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| -rw-r--r-- | INSTALL | 116 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README | 1 |
2 files changed, 83 insertions, 34 deletions
@@ -1,52 +1,100 @@ Building: ========= -You will usually build in the source-tree. +The BusyBox build process is similar to the Linux kernel build: -Alternatively you can build out-of-tree to have the object files separated -from the source. This allows for building several different configurations -from the same set of sources. + make menuconfig # This creates a file called ".config" + make # This creates the "busybox" executable + make install # or make PREFIX=/path/from/root install -A) Building in the source-tree: -------------------------------- +The full list of configuration and install options is available by typing: -1) Run 'make config' or 'make menuconfig' and select the - functionality that you wish to enable. + make help -2) Run 'make' +Quick Start: +============ -3) Run 'make install' or 'make PREFIX=/target install' to - install busybox and all the needed links. Some people - will prefer to install using hardlinks and will instead - want to run 'make install-hardlinks'.... +The easy way to try out BusyBox for the first time, without having to install +it, is to enable all features and then use "standalone shell" mode with a +blank command $PATH: -B) Building out-of-tree: ------------------------- + make allyesconfig + make + PATH= ./busybox ash -Note that top_srcdir, O and top_builddir have to be given as absolute paths. +Standalone shell mode causes busybox's built-in command shell to run +any built-in busybox applets directly, without looking for external +programs by that name. Supplying an empty command path (as above) means +the only commands busybox can find are the built-in ones. -1) make the directory to hold the object files and chdir to it: - 'mkdir /tmp/bb ; cd /tmp/bb' - Then prepare the config giving the full path to the source in top_srcdir: - make top_srcdir=/path/busybox -f /path/busybox/Makefile O=/tmp/b allyesconfig - - Note that O=$(pwd) is the default if no O= was specified. +(Note that the standalone shell requires the /proc directory to function.) - You now have a buildable tree in $O and can run 'make' without the need - to specify any paths. +Configuring Busybox: +==================== - Proceed with step #A2 above. +Busybox is optimized for size, but enabling the full set of functionality +still results in a fairly large executable (more than 1 megabyte when +statically linked). To save space, busybox can be configured with only the +set of applets needed for each environment. The minimal configuration, with +all applets disabled, produces a 4k executable. (It's useless, but very small.) +The manual configurators "make config" and "make menuconfig" modify the +existing configuration. Quick ways to get starting configurations include +"make allyesconfig" (enables almost all options), "make allnoconfig" (disables +all options), "make allbaseconfig" (enables all applets but disables all +optional features), and "make defconfig" (reset to defaults). -Installation: -============= +Configuring BusyBox produces a file ".config", which can be saved for future +use. -After the build is complete, a busybox.links file is generated. This is -used by 'make install' to create symlinks to the BusyBox binary for all -compiled in functions. By default, 'make install' will place the symlink -forest into `pwd`/_install unless you have defined the PREFIX environment -variable (i.e., 'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install') +Installing Busybox: +=================== -If you wish to install hard links, rather than symlinks, you can use -'make PREFIX=/tmp/foo install-hardlinks' instead. +Busybox is a single executable that can behave like many different commands, +and BusyBox uses the name it was invoked under to determine the desired +behavior. (Try "mv busybox ls" and then "./ls -l".) +Installing busybox consists of creating symlinks (or hardlinks) to the busybox +binary for each applet enabled in busybox, and making sure these symlinks are +in the shell's command $PATH. Running "make install" creates these symlinks, +or "make install-hardlinks" creates hardlinks instead (useful on systems with +a limited number of inodes). This install process ues the file +"busybox.links" (created by make), which contains the list of enabled applets +and the path at which to install them. + +The special applet name "busybox" (or with any optional suffix, such as +"busybox-static") uses the first argument to determine which applet to behave +as (for example, "./busybox cat LICENSE"). (Running the busybox applet with +no arguments gives a list of all enabled applets.) + +Building out-of-tree: +===================== + +By default, the BusyBox build puts its temporary files in the source tree. +Building from a read-only source tree, or to building multiple +configurations from the same source directory, requires the ability to +put the temporary files somewhere else. + +To build out of tree, use the O=$BUILDPATH option during the configuration +step, as in: + + make O=/some/empty/directory allyesconfig + cd /some/empty/directory + make + make PREFIX=. install + +(Note, O= requires an absolute path.) + +Alternately, cd to the empty directory and do this instead: + + make top_srcdir=/path/to/source -f /path/to/source/Makefile allyesconfig + make + make install + +More Information: +================= + +Se also the busybox FAQ, under the questions "How can I get started using +BusyBox" and "How do I build a BusyBox-based system?" The BusyBox FAQ is +available from http://www.busybox.net/FAQ.html or as the file +docs/busybox.net/FAQ.html in this tarball. @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@ Please see the LICENSE file for details on copying and usage. +Please refer to the INSTALL file for instructions on how to build. What is busybox: |