lines
                from /etc/ntp.conf are used
        -l      Also run as server on port 123
        -I IFACE Bind server to IFACE, implies -l
    

nuke

nuke DIR...

Remove DIRs

od

od [-aBbcDdeFfHhIiLlOovXx] [FILE]

Print FILE (or stdin) unambiguously, as octal bytes by default

paste

paste [-d LIST] [-s] [FILE]...

Paste lines from each input file, separated with tab

        -d LIST Use delimiters from LIST, not tab
        -s      Serial: one file at a time
    

patch

patch [-RNE] [-p N] [-i DIFF] [ORIGFILE [PATCHFILE]]

        -p N    Strip N leading components from file names
        -i DIFF Read DIFF instead of stdin
        -R      Reverse patch
        -N      Ignore already applied patches
        -E      Remove output files if they become empty
        --dry-run       Don't actually change files
    

pgrep

pgrep [-flanovx] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]

Display process(es) selected by regex PATTERN

        -l      Show command name too
        -a      Show command line too
        -f      Match against entire command line
        -n      Show the newest process only
        -o      Show the oldest process only
        -v      Negate the match
        -x      Match whole name (not substring)
        -s      Match session ID (0 for current)
        -P      Match parent process ID
    

pidof

pidof [-s] [-o PID] [NAME]...

List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs

        -s      Show only one PID
        -o PID  Omit given pid
                Use %PPID to omit pid of pidof's parent
    

ping

ping HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUESTs to HOST

ping6

ping6 HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUESTs to HOST

pkill

pkill [-l|-SIGNAL] [-xfvno] [-s SID|-P PPID|PATTERN]

Send signal to processes selected by regex PATTERN

        -l      List all signals
        -x      Match whole name (not substring)
        -f      Match against entire command line
        -s SID  Match session ID (0 for current)
        -P PPID Match parent process ID
        -v      Negate the match
        -n      Signal the newest process only
        -o      Signal the oldest process only
    

pmap

pmap [-xq] PID...

Display process memory usage

        -x      Show details
        -q      Quiet
    

popmaildir

popmaildir [OPTIONS] MAILDIR [CONN_HELPER ARGS]

Fetch content of remote mailbox to local maildir

        -s              Skip authorization
        -T              Get messages with TOP instead of RETR
        -k              Keep retrieved messages on the server
        -t SEC          Network timeout
        -F 'PROG ARGS'  Filter program (may be repeated)
        -M 'PROG ARGS'  Delivery program
    

Fetch from plain POP3 server: popmaildir -k DIR nc pop3.server.com 110 <user_and_pass.txt Fetch from SSLed POP3 server and delete fetched emails: popmaildir DIR -- openssl s_client -quiet -connect pop3.server.com:995 <user_and_pass.txt

poweroff

poweroff [-d DELAY] [-nf]

Halt and shut off power

        -d SEC  Delay interval
        -n      Do not sync
        -f      Force (don't go through init)
    

printenv

printenv [VARIABLE]...

Print environment VARIABLEs. If no VARIABLE specified, print all.

printf

printf FORMAT [ARG]...

Format and print ARG(s) according to FORMAT (a-la C printf)

ps

ps

Show list of processes

        w       Wide output
        l       Long output
        T       Show threads
    

pscan

pscan [-cb] [-p MIN_PORT] [-P MAX_PORT] [-t TIMEOUT] [-T MIN_RTT] HOST

Scan HOST, print all open ports

        -c      Show closed ports too
        -b      Show blocked ports too
        -p PORT Scan from this port (default 1)
        -P PORT Scan up to this port (default 1024)
        -t MS   Timeout (default 5000 ms)
        -T MS   Minimum rtt (default 5 ms)
    

pwd

pwd

Print the full filename of the current working directory

pwdx

pwdx PID...

Show current directory for PIDs

readlink

readlink [-fnv] FILE

Display the value of a symlink

        -f      Canonicalize by following all symlinks
        -n      Don't add newline
        -v      Verbose
    

readprofile

readprofile [OPTIONS]

        -m MAPFILE      (Default: /boot/System.map)
        -p PROFILE      (Default: /proc/profile)
        -M NUM          Set the profiling multiplier to NUM
        -i              Print only info about the sampling step
        -v              Verbose
        -a              Print all symbols, even if count is 0
        -b              Print individual histogram-bin counts
        -s              Print individual counters within functions
        -r              Reset all the counters (root only)
        -n              Disable byte order auto-detection
    

realpath

realpath FILE...

