NAME

BusyBox - The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux

SYNTAX

 busybox <applet> [arguments...]  # or
 <applet> [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 GNU coreutils, util-linux, etc. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts. BusyBox has been written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind. It is also extremely modular so you can easily include or exclude commands (or features) at compile time. This makes it easy to customize your embedded systems. To create a working system, just add /dev, /etc, and a Linux kernel. BusyBox provides a fairly complete POSIX environment for any small or embedded system. BusyBox is extremely configurable. This allows you to include only the components you need, thereby reducing binary size. Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig' to select the functionality that you wish to enable. Then run 'make' to compile BusyBox using your configuration. After the compile has finished, you should use 'make install' to install BusyBox. This will install the 'bin/busybox' binary, in the target directory specified by CONFIG_PREFIX. CONFIG_PREFIX can be set when configuring BusyBox, or you can specify an alternative location at install time (i.e., with a command line like 'make CONFIG_PREFIX=/tmp/foo install'). If you enabled any applet installation scheme (either as symlinks or hardlinks), these will also be installed in the location pointed to by CONFIG_PREFIX.

USAGE

BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program that performs the same job as more than one utility program. That means there is just a single BusyBox binary, but that single binary acts like a large number of utilities. This allows BusyBox to be smaller since all the built-in utility programs (we call them applets) can share code for many common operations. You can also invoke BusyBox by issuing a command as an argument on the command line. For example, entering

        /bin/busybox ls

will also cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls'. Of course, adding '/bin/busybox' into every command would be painful. So most people will invoke BusyBox using links to the BusyBox binary. For example, entering

        ln -s /bin/busybox ls
        ./ls

will cause BusyBox to behave as 'ls' (if the 'ls' command has been compiled into BusyBox). Generally speaking, you should never need to make all these links yourself, as the BusyBox build system will do this for you when you run the 'make install' command. If you invoke BusyBox with no arguments, it will provide you with a list of the applets that have been compiled into your BusyBox binary.

COMMON OPTIONS

Most BusyBox applets support the --help argument to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior. If the CONFIG_FEATURE_VERBOSE_USAGE option has been enabled, more detailed usage information will also be available.

COMMANDS

Currently available applets include:

        addgroup, ar, ash, awk, basename, bunzip2, bzip2, cal, cat, catv,
        chattr, chgrp, chmod, chown, chroot, chrt, cksum, clear, cmp, comm,
        cp, cpio, crontab, cut, dc, dd, delgroup, diff, dirname, dnsd,
        dos2unix, du, echo, ed, env, expand, expr, fakeidentd, false,
        fatattr, find, flock, fold, fsync, ftpd, ftpget, ftpput, getopt,
        grep, groups, gunzip, gzip, hd, head, hexdump, hostid, hostname,
        httpd, id, install, iostat, ipcalc, kill, killall, killall5, less,
        ln, logger, logname, logread, lpq, lpr, ls, lsof, lspci, lsusb,
        lzma, lzop, md5sum, microcom, mkdir, mkfifo, mktemp, more, mpstat,
        mv, nc, nice, nohup, od, patch, pgrep, pipe_progress, pkill, pmap,
        powertop, printenv, printf, ps, pscan, pstree, pwd, pwdx, readlink,
        readprofile, realpath, renice, reset, resize, rev, rm, rmdir, rpm,
        rpm2cpio, run-parts, scriptreplay, sed, seq, setsid, sh, sha1sum,
        sha256sum, sha3sum, sha512sum, shuf, sleep, smemcap, sort, split,
        strings, sum, sync, sysctl, syslogd, tail, tar, tee, telnet,
        telnetd, test, tftp, tftpd, timeout, touch, tr, true, truncate, tty,
        ttysize, uname, uncompress, unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlink,
        unlzma, unxz, unzip, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vi, volname, watch,
        wc, wget, which, whoami, xargs, xz, yes

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 [-o] [-v] [-p] [-t] [-x] ARCHIVE FILES

Extract or list FILES from an ar archive

        -o      Preserve original dates
        -p      Extract to stdout
        -t      List
        -x      Extract
        -v      Verbose
    

ash

ash [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 [ARGS]] / FILE [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
    

basename

basename FILE [SUFFIX]

Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE

bunzip2

bunzip2 [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

bzip2

bzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm

        -1..9   Compression level
        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

cal

cal [-jy] [[MONTH] YEAR]

Display a calendar

        -j      Use julian dates
        -y      Display the entire year
    

cat

cat [FILE]...

