BUSYBOX

Section: busybox (1)
Updated: 2010-11-15
 

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:

        [, [[, adjtimex, arping, ash, awk, basename, blockdev, brctl,
        bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, chgrp, chmod, chown, chroot, chvt,
        clear, cmp, cp, cpio, cut, date, dc, dd, deallocvt, df, dirname,
        dmesg, dnsdomainname, dos2unix, du, dumpkmap, dumpleases, echo,
        egrep, env, expr, false, fgrep, find, fold, free, ftpget, ftpput,
        getopt, grep, gunzip, gzip, head, hexdump, hostid, hostname, httpd,
        id, ifconfig, ionice, ip, ipcalc, kill, killall, klogd, last,
        length, ln, loadfont, loadkmap, logger, logname, logread, losetup,
        ls, lzcat, lzma, md5sum, mkdir, mkfifo, mknod, mktemp, more, mount,
        mt, mv, nameif, nc, netstat, nslookup, od, openvt, patch, pidof,
        ping, ping6, printf, ps, pwd, rdate, readlink, realpath, renice,
        reset, rev, rm, rmdir, route, rpm, rpm2cpio, run-parts, sed,
        setkeycodes, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha512sum, sleep, sort,
        start-stop-daemon, strings, stty, swapoff, swapon, sync, sysctl,
        syslogd, tac, tail, tar, tee, telnet, test, tftp, time, top, touch,
        tr, traceroute, traceroute6, true, tty, udhcpc, udhcpd, umount,
        uname, uncompress, uniq, unix2dos, unlzma, unxz, unzip, uptime,
        usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vi, watch, watchdog, wc, wget, which,
        who, whoami, xargs, xz, xzcat, yes, zcat

 

COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS

adjtimex
adjtimex [-q] [-o OFF] [-f FREQ] [-p TCONST] [-t TICK]

Read and optionally set system timebase parameters. See adjtimex(2)

Options:

        -q      Quiet
        -o OFF  Time offset, microseconds
        -f FREQ Frequency adjust, integer kernel units (65536 is 1ppm)
                (positive values make clock run faster)
        -t TICK Microseconds per tick, usually 10000
        -p TCONST

arping
arping [-fqbDUA] [-c CNT] [-w TIMEOUT] [-I IFACE] [-s SRC_IP] DST_IP

Send ARP requests/replies

Options:

        -f              Quit on first ARP reply
        -q              Quiet
        -b              Keep broadcasting, don't go unicast
        -D              Duplicated address detection mode
        -U              Unsolicited ARP mode, update your neighbors
        -A              ARP answer mode, update your neighbors
        -c N            Stop after sending N ARP requests
        -w TIMEOUT      Time to wait for ARP reply, seconds
        -I IFACE        Interface to use (default eth0)
        -s SRC_IP       Sender IP address
        DST_IP          Target IP address

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

Options:

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

basename
basename FILE [SUFFIX]

Strip directory path and .SUFFIX from FILE

blockdev
blockdev OPTION BLOCKDEV

Options:

        --setro         Set ro
        --setrw         Set rw
        --getro         Get ro
        --getss         Get sector size
        --getbsz        Get block size
        --setbsz BYTES  Set block size
        --getsize       Get device size in 512-byte sectors
        --getsize64     Get device size in bytes
        --flushbufs     Flush buffers
        --rereadpt      Reread partition table

brctl
brctl COMMAND [BRIDGE [INTERFACE]]

Manage ethernet bridges

Commands:

        addbr BRIDGE            Create BRIDGE
        delbr BRIDGE            Delete BRIDGE
        addif BRIDGE IFACE      Add IFACE to BRIDGE
        delif BRIDGE IFACE      Delete IFACE from BRIDGE

bunzip2
bunzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

Options:

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

bzcat
bzcat FILE

Decompress to stdout

bzip2
bzip2 [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin) with bzip2 algorithm

Options:

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

cal
cal [-jy] [[MONTH] YEAR]

Display a calendar

Options:

        -j      Use julian dates
        -y      Display the entire year

cat
cat [FILE]...

Concatenate FILEs and print them to stdout

chgrp
chgrp [-RhLHPcvf]... GROUP FILE...

