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283 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<!--#include file="header.html" -->
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<h3>Frequently Asked Questions</h3>
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This is a collection of some of the more frequently asked questions
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about BusyBox. Some of the questions even have answers. If you
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have additions to this FAQ document, we would love to add them,
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#kernel">Which Linux kernel versions are supported?</a>
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<li><a href="#arch">Which architectures does BusyBox run on?</a>
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<li><a href="#libc">Which C libraries are supported?</a>
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<li><a href="#commercial">Can I include BusyBox as part of the software on my device?</a>
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<li><a href="#bugs">I think I found a bug in BusyBox! What should I do?!</a>
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<li><a href="#job_control">Why do I keep getting "sh: can't access tty; job control
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turned off" errors? Why doesn't Control-C work within my shell?</a>
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<li><a href="#getting_started">How can I get started using BusyBox?</a>
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<li><a href="#demanding">I demand that you to add <favorite feature> right now! How come
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you don't answer all my questions on the mailing list instantly? I demand
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that you help me with all of my problems <em>Right Now</em>!</a>
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<li><a href="#helpme">I need help with BusyBox! What should I do?</a>
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<li><a href="#contracts">I need you to add <favorite feature>! Are the BusyBox developers willing to
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be paid in order to fix bugs or add in <favorite feature>? Are you willing to provide
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support contracts?</a>
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<li><a href="#external">Where can I find other small utilities since busybox does not include the features I want?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#support">I think you guys are great and I want to help support your work!</a>
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<li><a href="#optimize">I want to make busybox even smaller, how do I go about it?</a>
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</ol>
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="kernel">Which Linux kernel versions are supported?</a></h2>
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<p>
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Full functionality requires Linux 2.2.x or better. A large fraction of the
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code should run on just about anything. While the current code is fairly
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Linux specific, it should be fairly easy to port the majority of the code
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to support, say, FreeBSD or Solaris, or Mac OS X, or even Windows (if you
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are into that sort of thing).
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="arch">Which architectures does BusyBox run on?</a></h2>
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<p>
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BusyBox in general will build on any architecture supported by gcc.
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Kernel module loading for 2.2 and 2.4 Linux kernels is currently
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limited to ARM, CRIS, H8/300, x86, ia64, x86_64, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC,
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S390, SH3/4/5, Sparc, v850e, and x86_64 for 2.4.x kernels.
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With 2.6.x kernels, module loading support should work on all architectures.
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="libc">Which C libraries are supported?</a></h2>
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<p>
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uClibc and glibc are supported. People have been looking at newlib and
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dietlibc, but they are currently considered unsupported, untested, or
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worse. Linux-libc5 is no longer supported. If you require a small C
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library, you should probably use uClibc.
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="commercial">Can I include BusyBox as part of the software on my device?</h2>
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Yes. As long as you <a href="http://busybox.net/license.html">fully comply
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with the generous terms of the GPL BusyBox license</a> you can ship BusyBox
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as part of the software on your device.
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<br>
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<a href="#support">Please consider sharing some of the money you make.</a>
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="bugs">I think I found a bug in BusyBox! What should I do?</h2>
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<p>
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<p>
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If you simply need help with using or configuring BusyBox, please submit a
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detailed description of your problem to the BusyBox mailing list at <a
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href="mailto:busybox@mail.busybox.net"> busybox@mail.busybox.net</a>.
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Please do not send private email to Erik (the maintainer of BusyBox) asking
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for private help unless you are planning on paying for consulting services.
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When we answer questions on the BusyBox mailing list, it helps everyone,
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while private answers help only you...
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<p>
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The developers of BusyBox are busy people, and have only so much they can
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keep in their brains at a time. As a result, bug reports sometimes get
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lost when posted to the mailing list. To prevent your bug report from
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getting lost, if you find a bug in BusyBox, please use the <a
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href="http://bugs.busybox.net/">BusyBox Bug and Patch Tracking System</a>
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to submit a detailed bug report.
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<p>
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The same also applies to patches... Regardless of whether your patch is a
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bug fix or adds shiney new features, please post your patch to the <a
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href="http://bugs.busybox.net/">BusyBox Bug and Patch Tracking System</a>
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to make certain it is properly considered.
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="job_control">Why do I keep getting "sh: can't access tty; job control
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turned off" errors? Why doesn't Control-C work within my shell?</a></h2>
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<p>
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Job control will be turned off since your shell can not obtain a controlling
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terminal. This typically happens when you run your shell on /dev/console.
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The kernel will not provide a controlling terminal on the /dev/console
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device. Your should run your shell on a normal tty such as tty1 or ttyS0
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and everything will work perfectly. If you <em>REALLY</em> want your shell
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to run on /dev/console, then you can hack your kernel (if you are into that
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sortof thing) by changing drivers/char/tty_io.c to change the lines where
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it sets "noctty = 1;" to instead set it to "0". I recommend you instead
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run your shell on a real console...