Print absolute pathnames of FILEs

reboot

reboot [-d DELAY] [-nf]

Reboot the system

        -d SEC  Delay interval
        -n      Do not sync
        -f      Force (don't go through init)
    

reformime

reformime [OPTIONS]

Parse MIME-encoded message on stdin

        -x PREFIX       Extract content of MIME sections to files
        -X PROG ARGS    Filter content of MIME sections through PROG
                        Must be the last option
    

Other options are silently ignored

renice

renice [-n] PRIORITY [[-p|g|u] ID...]...

Change scheduling priority of a running process

        -n      Add PRIORITY to current nice value
                Without -n, nice value is set to PRIORITY
        -p      Process ids (default)
        -g      Process group ids
        -u      Process user names
    

reset

reset

Reset the screen

resize

resize

Resize the screen

resume

resume BLOCKDEV [OFFSET]

Restore system state from 'suspend-to-disk' data in BLOCKDEV

rev

rev [FILE]...

Reverse lines of FILE

rm

rm [-irf] FILE...

Remove (unlink) FILEs

        -i      Always prompt before removing
        -f      Never prompt
        -R,-r   Recurse
    

rmdir

rmdir [-p] DIRECTORY...

Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty

        -p      Include parents
        --ignore-fail-on-non-empty
    

rpm

rpm -i PACKAGE.rpm; rpm -qp[ildc] PACKAGE.rpm

Manipulate RPM packages

Commands:

        -i      Install package
        -qp     Query package
        -qpi    Show information
        -qpl    List contents
        -qpd    List documents
        -qpc    List config files
    

rpm2cpio

rpm2cpio PACKAGE.rpm

Output a cpio archive of the rpm file

run-parts

run-parts [-a ARG]... [-u UMASK] [--reverse] [--test] [--exit-on-error] [--list] DIRECTORY

Run a bunch of scripts in DIRECTORY

        -a ARG          Pass ARG as argument to scripts
        -u UMASK        Set UMASK before running scripts
        --reverse       Reverse execution order
        --test          Dry run
        --exit-on-error Exit if a script exits with non-zero
        --list          Print names of matching files even if they are not executable
    

runsv

runsv DIR

Start and monitor a service and optionally an appendant log service

runsvdir

runsvdir [-P] [-s SCRIPT] DIR

Start a runsv process for each subdirectory. If it exits, restart it.

        -P              Put each runsv in a new session
        -s SCRIPT       Run SCRIPT <signo> after signal is processed
    

script

script [-afq] [-t[FILE]] [-c PROG] [OUTFILE]

Default OUTFILE is 'typescript'

        -a      Append output
        -c PROG Run PROG, not shell
        -q      Quiet
        -t[FILE] Send timing to stderr or FILE
    

scriptreplay

scriptreplay TIMINGFILE [TYPESCRIPT [DIVISOR]]

Play back typescripts, using timing information

sed

sed [-i[SFX]] [-nrE] [-f FILE]... [-e CMD]... [FILE]... or: sed [-i[SFX]] [-nrE] CMD [FILE]...

        -e CMD  Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
        -f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
        -i[SFX] Edit files in-place (otherwise write to stdout)
                Optionally back files up, appending SFX
        -n      Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
        -r,-E   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

sendmail [-tv] [-f SENDER] [-amLOGIN 4<user_pass.txt | -auUSER -apPASS] [-w SECS] [-H 'PROG ARGS' | -S HOST] [RECIPIENT_EMAIL]...

Read email from stdin and send it

Standard options:

        -t              Read additional recipients from message body
        -f SENDER       For use in MAIL FROM:<sender>. Can be empty string
                        Default: -auUSER, or username of current UID
        -o OPTIONS      Various options. -oi implied, others are ignored
        -i              -oi synonym, implied and ignored
    

Busybox specific options:

        -v              Verbose
        -w SECS         Network timeout
        -H 'PROG ARGS'  Run connection helper. Examples:
                openssl s_client -quiet -tls1 -starttls smtp -connect smtp.gmail.com:25
                openssl s_client -quiet -tls1 -connect smtp.gmail.com:465
                        $SMTP_ANTISPAM_DELAY: seconds to wait after helper connect
        -S HOST[:PORT]  Server (default $SMTPHOST or 127.0.0.1)
        -amLOGIN        Log in using AUTH LOGIN
        -amPLAIN        or AUTH PLAIN
                        (-amCRAM-MD5 not supported)
        -auUSER         Username for AUTH
        -apPASS         Password for AUTH
    

If no -a options are given, authentication is not done. If -amLOGIN is given but no -au/-ap, user/password is read from fd #4. Other options are silently ignored; -oi is implied. Use makemime to create emails with attachments.

seq

seq [-w] [-s SEP] [FIRST [INC]] LAST

Print numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INC. FIRST, INC default to 1.