Change the group membership of each FILE to GROUP

Options:

        -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)
        -c      List changed files
        -v      Verbose
        -f      Hide errors

chmod
chmod [-Rcvf] 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

Options:

        -R      Recurse
        -c      List changed files
        -v      List all files
        -f      Hide errors

chown
chown [-RhLHPcvf]... OWNER[<.|:>[GROUP]] FILE...

Change the owner and/or group of each FILE to OWNER and/or GROUP

Options:

        -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)
        -c      List changed files
        -v      List all files
        -f      Hide errors

chroot
chroot NEWROOT [PROG ARGS]

Run PROG with root directory set to NEWROOT

chvt
chvt N

Change the foreground virtual terminal to /dev/ttyN

clear
clear

Clear screen

cmp
cmp [-l] [-s] FILE1 [FILE2 [SKIP1 [SKIP2]]]

Compare FILE1 with FILE2 (or stdin)

Options:

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

cp
cp [OPTIONS] SOURCE DEST

Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY

Options:

        -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

cpio
cpio [-dmvu] [-F FILE] [-H newc] [-tio]

Extract or list files from a cpio archive, or create an archive using file list on stdin

Main operation mode:

        -t      List
        -i      Extract
        -o      Create (requires -H newc)
Options:

        -d      Make leading directories
        -m      Preserve mtime
        -v      Verbose
        -u      Overwrite
        -F FILE Input (-t,-i,-p) or output (-o) file
        -H newc Archive format

cut
cut [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print selected fields from each input FILE to stdout

Options:

        -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

date
date [OPTIONS] [+FMT] [TIME]

Display time (using +FMT), or set time

Options:

        [-s,--set] TIME Set time to TIME
        -u,--utc        Work in UTC (don't convert to local time)
        -R,--rfc-2822   Output RFC-2822 compliant date string
        -I[SPEC]        Output ISO-8601 compliant date string
                        SPEC='date' (default) for date only,
                        'hours', 'minutes', or 'seconds' for date and
                        time to the indicated precision
        -r,--reference FILE     Display last modification time of FILE
        -d,--date TIME  Display TIME, not 'now'
        -D FMT          Use FMT for -d TIME conversion

Recognized TIME formats:

        hh:mm[:ss]
        [YYYY.]MM.DD-hh:mm[:ss]
        YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]
        [[[[[YY]YY]MM]DD]hh]mm[.ss]

dc
dc expression...

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

dd
dd [if=FILE] [of=FILE] [ibs=N] [obs=N] [bs=N] [count=N] [skip=N]         [seek=N] [conv=notrunc|noerror|sync|fsync]

Copy a file with converting and formatting

Options:

        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

Numbers may be suffixed by c (x1), w (x2), b (x512), kD (x1000), k (x1024), MD (x1000000), M (x1048576), GD (x1000000000) or G (x1073741824)

deallocvt
deallocvt [N]

Deallocate unused virtual terminal /dev/ttyN

df
df [-Pkmhai] [-B SIZE] [FILESYSTEM]...

Print filesystem usage statistics

Options:

        -P      POSIX output format
        -k      1024-byte blocks (default)
        -m      1M-byte blocks
        -h      Human readable (e.g. 1K 243M 2G)
        -a      Show all filesystems
        -i      Inodes
        -B SIZE Blocksize

dirname
dirname FILENAME

Strip non-directory suffix from FILENAME

dmesg
dmesg [-c] [-n LEVEL] [-s SIZE]

Print or control the kernel ring buffer

Options:

        -c              Clear ring buffer after printing
        -n LEVEL        Set console logging level
        -s SIZE         Buffer size

dos2unix
dos2unix [OPTIONS] [FILE]

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

Options:

        -u      dos2unix
        -d      unix2dos

du
du [-aHLdclsxhmk] [FILE]...

Summarize disk space used for each FILE and/or directory. Disk space is printed in units of 1024 bytes.

Options:

        -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)

dumpkmap
dumpkmap > keymap

Print a binary keyboard translation table to stdout

dumpleases
dumpleases [-r|-a] [-f LEASEFILE]

Display DHCP leases granted by udhcpd

Options:

        -f,--file=FILE  Lease file
        -r,--remaining  Show remaining time
        -a,--absolute   Show expiration time

echo
echo [-neE] [ARG]...