Concatenate FILEs and print them to stdout

catv

catv [-etv] [FILE]...

Display nonprinting characters as ^x or M-x

        -e      End each line with $
        -t      Show tabs as ^I
        -v      Don't use ^x or M-x escapes
    

chattr

chattr [-R] [-+=AacDdijsStTu] [-v VERSION] [FILE]...

Change ext2 file attributes

Modifiers:n -,+,= Remove/add/set attributes Attributes:n A Don't track atime a Append mode only c Enable compress D Write dir contents synchronously d Don't backup with dump i Cannot be modified (immutable) j Write all data to journal first s Zero disk storage when deleted S Write synchronously t Disable tail-merging of partial blocks with other files u Allow file to be undeleted -R Recurse -v VER Set version/generation number

chgrp

chgrp [-RhLHP]... GROUP FILE...

Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP

        -R      Recurse
        -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
        -L      Traverse all symlinks to directories
        -H      Traverse symlinks on command line only
        -P      Don't traverse symlinks (default)
    

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

        -R      Recurse
    

chown

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

Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to USER and/or GRP

        -R      Recurse
        -h      Affect symlinks instead of symlink targets
    

chroot

chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT

chrt

chrt [-prfom] [PRIO] [PID | PROG ARGS]

Change scheduling priority and class for a process

        -p      Operate on PID
        -r      Set SCHED_RR class
        -f      Set SCHED_FIFO class
        -o      Set SCHED_OTHER class
        -m      Show min/max priorities
    

cksum

cksum FILES...

Calculate the CRC32 checksums of FILES

clear

clear

Clear screen

cmp

cmp [-l] [-s] 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 [OPTIONS] SOURCE... DEST

Copy SOURCE(s) 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
        -l,-s   Create (sym)links
        -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:n -t List -i Extract EXTR_FILEs (or all) Options:n -d Make leading directories -m Preserve mtime -v Verbose -u Overwrite -F FILE Input (-t,-i,-p) or output (-o) file -R USER[:GRP] Set owner of created files

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)
    

cut

cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout

        -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
    

dc

dc EXPRESSION...

Tiny RPN calculator. Operations: +, add, -, sub, *, mul, /, div, %, mod, **, exp, and, or, not, xor, p - print top of the stack (without popping), f - print entire stack, o - pop the value and set output radix (must be 10, 16, 8 or 2). Examples: 'dc 2 2 add p' -> 4, 'dc 8 8 mul 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]

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
        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
    

du

du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...

Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory

        -a      Show file sizes too
        -L      Follow all symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -d N    Limit output to directories (and files with -a) of depth < N
        -c      Show grand total
        -l      Count sizes many times if hard linked
        -s      Display only a total for each argument
        -x      Skip directories on different filesystems
        -h      Sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 243M 2G)
        -m      Sizes in megabytes
        -k      Sizes in kilobytes (default)
    

echo

echo [-neE] [ARG]...

Print the specified ARGs to stdout

        -n      Suppress trailing newline
        -e      Interpret backslash escapes (i.e., \t=tab)
        -E      Don't interpret backslash escapes (default)
    

ed

ed

env

env [-iu] [-] [name=value]... [PROG ARGS]

Print the current environment or run PROG after setting up the specified environment

        -, -i   Start with an empty environment
        -u      Remove variable from the environment
    

expand

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

Convert tabs to spaces, writing to stdout

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

expr

expr EXPRESSION

Print the value of EXPRESSION to stdout

EXPRESSION may be:n ARG1 | ARG2 ARG1 if it is neither null nor 0, otherwise ARG2 ARG1 & ARG2 ARG1 if neither argument is null or 0, otherwise 0 ARG1 < ARG2 1 if ARG1 is less than ARG2, else 0. Similarly: ARG1 <= ARG2 ARG1 = ARG2 ARG1 != ARG2 ARG1 >= ARG2 ARG1 > ARG2 ARG1 + ARG2 Sum of ARG1 and ARG2. Similarly: ARG1 - ARG2 ARG1 * ARG2 ARG1 / ARG2 ARG1 % ARG2 STRING : REGEXP Anchored pattern match of REGEXP in STRING match STRING REGEXP Same as STRING : REGEXP substr STRING POS LENGTH Substring of STRING, POS counted from 1 index STRING CHARS Index in STRING where any CHARS is found, or 0 length STRING Length of STRING quote TOKEN Interpret TOKEN as a string, even if it is a keyword like 'match' or an operator like '/' (EXPRESSION) Value of EXPRESSION

Beware that many operators need to be escaped or quoted for shells. Comparisons are arithmetic if both ARGs are numbers, else lexicographical. Pattern matches return the string matched between \( and \) or null; if \( and \) are not used, they return the number of characters matched or 0.