        -w      Pad to last with leading zeros
        -s SEP  String separator
    

setsid

setsid [-c] PROG ARGS

Run PROG in a new session. PROG will have no controlling terminal and will not be affected by keyboard signals (^C etc).

        -c      Set controlling terminal to stdin
    

setuidgid

setuidgid USER PROG ARGS

Set uid and gid to USER's uid and gid, drop supplementary group ids, run PROG

sh

sh [-il] [-|+Cabefmnuvx] [-|+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 ARGS] | FILE [ARGS] | -s [ARGS]]

Unix shell interpreter

sha1sum

sha1sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA1 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
    

sha256sum

sha256sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA256 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
    

sha3sum

sha3sum [-c[sw]] [-a BITS] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA3 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
        -a BITS 224 (default), 256, 384, 512
    

sha512sum

sha512sum [-c[sw]] [FILE]...

Print or check SHA512 checksums

        -c      Check sums against list in FILEs
        -s      Don't output anything, status code shows success
        -w      Warn about improperly formatted checksum lines
    

shred

shred [-fuz] [-n N] [-s SIZE] FILE...

Overwrite/delete FILEs

        -f      Chmod to ensure writability
        -s SIZE Size to write
        -n N    Overwrite N times (default 3)
        -z      Final overwrite with zeros
        -u      Remove file
    

shuf

shuf [-e|-i L-H] [-n NUM] [-o FILE] [-z] [FILE|ARG...]

Randomly permute lines

        -e      Treat ARGs as lines
        -i L-H  Treat numbers L-H as lines
        -n NUM  Output at most NUM lines
        -o FILE Write to FILE, not standard output
        -z      End lines with zero byte, not newline
    

sleep

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

smemcap

smemcap >SMEMDATA.TAR

Collect memory usage data in /proc and write it to stdout

softlimit

softlimit [-a BYTES] [-m BYTES] [-d BYTES] [-s BYTES] [-l BYTES] [-f BYTES] [-c BYTES] [-r BYTES] [-o N] [-p N] [-t N] PROG ARGS

Set soft resource limits, then run PROG

        -a BYTES        Limit total size of all segments
        -m BYTES        Same as -d BYTES -s BYTES -l BYTES -a BYTES
        -d BYTES        Limit data segment
        -s BYTES        Limit stack segment
        -l BYTES        Limit locked memory size
        -o N            Limit number of open files per process
        -p N            Limit number of processes per uid
Options controlling file sizes:

        -f BYTES        Limit output file sizes
        -c BYTES        Limit core file size
Efficiency opts:

        -r BYTES        Limit resident set size
        -t N            Limit CPU time, process receives
                        a SIGXCPU after N seconds
    

sort

sort [-nrugMcszbdfiokt] [-o FILE] [-k START[.OFS][OPTS][,END[.OFS][OPTS]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...

Sort lines of text

        -o FILE Output to FILE
        -c      Check whether input is sorted
        -b      Ignore leading blanks
        -f      Ignore case
        -i      Ignore unprintable characters
        -d      Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only)
        -n      Sort numbers
        -g      General numerical sort
        -M      Sort month
        -V      Sort version
        -t CHAR Field separator
        -k N[,M] Sort by Nth field
        -r      Reverse sort order
        -s      Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically)
        -u      Suppress duplicate lines
        -z      NUL terminated input and output
    

split

split [OPTIONS] [INPUT [PREFIX]]

        -b N[k|m]       Split by N (kilo|mega)bytes
        -l N            Split by N lines
        -a N            Use N letters as suffix
    

ssl_client

ssl_client [-e] -s FD [-r FD] [-n SNI]

stat

stat [-lt] [-c FMT] FILE...