Print the specified ARGs to stdout

Options:

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

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

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

Options:

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

expr
expr EXPRESSION

Print the value of EXPRESSION to stdout

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 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.

false
false

Return an exit code of FALSE (1)

find
find [PATH]... [EXPRESSION]

Search for files. The default PATH is the current directory, default EXPRESSION is '-print'

EXPRESSION may consist of:

        -follow         Follow symlinks
        -xdev           Don't descend directories on other filesystems
        -maxdepth N     Descend at most N levels. -maxdepth 0 applies
                        tests/actions to command line arguments only
        -mindepth N     Don't act on first N levels
        -name PATTERN   File name (w/o directory name) matches PATTERN
        -iname PATTERN  Case insensitive -name
        -path PATTERN   Path matches PATTERN
        -regex PATTERN  Path matches regex PATTERN
        -type X         File type is X (X is one of: f,d,l,b,c,...)
        -perm NNN       Permissions match any of (+NNN), all of (-NNN),
                        or exactly NNN
        -mtime DAYS     Modified time is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N days
        -mmin MINS      Modified time is greater than (+N), less than (-N),
                        or exactly N minutes
        -newer FILE     Modified time is more recent than FILE's
        -inum N         File has inode number N
        -user NAME      File is owned by user NAME (numeric user ID allowed)
        -group NAME     File belongs to group NAME (numeric group ID allowed)
        -depth          Process directory name after traversing it
        -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
        -print          Print (default and assumed)
        -print0         Delimit output with null characters rather than
                        newlines
        -exec CMD ARG ; Run CMD with all instances of {} replaced by the
                        matching files
        -prune          Stop traversing current subtree
        (EXPR)          Group an expression

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

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

Options:

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

free
free

Display the amount of free and used system memory

ftpget
ftpget [OPTIONS] HOST [LOCAL_FILE] REMOTE_FILE

Retrieve a remote file via FTP

Options:

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

ftpput
ftpput [OPTIONS] HOST [REMOTE_FILE] LOCAL_FILE

Store a local file on a remote machine via FTP

Options:

        -v,--verbose    Verbose
        -u,--username   Username
        -p,--password   Password
        -P,--port       Port number

getopt
getopt [OPTIONS]

Options:

        -a,--alternative                Allow long options starting with single -
        -l,--longoptions=longopts       Long options to be recognized
        -n,--name=progname              The name under which errors are reported
        -o,--options=optstring          Short options to be recognized
        -q,--quiet                      Disable error reporting by getopt(3)
        -Q,--quiet-output               No normal output
        -s,--shell=shell                Set shell quoting conventions
        -T,--test                       Test for getopt(1) version
        -u,--unquoted                   Don't quote the output

grep
grep [-HhnlLoqvsriwFEz] [-m N] [-A/B/C N] PATTERN/-e PATTERN.../-f FILE [FILE]...

Search for PATTERN in FILEs (or stdin)

Options:

        -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
        -F      PATTERN is a literal (not regexp)
        -E      PATTERN is an extended regexp
        -z      Input is NUL terminated
        -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

gunzip
gunzip [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Decompress FILEs (or stdin)

Options:

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

gzip
gzip [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Compress FILEs (or stdin)

Options:

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

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.

Options:

        -n N[kbm]       Print first N 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

Options:

        -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

Options:

        -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 STRING

Listen for incoming HTTP requests

Options:

        -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)
        -e STRING       HTML encode STRING
        -d STRING       URL decode STRING

id
id [OPTIONS] [USER]

Print information about USER or the current user

Options:

        -u      Print user ID
        -g      Print group ID
        -G      Print supplementary group IDs
        -n      Print name instead of a number
        -r      Print real user ID instead of effective ID

ifconfig
ifconfig [-a] interface [address]

Configure a network interface

Options:

        [add ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
        [del ADDRESS[/PREFIXLEN]]
        [[-]broadcast [ADDRESS]] [[-]pointopoint [ADDRESS]]
        [netmask ADDRESS] [dstaddr ADDRESS]
        [outfill NN] [keepalive NN]
        [hw ether|infiniband ADDRESS] [metric NN] [mtu NN]
        [[-]trailers] [[-]arp] [[-]allmulti]
        [multicast] [[-]promisc] [txqueuelen NN] [[-]dynamic]
        [mem_start NN] [io_addr NN] [irq NN]
        [up|down] ...

ionice
ionice [-c 1-3] [-n 0-7] [-p PID] [PROG]

Change I/O priority and class

Options:

        -c      Class. 1:realtime 2:best-effort 3:idle
        -n      Priority

ip
ip [OPTIONS] {address | route | link | tunnel | rule} {COMMAND}

ip [OPTIONS] OBJECT {COMMAND} where OBJECT := {address | route | link | tunnel | rule} OPTIONS := { -f[amily] { inet | inet6 | link } | -o[neline] }

ipcalc
ipcalc [OPTIONS] ADDRESS[[/]NETMASK] [NETMASK]

Calculate IP network settings from a IP address

Options:

        -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

Options:

        -l      List all signal names and numbers

killall
killall [-l] [-q] [-SIG] PROCESS_NAME...