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)
    

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:n ( 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,...) -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 -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

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 each FILE (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 files' buffered blocks to disk

        -d      Avoid syncing metadata
    

ftpd

ftpd [-wvS] [-t N] [-T N] [DIR]

Anonymous FTP server

ftpd should be used as an inetd service. ftpd's line for inetd.conf: 21 stream tcp nowait root ftpd ftpd /files/to/serve It also can be ran from tcpsvd:n tcpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 21 ftpd /files/to/serve

        -w      Allow upload
        -v      Log errors to stderr. -vv: verbose log
        -S      Log errors to syslog. -SS: verbose log
        -t,-T   Idle and absolute timeouts
        DIR     Change root to this directory
    

ftpget

ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE

Download a file via FTP

        -c,--continue           Continue previous transfer
        -v,--verbose            Verbose
        -u,--username USER      Username
        -p,--password PASS      Password
        -P,--port NUM           Port
    

ftpput

ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE

Upload a file to a FTP server

        -v,--verbose            Verbose
        -u,--username USER      Username
        -p,--password PASS      Password
        -P,--port NUM           Port
    

getopt

getopt [OPTIONS] [--] OPTSTRING PARAMS

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

Example:n

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 [-HhnlLoqvsriwFE] [-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
        -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 group memberships of USER or for the current process

gunzip

gunzip [-cft] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
        -t      Test file integrity
    

gzip

gzip [-cfd] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin)

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

hd

hd FILE...

hd is an alias for hexdump -C

head

head [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

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

        -n N[kbm]       Print first N lines
        -n -N[kbm]      Print all except N last lines
        -c [-]N[kbm]    Print first N bytes
        -q              Never print headers
        -v              Always print headers
    

N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).

hexdump

hexdump [-bcCdefnosvx] [FILE]...

Display FILEs (or stdin) in a user specified format

        -b              One-byte octal display
        -c              One-byte character display
        -C              Canonical hex+ASCII, 16 bytes per line
        -d              Two-byte decimal display
        -e FORMAT_STRING
        -f FORMAT_FILE
        -n LENGTH       Interpret only LENGTH bytes of input
        -o              Two-byte octal display
        -s OFFSET       Skip OFFSET bytes
        -v              Display all input data
        -x              Two-byte hexadecimal display
    

hostid

hostid

Print out a unique 32-bit identifier for the machine

hostname

hostname [OPTIONS] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE]

Get 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] [-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)
        -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
    

id

id [OPTIONS] [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
    

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 [OPTIONS] ADDRESS[/PREFIX] [NETMASK]

Calculate IP network settings from a IP address

        -b,--broadcast  Display calculated broadcast address
        -n,--network    Display calculated network address
        -m,--netmask    Display default netmask for IP
        -p,--prefix     Display the prefix for IP/NETMASK
        -h,--hostname   Display first resolved host name
        -s,--silent     Don't ever display error messages
    

kill

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

Send a signal (default: TERM) to given PIDs

        -l      List all signal names and numbers
    

killall

killall [-l] [-q] [-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
    

less

less [-EIMmNSh~] [FILE]...

View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time

        -E      Quit once the end of a file is reached
        -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
        -~      Suppress ~s displayed past EOF
    

ln

ln [OPTIONS] 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      2nd arg must be a DIR
        -v      Verbose
    

logger

logger [OPTIONS] [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 (numeric 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 [-1AaCxdLHRFplinsehrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

List directory contents

        -1      One column output
        -a      Include entries which start with .
        -A      Like -a, but exclude . and ..
        -C      List by columns
        -x      List by lines
        -d      List directory entries instead of contents
        -L      Follow symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -R      Recurse
        -p      Append / to dir entries
        -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
        -l      Long listing format
        -i      List inode numbers
        -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
        -s      List allocated blocks
        -e      List full date and time
        -h      List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
        -r      Sort in reverse order
        -S      Sort by size
        -X      Sort by extension
        -v      Sort by version
        -c      With -l: sort by ctime
        -t      With -l: sort by mtime
        -u      With -l: sort by atime
        -w N    Assume the terminal is N columns wide
        --color[={always,never,auto}]   Control coloring
    

lsof

lsof

Show all open files

lspci

lspci [-mk]

List all PCI devices

        -m      Parsable output
        -k      Show driver
    

lzma

lzma -d [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

lzop

lzop [-cfvd123456789CF] [FILE]...