Display file status

        -c FMT  Use the specified format
        -L      Follow links
        -t      Terse display
    

FMT sequences:

 %a     Access rights in octal
 %A     Access rights in human readable form
 %b     Number of blocks allocated (see %B)
 %B     Size in bytes of each block reported by %b
 %d     Device number in decimal
 %D     Device number in hex
 %f     Raw mode in hex
 %F     File type
 %g     Group ID
 %G     Group name
 %h     Number of hard links
 %i     Inode number
 %n     File name
 %N     File name, with -> TARGET if symlink
 %o     I/O block size
 %s     Total size in bytes
 %t     Major device type in hex
 %T     Minor device type in hex
 %u     User ID
 %U     User name
 %x     Time of last access
 %X     Time of last access as seconds since Epoch
 %y     Time of last modification
 %Y     Time of last modification as seconds since Epoch
 %z     Time of last change
 %Z     Time of last change as seconds since Epoch
    

strings

strings [-fo] [-t o|d|x] [-n LEN] [FILE]...

Display printable strings in a binary file

        -f              Precede strings with filenames
        -o              Precede strings with octal offsets
        -t o|d|x        Precede strings with offsets in base 8/10/16
        -n LEN          At least LEN characters form a string (default 4)
    

stty

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

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

        -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
    

su

su [-lmp] [-s SH] [-] [USER [FILE ARGS | -c 'CMD' [ARG0 ARGS]]]

Run shell under USER (by default, root)

        -,-l    Clear environment, go to home dir, run shell as login shell
        -p,-m   Do not set new $HOME, $SHELL, $USER, $LOGNAME
        -c CMD  Command to pass to 'sh -c'
        -s SH   Shell to use instead of user's default
    

sulogin

sulogin [-t N] [TTY]

Single user login

        -t N    Timeout
    

sum

sum [-rs] [FILE]...

Checksum and count the blocks in a file

        -r      Use BSD sum algorithm (1K blocks)
        -s      Use System V sum algorithm (512byte blocks)
    

sv

sv [-v] [-w SEC] CMD SERVICE_DIR...

Control services monitored by runsv supervisor. Commands (only first character is enough):

status: query service status up: if service isn't running, start it. If service stops, restart it once: like 'up', but if service stops, don't restart it down: send TERM and CONT signals. If ./run exits, start ./finish if it exists. After it stops, don't restart service exit: send TERM and CONT signals to service and log service. If they exit, runsv exits too pause, cont, hup, alarm, interrupt, quit, 1, 2, term, kill: send STOP, CONT, HUP, ALRM, INT, QUIT, USR1, USR2, TERM, KILL signal to service

svc

svc [-udopchaitkx] SERVICE_DIR...

Control services monitored by runsv supervisor

        -u      If service is not running, start it; restart if it stops
        -d      If service is running, send TERM+CONT signals; do not restart it
        -o      Once: if service is not running, start it; do not restart it
        -pchaitk Send STOP, CONT, HUP, ALRM, INT, TERM, KILL signal to service
        -x      Exit: runsv will exit as soon as the service is down
    

svlogd

svlogd [-tttv] [-r C] [-R CHARS] [-l MATCHLEN] [-b BUFLEN] DIR...

Read log data from stdin and write to rotated log files in DIRs

        -r C    Replace non-printable characters with C
        -R CHARS Also replace CHARS with C (default _)
        -t      Timestamp with @tai64n
        -tt     Timestamp with yyyy-mm-dd_hh:mm:ss.sssss
        -ttt    Timestamp with yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sssss
        -v      Verbose
    

DIR/config file modifies behavior: sSIZE - when to rotate logs (default 1000000, 0 disables) nNUM - number of files to retain !PROG - process rotated log with PROG +,-PATTERN - (de)select line for logging E,ePATTERN - (de)select line for stderr

svok

svok SERVICE_DIR

Check whether runsv supervisor is running. Exit code is 0 if it does, 100 if it does not, 111 (with error message) if SERVICE_DIR does not exist.

sync

sync

Write all buffered blocks to disk

syslogd

syslogd [OPTIONS]

System logging utility

        -n              Run in foreground
        -R HOST[:PORT]  Log to HOST:PORT (default PORT:514)
        -L              Log locally and via network (default is network only if -R)
        -C[size_kb]     Log to shared mem buffer (use logread to read it)
        -K              Log to kernel printk buffer (use dmesg to read it)
        -O FILE         Log to FILE (default: /var/log/messages, stdout if -)
        -s SIZE         Max size (KB) before rotation (default 200KB, 0=off)
        -b N            N rotated logs to keep (default 1, max 99, 0=purge)
        -l N            Log only messages more urgent than prio N (1-8)
        -S              Smaller output
        -t              Strip client-generated timestamps
        -D              Drop duplicates
        -f FILE         Use FILE as config (default:/etc/syslog.conf)
    

tac

tac [FILE]...

Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse

tail

tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print last 10 lines of FILEs (or stdin) to. With more than one FILE, precede each with a filename header.

        -c [+]N[bkm]    Print last N bytes
        -n N[bkm]       Print last N lines
        -n +N[bkm]      Start on Nth line and print the rest
                        (b:*512 k:*1024 m:*1024^2)
        -q              Never print headers
        -v              Always print headers
        -f              Print data as file grows
        -F              Same as -f, but keep retrying
        -s SECONDS      Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
    

tar

tar c|x|t [-ZzJjahmvokO] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [-T FILE] [-X FILE] [LONGOPT]... [FILE]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

        c       Create
        x       Extract
        t       List
        -f FILE Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
        -C DIR  Change to DIR before operation
        -v      Verbose
        -O      Extract to stdout
        -m      Don't restore mtime
        -o      Don't restore user:group
        -k      Don't replace existing files
        -Z      (De)compress using compress
        -z      (De)compress using gzip
        -J      (De)compress using xz
        -j      (De)compress using bzip2
        --lzma  (De)compress using lzma
        -a      (De)compress based on extension
        -h      Follow symlinks
        -T FILE File with names to include
        -X FILE File with glob patterns to exclude
        --exclude PATTERN       Glob pattern to exclude
        --overwrite             Replace existing files
        --strip-components NUM  NUM of leading components to strip
        --no-recursion          Don't descend in directories
        --numeric-owner         Use numeric user:group
        --no-same-permissions   Don't restore access permissions
        --to-command COMMAND    Pipe files to COMMAND
    

tcpsvd

tcpsvd [-hEv] [-c N] [-C N[:MSG]] [-b N] [-u USER] [-l NAME] IP PORT PROG

Create TCP socket, bind to IP:PORT and listen for incoming connections. Run PROG for each connection.

        IP PORT         IP:PORT to listen on
        PROG ARGS       Program to run
        -u USER[:GRP]   Change to user/group after bind
        -c N            Up to N connections simultaneously (default 30)
        -b N            Allow backlog of approximately N TCP SYNs (default 20)
        -C N[:MSG]      Allow only up to N connections from the same IP:
                        new connections from this IP address are closed
                        immediately, MSG is written to the peer before close
        -E              Don't set up environment
        -h              Look up peer's hostname
        -l NAME         Local hostname (else look up local hostname in DNS)
        -v              Verbose
    

Environment if no -E: PROTO='TCP' TCPREMOTEADDR='ip:port' ('[ip]:port' for IPv6) TCPLOCALADDR='ip:port' TCPORIGDSTADDR='ip:port' of destination before firewall Useful for REDIRECTed-to-local connections: iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to 8080 TCPCONCURRENCY=num_of_connects_from_this_ip If -h: TCPLOCALHOST='hostname' (-l NAME is used if specified) TCPREMOTEHOST='hostname'

tee

tee [-ai] [FILE]...

Copy stdin to each FILE, and also to stdout

        -a      Append to the given FILEs, don't overwrite
        -i      Ignore interrupt signals (SIGINT)
    

telnet

telnet [-a] [-l USER] HOST [PORT]

Connect to telnet server

        -a      Automatic login with $USER variable
        -l USER Automatic login as USER
    

telnetd

telnetd [OPTIONS]

Handle incoming telnet connections

        -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
        -w SEC          Inetd 'wait' mode, linger time SEC
                inetd.conf line: 23 stream tcp wait root telnetd telnetd -w10
        -S              Log to syslog (implied by -i or without -F and -w)
    

tftp

tftp [OPTIONS] HOST [PORT]

Transfer a file from/to tftp server

        -l FILE Local FILE
        -r FILE Remote FILE
        -g      Get file
        -p      Put file
        -b SIZE Transfer blocks in bytes
    

tftpd

tftpd [-crl] [-u USER] [DIR]