Send a signal (default: TERM) to given processes

Options:

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

klogd
klogd [-c N] [-n]

Kernel logger

Options:

        -c N    Only messages with level < N are printed to console
        -n      Run in foreground

last
last

Show listing of the last users that logged into the system

length
length STRING

Print STRING's length

ln
ln [OPTIONS] TARGET... LINK|DIR

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

Options:

        -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

loadfont
loadfont < font

Load a console font from stdin

loadkmap
loadkmap < keymap

Load a binary keyboard translation table from stdin

logger
logger [OPTIONS] [MESSAGE]

Write MESSAGE (or stdin) to syslog

Options:

        -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 [OPTIONS]

Show messages in syslogd's circular buffer

Options:

        -f      Output data as log grows

losetup
losetup [-o OFS] LOOPDEV FILE - associate loop devices         losetup -d LOOPDEV - disassociate
        losetup [-f] - show

Options:

        -o OFS  Start OFS bytes into FILE
        -f      Show first free loop device

ls
ls [-1AacCdeFilnpLRrSsTtuvwxXhk] [FILE]...

List directory contents

Options:

        -1      List in a single column
        -A      Don't list . and ..
        -a      Don't hide entries starting with .
        -C      List by columns
        -c      With -l: sort by ctime
        --color[={always,never,auto}]   Control coloring
        -d      List directory entries instead of contents
        -e      List full date and time
        -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
        -i      List inode numbers
        -l      Long listing format
        -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
        -p      Append indicator (one of /=@|) to entries
        -L      List entries pointed to by symlinks
        -R      Recurse
        -r      Sort in reverse order
        -S      Sort by file size
        -s      List the size of each file, in blocks
        -T N    Assume tabstop every N columns
        -t      With -l: sort by modification time
        -u      With -l: sort by access time
        -v      Sort by version
        -w N    Assume the terminal is N columns wide
        -x      List by lines
        -X      Sort by extension
        -h      List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)

lzcat
lzcat FILE

Decompress to stdout

lzma
lzma -d [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

Options:

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

md5sum
md5sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print MD5 checksums

mkdir
mkdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...

Create DIRECTORY

Options:

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

mkfifo
mkfifo [OPTIONS] name

Create named pipe (identical to 'mknod name p')

Options:

        -m MODE Mode (default a=rw)

mknod
mknod [OPTIONS] NAME TYPE MAJOR MINOR

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

Options:

        -m      Create the special file using the specified mode (default a=rw)
TYPEs include:

        b:      Make a block device
        c or u: Make a character device
        p:      Make a named pipe (MAJOR and MINOR are ignored)

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).

Options:

        -d      Make a directory instead of a file
        -t      Generate a path rooted in temporary directory
        -p DIR  Use DIR as a temporary directory (implies -t)

For -t or -p, directory is chosen as follows: $TMPDIR if set, else -p DIR, else /tmp

more
more [FILE]...

View FILE (or stdin) one screenful at a time

mount
mount [OPTIONS] [-o OPTS] DEVICE NODE

Mount a filesystem. Filesystem autodetection requires /proc.

Options:

        -a              Mount all filesystems in fstab
        -i              Don't run mount helper
        -r              Read-only mount
        -w              Read-write mount (default)
        -t FSTYPE       Filesystem type
        -O OPT          Mount only filesystems with option OPT (-a only)
-o OPT:
        loop            Ignored (loop devices are autodetected)
        [a]sync         Writes are [a]synchronous
        [no]atime       Disable/enable updates to inode access times
        [no]diratime    Disable/enable atime updates to directories
        [no]relatime    Disable/enable atime updates relative to modification time
        [no]dev         (Dis)allow use of special device files
        [no]exec        (Dis)allow use of executable files
        [no]suid        (Dis)allow set-user-id-root programs
        [r]shared       Convert [recursively] to a shared subtree
        [r]slave        Convert [recursively] to a slave subtree
        [r]private      Convert [recursively] to a private subtree
        [un]bindable    Make mount point [un]able to be bind mounted
        bind            Bind a file or directory to another location
        move            Relocate an existing mount point
        remount         Remount a mounted filesystem, changing flags
        ro/rw           Same as -r/-w