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

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] [-t TIMEOUT] [-s SPEED] [-X] TTY

Copy bytes for stdin to TTY and from TTY to stdout

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

mkdir

mkdir [OPTIONS] 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)
    

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 [-fin] SOURCE DEST or: mv [-fin] SOURCE... DIRECTORY

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

        -f      Don't prompt before overwriting
        -i      Interactive, prompt before overwrite
        -n      Don't overwrite an existing file
    

nc

nc [IPADDR PORT]

Open a pipe to IP:PORT

nice

nice [-n ADJUST] [PROG ARGS]

Change scheduling priority, run PROG

        -n ADJUST       Adjust priority by ADJUST
    

nohup

nohup PROG ARGS

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

od

od [-aBbcDdeFfHhIiLlOovXx] [FILE]

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

patch

patch [OPTIONS] [ORIGFILE [PATCHFILE]]

        -p,--strip N            Strip N leading components from file names
        -i,--input DIFF         Read DIFF instead of stdin
        -R,--reverse            Reverse patch
        -N,--forward            Ignore already applied patches
        -E,--remove-empty-files Remove output files if they become empty
    

pgrep

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

Display process(es) selected by regex PATTERN

        -l      Show command name 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
    

pkill

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

Send a signal to process(es) selected by regex PATTERN

        -l      List all signals
        -f      Match against entire command line
        -n      Signal the newest process only
        -o      Signal 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
    

pmap

pmap [-xq] PID

Display process memory usage

        -x      Show details
        -q      Quiet
    

powertop

powertop

Analyze power consumption on Intel-based laptops

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 a host, print all open ports

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

pstree

pstree [-p] [PID|USER]

Display process tree, optionally start from USER or PID

        -p      Show pids
    

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...

Return the absolute pathnames of given FILE

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

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 [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...

Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty

        -p      Include parents
    

rpm

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

Manipulate RPM packages

Commands:n -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
    

scriptreplay

scriptreplay timingfile [typescript [divisor]]

Play back typescripts, using timing information

sed

sed [-inrE] [-f FILE]... [-e CMD]... [FILE]... or: sed [-inrE] 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 sends 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).

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
    

sh

sh [-/+OPTIONS] [-/+o OPT]... [-c 'SCRIPT' [ARG0 [ARGS]] / FILE [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
    

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

sort

sort [-nrugMcszbdfiokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][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)
        -g      General numerical sort
        -M      Sort month
        -n      Sort numbers
        -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      Lines are terminated by NUL, not newline
    

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
    

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)
    

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)
    

sync

sync

Write all buffered blocks to disk

sysctl

sysctl [OPTIONS] [KEY[=VALUE]]...

Show/set kernel parameters

        -e      Don't warn about unknown keys
        -n      Don't show key names
        -a      Show all values
        -w      Set values
        -p FILE Set values from FILE (default /etc/sysctl.conf)
        -q      Set values silently
    

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
        -f FILE         Use FILE as config (default:/etc/syslog.conf)
    

tail

tail [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

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

        -f              Print data as file grows
        -c [+]N[kbm]    Print last N bytes
        -n N[kbm]       Print last N lines
        -n +N[kbm]      Start on Nth line and print the rest
        -q              Never print headers
        -s SECONDS      Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
        -v              Always print headers
        -F              Same as -f, but keep retrying
    

N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2).

tar

tar -[cxtZzJjahmvO] [-X FILE] [-T FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

Operation:n c Create x Extract t List f Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out) C Change to DIR before operation v Verbose Z (De)compress using compress z (De)compress using gzip J (De)compress using xz j (De)compress using bzip2 a (De)compress using lzma O Extract to stdout h Follow symlinks m Don't restore mtime exclude File to exclude X File with names to exclude T File with names to include

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
        -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 of SIZE octets
    

tftpd

tftpd [-cr] [-u USER] [DIR]