Transfer a file on tftp client's request

tftpd is an inetd service, inetd.conf line: 69 dgram udp nowait root tftpd tftpd -l /files/to/serve Can be run from udpsvd:

        udpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 69 tftpd /files/to/serve

        -r      Prohibit upload
        -c      Allow file creation via upload
        -u USER Access files as USER
        -l      Log to syslog (inetd mode requires this)
    

timeout

timeout [-s SIG] SECS PROG ARGS

Run PROG. Send SIG to it if it is not gone in SECS seconds. Default SIG: TERM.

top

top [-bmH] [-n COUNT] [-d SECONDS]

Show a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and show a screenful of them. Keys:

        N/M/P/T: show CPU usage, sort by pid/mem/cpu/time
        S: show memory
        R: reverse sort
        H: toggle threads, 1: toggle SMP
        Q,^C: exit
Options:

        -b      Batch mode
        -n N    Exit after N iterations
        -d SEC  Delay between updates
        -m      Same as 's' key
        -H      Show threads
    

touch

touch [-cham] [-d DATE] [-t DATE] [-r FILE] FILE...

Update mtime of FILEs

        -c      Don't create files
        -h      Don't follow links
        -a      Change only atime
        -m      Change only mtime
        -d DT   Date/time to use
        -t DT   Date/time to use
        -r FILE Use FILE's date/time
    

tr

tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]

Translate, squeeze, or delete characters from stdin, writing to stdout

        -c      Take complement of STRING1
        -d      Delete input characters coded STRING1
        -s      Squeeze multiple output characters of STRING2 into one character
    

traceroute

traceroute [-46IFlnrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-q PROBES] [-p PORT] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-s SRC_IP] [-i IFACE] [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES]

Trace the route to HOST

        -4,-6   Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
        -F      Set don't fragment bit
        -I      Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams
        -l      Display TTL value of the returned packet
        -n      Print numeric addresses
        -r      Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
        -v      Verbose
        -f N    First number of hops (default 1)
        -m N    Max number of hops
        -q N    Number of probes per hop (default 3)
        -p N    Base UDP port number used in probes
                (default 33434)
        -s IP   Source address
        -i IFACE Source interface
        -t N    Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
        -w SEC  Wait for a response (default 3)
        -z MSEC Wait before each send
    

traceroute6

traceroute6 [-Inrv] [-f 1ST_TTL] [-m MAXTTL] [-q PROBES] [-p PORT] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-s SRC_IP] [-i IFACE] [-z PAUSE_MSEC] HOST [BYTES]

Trace the route to HOST

        -I      Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams
        -n      Print numeric addresses
        -r      Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
        -v      Verbose
        -f N    First number of hops (default 1)
        -m N    Max number of hops
        -q N    Number of probes per hop (default 3)
        -p N    Base UDP port number used in probes
                (default 33434)
        -s IP   Source address
        -i IFACE Source interface
        -t N    Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
        -w SEC  Wait for a response (default 3)
        -z MSEC Wait before each send
    

truncate

truncate [-c] -s SIZE FILE...

Truncate FILEs to SIZE

        -c      Do not create files
        -s SIZE
    

ts

ts [-is] [STRFTIME]

Pipe stdin to stdout, add timestamp to each line

        -s      Time since start
        -i      Time since previous line
    

tty

tty [-s]

Print file name of stdin's terminal

        -s      Print nothing, only return exit status
    

ttysize

ttysize [w] [h]

Print dimensions of stdin tty, or 80x24

uname

uname [-amnrspvio]

Print system information

        -a      Print all
        -m      Machine (hardware) type
        -n      Hostname
        -r      Kernel release
        -s      Kernel name (default)
        -p      Processor type
        -v      Kernel version
        -i      Hardware platform
        -o      OS name
    

uncompress

uncompress [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Overwrite
    

unexpand

unexpand [-fa][-t N] [FILE]...

Convert spaces to tabs, writing to stdout

        -a      Convert all blanks
        -f      Convert only leading blanks
        -t N    Tabstops every N chars
    

uniq

uniq [-cduiz] [-f,s,w N] [FILE [OUTFILE]]

Discard duplicate lines

        -c      Prefix lines by the number of occurrences
        -d      Only print duplicate lines
        -u      Only print unique lines
        -i      Ignore case
        -z      NUL terminated output
        -f N    Skip first N fields
        -s N    Skip first N chars (after any skipped fields)
        -w N    Compare N characters in line
    

unix2dos

unix2dos [-ud] [FILE]

Convert FILE in-place from Unix to DOS format. When no file is given, use stdin/stdout.