There are filesystem-specific -o flags.

mt
mt [-f device] opcode value

Control magnetic tape drive operation

Available Opcodes:

bsf bsfm bsr bss datacompression drvbuffer eof eom erase fsf fsfm fsr fss load lock mkpart nop offline ras1 ras2 ras3 reset retension rewind rewoffline seek setblk setdensity setpart tell unload unlock weof wset

mv
mv [OPTIONS] SOURCE DEST or: mv [OPTIONS] SOURCE... DIRECTORY

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

Options:

        -f      Don't prompt before overwriting
        -i      Interactive, prompt before overwrite

nameif
nameif [-s] [-c FILE] [{IFNAME MACADDR}]

Rename network interface while it in the down state

Options:

        -c FILE         Use configuration file (default: /etc/mactab)
        -s              Use syslog (LOCAL0 facility)
        IFNAME MACADDR  new_interface_name interface_mac_address

nc
nc [IPADDR PORT]

Open a pipe to IP:PORT

netstat
netstat [-laentuwxr]

Display networking information

Options:

        -l      Display listening server sockets
        -a      Display all sockets (default: connected)
        -e      Display other/more information
        -n      Don't resolve names
        -t      Tcp sockets
        -u      Udp sockets
        -w      Raw sockets
        -x      Unix sockets
        -r      Display routing table

nslookup
nslookup [HOST] [SERVER]

Query the nameserver for the IP address of the given HOST optionally using a specified DNS server

od
od [-aBbcDdeFfHhIiLlOovXx] [-t TYPE] [FILE]

Write an unambiguous representation, octal bytes by default, of FILE (or stdin) to stdout

openvt
openvt [-c N] [-sw] [PROG ARGS]

Start PROG on a new virtual terminal

Options:

        -c N    Use specified VT
        -s      Switch to the VT
        -w      Wait for PROG to exit

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
        --dry-run       Don't actually change files

pidof
pidof [NAME]...

List PIDs of all processes with names that match NAMEs

ping
ping [OPTIONS] HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

Options:

        -4, -6          Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
        -c CNT          Send only CNT pings
        -s SIZE         Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
        -I IFACE/IP     Use interface or IP address as source
        -W SEC          Seconds to wait for the first response (default:10)
                        (after all -c CNT packets are sent)
        -w SEC          Seconds until ping exits (default:infinite)
                        (can exit earlier with -c CNT)
        -q              Quiet, only displays output at start
                        and when finished

ping6
ping6 [OPTIONS] HOST

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

Options:

        -c CNT          Send only CNT pings
        -s SIZE         Send SIZE data bytes in packets (default:56)
        -I IFACE/IP     Use interface or IP address as source
        -q              Quiet, only displays output at start
                        and when finished

printf
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...

Format and print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT, where FORMAT controls the output exactly as in C printf

ps
ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER] [-T]

Show list of processes

Options:

        -o COL1,COL2=HEADER     Select columns for display
        -T                      Show threads

pwd
pwd

Print the full filename of the current working directory

rdate
rdate [-sp] HOST

Get and possibly set the system date and time from a remote HOST

Options:

        -s      Set the system date and time (default)
        -p      Print the date and time

readlink
readlink [-fnv] FILE

Display the value of a symlink

Options:

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

realpath
realpath FILE...

Return the absolute pathnames of given FILE

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

Change scheduling priority for a running process

Options:

        -n      Adjust current nice value (smaller is faster)
        -p      Process id(s) (default)
        -g      Process group id(s)
        -u      Process user name(s) and/or id(s)

reset
reset

Reset the screen

rev
rev [FILE]...

Reverse lines of FILE

rm
rm [OPTIONS] FILE...

Remove (unlink) FILEs

Options:

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

rmdir
rmdir [OPTIONS] DIRECTORY...