Transfer a file on tftp client's request

tftpd should be used as an inetd service. tftpd's line for inetd.conf: 69 dgram udp nowait root tftpd tftpd -l /files/to/serve It also can be ran from udpsvd:n udpsvd -vE 0.0.0.0 69 tftpd /files/to/serve

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

timeout

timeout [-t SECS] [-s SIG] PROG ARGS

Runs PROG. Sends SIG to it if it is not gone in SECS seconds. Defaults: SECS: 10, SIG: TERM.

touch

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

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

        -c      Don't create files
        -h      Don't follow links
        -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
    

truncate

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

Truncate FILEs to the given size

        -c      Do not create files
        -s SIZE Truncate to SIZE
    

tty

tty

Print file name of stdin's terminal

        -s      Print nothing, only return exit status
    

ttysize

ttysize [w] [h]

Print dimension(s) of stdin's terminal, on error return 80x25

uname

uname [-amnrspvio]

Print system information

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

uncompress

uncompress [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress .Z file[s]

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Overwrite
    

unexpand

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

Convert spaces to tabs, writing to stdout

        -a,--all        Convert all blanks
        -f,--first-only Convert only leading blanks
        -t,--tabs=N     Tabstops every N chars
    

uniq

uniq [-cdu][-f,s,w N] [INPUT [OUTPUT]]

Discard duplicate lines

        -c      Prefix lines by the number of occurrences
        -d      Only print duplicate lines
        -u      Only print unique lines
        -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 [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

unxz

unxz [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

unzip

unzip [-lnopq] 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
        -p      Print to stdout
        -q      Quiet
        -x FILE Exclude FILEs
        -d DIR  Extract into DIR
    

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 [OPTIONS] [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)

watch

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

Run PROG periodically

        -n      Loop period in seconds (default 2)
        -t      Don't print header
    

wc

wc [-cmlwL] [FILE]...

Count lines, words, and bytes for each FILE (or stdin)

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

wget

wget [-c|--continue] [--spider] [-q|--quiet] [-O|--output-document FILE] [--header 'header: value'] [-Y|--proxy on/off] [-P DIR] [-U|--user-agent AGENT] [-T SEC] URL...

Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP

        --spider        Spider mode - only check file existence
        -c              Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
        -q              Quiet
        -P DIR          Save to DIR (default .)
        -T SEC          Network read timeout is SEC seconds
        -O FILE         Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
        -U STR          Use STR for User-Agent header
        -Y on/off       Use proxy
    

which

which [COMMAND]...

Locate a COMMAND

whoami

whoami

Print the user name associated with the current effective user id

xargs

xargs [OPTIONS] [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG on every item given by stdin

        -p      Ask user whether to run each command
        -r      Don't run command if input is empty
        -0      Input is separated by NUL characters
        -t      Print the command on stderr before execution
        -e[STR] STR stops input processing
        -n N    Pass no more than N args to PROG
        -s N    Pass command line of no more than N bytes
        -I STR  Replace STR within PROG ARGS with input line
        -x      Exit if size is exceeded
    

xz

xz -d [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force
    

yes

yes [STRING]

Repeatedly output a line with STRING, or 'y'

LIBC NSS

GNU Libc (glibc) uses the Name Service Switch (NSS) to configure the behavior of the C library for the local environment, and to configure how it reads system data, such as passwords and group information. This is implemented using an /etc/nsswitch.conf configuration file, and using one or more of the /lib/libnss_* libraries. BusyBox tries to avoid using any libc calls that make use of NSS. Some applets however, such as login and su, will use libc functions that require NSS. If you enable CONFIG_USE_BB_PWD_GRP, BusyBox will use internal functions to directly access the /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow files without using NSS. This may allow you to run your system without the need for installing any of the NSS configuration files and libraries. When used with glibc, the BusyBox 'networking' applets will similarly require that you install at least some of the glibc NSS stuff (in particular, /etc/nsswitch.conf, /lib/libnss_dns*, /lib/libnss_files*, and /lib/libresolv*). Shameless Plug: As an alternative, one could use a C library such as uClibc. In addition to making your system significantly smaller, uClibc does not require the use of any NSS support files or libraries.