        -u      dos2unix
        -d      unix2dos
    

unlink

unlink FILE

Delete FILE by calling unlink()

unlzma

unlzma [-cfk] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

unxz

unxz [-cfk] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

unzip

unzip [-lnojpq] FILE[.zip] [FILE]... [-x FILE]... [-d DIR]

Extract FILEs from ZIP archive

        -l      List contents (with -q for short form)
        -n      Never overwrite files (default: ask)
        -o      Overwrite
        -j      Do not restore paths
        -p      Write to stdout
        -t      Test
        -q      Quiet
        -x FILE Exclude FILEs
        -d DIR  Extract into DIR
    

users

users

Print the users currently logged on

usleep

usleep N

Pause for N microseconds

uudecode

uudecode [-o OUTFILE] [INFILE]

Uudecode a file Finds OUTFILE in uuencoded source unless -o is given

uuencode

uuencode [-m] [FILE] STORED_FILENAME

Uuencode FILE (or stdin) to stdout

        -m      Use base64 encoding per RFC1521
    

vi

vi [-c CMD] [-R] [-H] [FILE]...

Edit FILE

        -c CMD  Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
        -R      Read-only
        -H      List available features
    

volname

volname [DEVICE]

Show CD volume name of the DEVICE (default /dev/cdrom)

w

w

Show who is logged on

wall

wall [FILE]

Write content of FILE or stdin to all logged-in users

watch

watch [-n SEC] [-t] PROG ARGS

Run PROG periodically

        -n SEC  Period (default 2)
        -t      Don't print header
    

wc

wc [-cmlwL] [FILE]...

Count lines, words, and bytes for FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Count bytes
        -m      Count characters
        -l      Count newlines
        -w      Count words
        -L      Print longest line length
    

wget

wget [-cqS] [--spider] [-O FILE] [-o LOGFILE] [--header 'HEADER: VALUE'] [-Y on/off] [--no-check-certificate] [-P DIR] [-U AGENT] [-T SEC] URL...

Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP

        --spider        Only check URL existence: $? is 0 if exists
        --no-check-certificate  Don't validate the server's certificate
        -c              Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
        -q              Quiet
        -P DIR          Save to DIR (default .)
        -S              Show server response
        -T SEC          Network read timeout is SEC seconds
        -O FILE         Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
        -o LOGFILE      Log messages to FILE
        -U STR          Use STR for User-Agent header
        -Y on/off       Use proxy
    

which

which COMMAND...

Locate COMMAND

who

who [-aH]

Show who is logged on

        -a      Show all
        -H      Print column headers
    

whoami

whoami

Print the user name associated with the current effective user id

whois

whois [-i] [-h SERVER] [-p PORT] NAME...

Query WHOIS info about NAME

        -i      Show redirect results too
        -h,-p   Server to query
    

xargs

xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG on every item given by stdin

        -0      Input is separated by NULs
        -a FILE Read from FILE instead of stdin
        -r      Don't run command if input is empty
        -t      Print the command on stderr before execution
        -p      Ask user whether to run each command
        -E STR,-e[STR]  STR stops input processing
        -I STR  Replace STR within PROG ARGS with input line
        -n N    Pass no more than N args to PROG
        -s N    Pass command line of no more than N bytes
        -P N    Run up to N PROGs in parallel
        -x      Exit if size is exceeded
    

xxd

xxd [-pri] [-g N] [-c N] [-n LEN] [-s OFS] [-o OFS] [FILE]

Hex dump FILE (or stdin)

        -g N            Bytes per group
        -c N            Bytes per line
        -p              Show only hex bytes, assumes -c30
        -i              C include file style
        -l LENGTH       Show only first LENGTH bytes
        -s OFFSET       Skip OFFSET bytes
        -o OFFSET       Add OFFSET to displayed offset
        -r              Reverse (with -p, assumes no offsets in input)
    

xz

xz -d [-cfk] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -k      Keep input files
        -t      Test integrity
    

xzcat

xzcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

yes

yes [STRING]

Repeatedly print a line with STRING, or 'y'

zcat

zcat [FILE]...

Decompress to stdout

LIBC 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.

MAINTAINER

AUTHORS

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)