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="getting_started">How can I get started using BusyBox?</a></h2>
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<p>
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An easy method to build your own basic BusyBox based system, is to
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follow these simple steps:
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<ul>
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<li> Point your web browser <a href="http://buildroot.uclibc.org/">here</a>
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<li> Download a copy of buildroot
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<li> Unpack the tarball on your Linux system somewhere
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<li> run 'make' and configure things to taste.
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<li> run 'unset CC'. Some Linux systems (i.e. Gentoo) set 'CC'
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in the system environment which messes up cross compiles.
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<li> run 'make'
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<li> go have lunch, drink a pop, call a friend, play a video game, etc
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till it finishes downloading software and compiling things.
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<li> You should now have a shiny new BusyBox based system.
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</ul>
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="demanding">I demand that you to add <favorite feature> right now! How come
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you don't answer all my questions on the mailing list instantly? I demand
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that you help me with all of my problems <em>Right Now</em>!</a></h2>
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<p>
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You have not paid us a single cent and yet you still have the product of
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many years of our work. We are not your slaves! We work on BusyBox
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because we find it useful and interesting. If you go off flaming us, we
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will ignore you.
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="helpme">I need help with BusyBox! What should I do?</a></h2>
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<p>
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If you find that you need help with BusyBox, you can ask for help on the
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BusyBox mailing list at busybox@mail.busybox.net. In addition to the BusyBox
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mailing list, Erik (andersee), Manuel (mjn3) and others are known to hang out
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on the uClibc IRC channel: #uclibc on irc.freenode.net.
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<p>
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<b>Please do not send private email to Erik, Manuel, or the other BusyBox
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contributors asking for private help unless you are planning on paying for
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consulting services.</b>
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<p>
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When we answer questions on the BusyBox mailing list, it helps everyone
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since people with similar problems in the future will be able to get help
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by searching the mailing list archives. Private help is reserved as a paid
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service. If you need to use private communication, or if you are serious
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about getting timely assistance with BusyBox, you should seriously consider
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paying for consulting services.
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<p>
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="contracts">I need you to add <favorite feature>! Are the BusyBox
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developers willing to be paid in order to fix bugs or add in <favorite feature>?
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Are you willing to provide support contracts?</a></h2>
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<p>
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Sure! Now you have our attention! What you should do is contact <a
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href="mailto:andersen@codepoet.org">Erik Andersen</a> of <a
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href="http://codepoet-consulting.com/">CodePoet Consulting</a> to bid
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on your project. If Erik is too busy to personally add your feature, there
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are many other active BusyBox contributors who will almost certainly be able
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to help you out. Erik can contact them privately, and may even let you to
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post your request for services on the mailing list.
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="external">Where can I find other small utilities since busybox
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does not include the features I want?</a></h2>
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<p>
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We maintain such a <a href="tinyutils.html">list</a> on this site!
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="support">I think you guys are great and I want to help support your work!</a></h2>
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<p>
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Wow, that would be great! If you would like to make a donation to help
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support BusyBox, and/or request features, you can click here:
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<!-- Begin PayPal Logo -->
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<center>
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<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
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<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
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<input type="hidden" name="business" value="andersen@codepoet.org">
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<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Support BusyBox">
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<input type="hidden" name="image_url" value="http://codepoet-consulting.com/images/codepoet.png">
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<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1">
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<input type="image" src="images/donate.png" name="submit" alt="Make donation using PayPal">
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</form>
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</center>
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<!-- End PayPal Logo -->
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If you prefer to contact Erik directly to make a donation, donate hardware,
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request support, etc, you can contact
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<a href="http://codepoet-consulting.com/">CodePoet Consulting</a> here.
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CodePoet Consulting can accept both Visa and MasterCard for those that do not
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trust PayPal...
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<hr />
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<p>
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<h2><a name="optimize">I want to make busybox even smaller, how do I go about it?</a></h2>
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<p>
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To conserve bytes it's good to know where they're being used, and the
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size of the final executable isn't always a reliable indicator of
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the size of the components (since various structures are rounded up,
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so a small change may not even be visible by itself, but many small
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savings add up).
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</p>
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<p>
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To examine a busybox binary with an eye to saving bytes, build an
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optimized debug version and run the "nm" command against it, like so:
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</p>
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<p>
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make clean && make STRIPCMD=/bin/true && nm --size-sort busybox
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</p>
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<p>
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This gives a list of symbols and the amount of space allocated for
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each one, sorted by size. (Note: do not enable CONFIG_DEBUG for this,
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as that disables compiler optimization which is great for running gdb
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but misleading when trying to figure out how much space each component
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is really using under normal circumstances.)
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</p>
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<hr />
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<br>
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<br>
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<br>
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<!--#include file="footer.html" -->
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