From 965030e35aed6a8b9c09267baba4c2342d5223d6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rob Landley Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:38:40 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Update documentation. --- INSTALL | 61 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------- 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-) diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL index d5e9ae343..4d0a09f9a 100644 --- a/INSTALL +++ b/INSTALL @@ -16,9 +16,14 @@ Quick Start: 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: +blank command $PATH. - make allyesconfig +To enable all features, use "make defconfig", which produces the largest +general-purpose configuration. (It's allyesconfig minus debugging options, +optional packaging choices, and a few special-purpose features requiring +extra configuration to use.) + + make defconfig make PATH= ./busybox ash @@ -27,25 +32,34 @@ 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. -(Note that the standalone shell requires the /proc directory to function.) +(Note that the standalone shell currently requires /proc/self/exe to +launch new applets.) Configuring Busybox: ==================== 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 +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). +The manual configurator "make menuconfig" modifies the existing configuration. +(For systems without ncurses, try "make config" instead.) The two most +interesting starting configurations are "make allnoconfig" (to start with +everything disabled and add just what you need), and "make defconfig" (to +start with everything enabled and remove what you don't need). If menuconfig +is run without an existing configuration, make defconfig will run first to +create a known starting point. + +Other starting configurations (mostly used for testing purposes) include +"make allbaseconfig" (enables all applets but disables all optional features), +"make allyesconfig" (enables absolutely everything including debug features), +and "make randconfig" (produce a random configuration). Configuring BusyBox produces a file ".config", which can be saved for future -use. +use. Run "make oldconfig" to bring a .config file from an older version of +busybox up to date. Installing Busybox: =================== @@ -72,37 +86,34 @@ also configure a standaone install capability into the busybox base applet, and then install such links at runtime with one of "busybox --install" (for hardlinks) or "busybox --install -s" (for symlinks). -If you built busybox as shared object which uses libbusybox.so and have not -yet installed the binary but want to run tests, then set your LD_LIBRARY_PATH -accordingly before running the executable: +If you enabled the busybox shared library feature (libbusybox.so) and want +to run tests without installing, set your LD_LIBRARY_PATH accordingly when +running the executable: - export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` - ./busybox + LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd` ./busybox 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. +Building from a read-only source tree, or building multiple configurations from +the same source directory, requires the ability to put the temporary files +somewhere else. -To build out of tree, cd to the empty directory and do this instead: +To build out of tree, cd to an empty directory and configure busybox from there: - make -f /path/to/source/Makefile allyesconfig + make -f /path/to/source/Makefile defconfig make make install -Alternately, use the O=$BUILDPATH option during the configuration step, as in: +Alternately, use the O=$BUILDPATH option (with an absolute path) 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.) - - More Information: =================