MAINTAINER

Denis Vlasenko <vda.linux@googlemail.com>

AUTHORS

The following people have contributed code to BusyBox whether they know it or not. If you have written code included in BusyBox, you should probably be listed here so you can obtain your bit of eternal glory. If you should be listed here, or the description of what you have done needs more detail, or is incorrect, please send in an update. Emanuele Aina <emanuele.aina@tiscali.it>
run-parts Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>

    Tons of new stuff, major rewrite of most of the
    core apps, tons of new apps as noted in header files.
    Lots of tedious effort writing these boring docs that
    nobody is going to actually read.

Laurence Anderson <l.d.anderson@warwick.ac.uk>

    rpm2cpio, unzip, get_header_cpio, read_gz interface, rpm

Jeff Angielski <jeff@theptrgroup.com>

    ftpput, ftpget

Edward Betts <edward@debian.org>

    expr, hostid, logname, whoami

John Beppu <beppu@codepoet.org>

    du, nslookup, sort

Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>

    tiny-ls(ls)

Randolph Chung <tausq@debian.org>

    fbset, ping, hostname

Dave Cinege <dcinege@psychosis.com>

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

Jordan Crouse <jordan@cosmicpenguin.net>

    ipcalc

Magnus Damm <damm@opensource.se>

    tftp client insmod powerpc support

Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@recycle.lbl.gov>

    pristine source directory compilation, lots of patches and fixes.

Glenn Engel <glenne@engel.org>

    httpd

Gennady Feldman <gfeldman@gena01.com>

    Sysklogd (single threaded syslogd, IPC Circular buffer support,
    logread), various fixes.

Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@debian.org>

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

Daniel Jacobowitz <dan@debian.org>

    mktemp.c

Matt Kraai <kraai@alumni.cmu.edu>

    documentation, bugfixes, test suite

Stephan Linz <linz@li-pro.net>

    ipcalc, Red Hat equivalence

John Lombardo <john@deltanet.com>

    tr

Glenn McGrath <bug1@iinet.net.au>

    Common unarchiving code and unarchiving applets, ifupdown, ftpgetput,
    nameif, sed, patch, fold, install, uudecode.
    Various bugfixes, review and apply numerous patches.

Manuel Novoa III <mjn3@codepoet.org>

    cat, head, mkfifo, mknod, rmdir, sleep, tee, tty, uniq, usleep, wc, yes,
    mesg, vconfig, make_directory, parse_mode, dirname, mode_string,
    get_last_path_component, simplify_path, and a number trivial libbb routines
    also bug fixes, partial rewrites, and size optimizations in
    ash, basename, cal, cmp, cp, df, du, echo, env, ln, logname, md5sum, mkdir,
    mv, realpath, rm, sort, tail, touch, uname, watch, arith, human_readable,
    interface, dutmp, ifconfig, route

Vladimir Oleynik <dzo@simtreas.ru>

    cmdedit; xargs(current), httpd(current);
    ports: ash, crond, fdisk, inetd, stty, traceroute, top;
    locale, various fixes
    and irreconcilable critic of everything not perfect.

Bruce Perens <bruce@pixar.com>

    Original author of BusyBox in 1995, 1996. Some of his code can
    still be found hiding here and there...

Tim Riker <Tim@Rikers.org>

    bug fixes, member of fan club

Kent Robotti <robotti@metconnect.com>

    reset, tons and tons of bug reports and patches.

Chip Rosenthal <chip@unicom.com>, <crosenth@covad.com>

    wget - Contributed by permission of Covad Communications

Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>

    Lots of bugs fixes and patches.

Gyepi Sam <gyepi@praxis-sw.com>

    Remote logging feature for syslogd

Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>

    mkswap, fsck.minix, mkfs.minix

Mark Whitley <markw@codepoet.org>

    grep, sed, cut, xargs(previous),
    style-guide, new-applet-HOWTO, bug fixes, etc.

Charles P. Wright <cpwright@villagenet.com>

    gzip, mini-netcat(nc)

Enrique Zanardi <ezanardi@ull.es>

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

Tito Ragusa <farmatito@tiscali.it>

    devfsd and size optimizations in strings, openvt and deallocvt.

Paul Fox <pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us>

    vi editing mode for ash, various other patches/fixes

Roberto A. Foglietta <me@roberto.foglietta.name>

    port: dnsd

Bernhard Reutner-Fischer <rep.dot.nop@gmail.com>

    misc

Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>

    initial e2fsprogs, printenv, setarch, sum, misc

Jie Zhang <jie.zhang@analog.com>

    fixed two bugs in msh and hush (exitcode of killed processes)