Remove DIRECTORY if it is empty

Options:

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

route
route [{add|del|delete}]

Edit kernel routing tables

Options:

        -n      Don't resolve names
        -e      Display other/more information
        -A inet{6}      Select address family

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

Manipulate RPM packages

Commands:

        -i      Install package
        -qp     Query package
Options:

        -i      Show information
        -l      List contents
        -d      List documents
        -c      List config files

rpm2cpio
rpm2cpio package.rpm

Output a cpio archive of the rpm file

run-parts
run-parts [-t] [-a ARG] [-u MASK] DIRECTORY

Run a bunch of scripts in DIRECTORY

Options:

        -t      Print what would be run, but don't actually run anything
        -a ARG  Pass ARG as argument for every program
        -u MASK Set the umask to MASK before running every program

sed
sed [-efinr] SED_CMD [FILE]...

Options:

        -e CMD  Add CMD to sed commands to be executed
        -f FILE Add FILE contents to sed commands to be executed
        -i      Edit files in-place (else sends result to stdout)
        -n      Suppress automatic printing of pattern space
        -r      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).

setkeycodes
setkeycodes SCANCODE KEYCODE...

Set entries into the kernel's scancode-to-keycode map, allowing unusual keyboards to generate usable keycodes.

SCANCODE may be either xx or e0xx (hexadecimal), and KEYCODE is given in decimal.

sha1sum
sha1sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print SHA1 checksums

sha256sum
sha256sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print SHA256 checksums

sha512sum
sha512sum [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print SHA512 checksums

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

sort
sort [-nrugMcszbdfimSTokt] [-o FILE] [-k start[.offset][opts][,end[.offset][opts]] [-t CHAR] [FILE]...

Sort lines of text

Options:

        -b      Ignore leading blanks
        -c      Check whether input is sorted
        -d      Dictionary order (blank or alphanumeric only)
        -f      Ignore case
        -g      General numerical sort
        -i      Ignore unprintable characters
        -k      Sort key
        -M      Sort month
        -n      Sort numbers
        -o      Output to file
        -k      Sort by key
        -t CHAR Key separator
        -r      Reverse sort order
        -s      Stable (don't sort ties alphabetically)
        -u      Suppress duplicate lines
        -z      Lines are terminated by NUL, not newline
        -mST    Ignored for GNU compatibility

start-stop-daemon
start-stop-daemon [OPTIONS] [-S|-K] ... [-- ARGS...]

Search for matching processes, and then -K: stop all matching processes. -S: start a process unless a matching process is found.

Process matching:

        -u,--user USERNAME|UID  Match only this user's processes
        -n,--name NAME          Match processes with NAME
                                in comm field in /proc/PID/stat
        -x,--exec EXECUTABLE    Match processes with this command
                                in /proc/PID/cmdline
        -p,--pidfile FILE       Match a process with PID from the file
        All specified conditions must match
-S only:
        -x,--exec EXECUTABLE    Program to run
        -a,--startas NAME       Zeroth argument
        -b,--background         Background
        -N,--nicelevel N        Change nice level
        -c,--chuid USER[:[GRP]] Change to user/group
        -m,--make-pidfile       Write PID to the pidfile specified by -p
-K only:
        -s,--signal SIG         Signal to send
        -t,--test               Match only, exit with 0 if a process is found
Other:

        -o,--oknodo             Exit with status 0 if nothing is done
        -v,--verbose            Verbose
        -q,--quiet              Quiet

strings
strings [-afo] [-n LEN] [FILE]...

Display printable strings in a binary file

Options:

        -a      Scan whole file (default)
        -f      Precede strings with filenames
        -n LEN  At least LEN characters form a string (default 4)
        -o      Precede strings with decimal offsets

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

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

Options:

        -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

swapoff
swapoff [-a] [DEVICE]

Stop swapping on DEVICE

Options:

        -a      Stop swapping on all swap devices

swapon
swapon [-a] [DEVICE]

Start swapping on DEVICE

Options:

        -a      Start swapping on all swap devices

sync
sync

Write all buffered blocks to disk

sysctl
sysctl [OPTIONS] [VALUE]...

Configure kernel parameters at runtime

Options:

        -n      Don't print key names
        -e      Don't warn about unknown keys
        -w      Change sysctl setting
        -p FILE Load sysctl settings from FILE (default /etc/sysctl.conf)
        -a      Display all values
        -A      Display all values in table form

syslogd
syslogd [OPTIONS]

System logging utility. This version of syslogd ignores /etc/syslog.conf

Options:

        -n              Run in foreground
        -O FILE         Log to given file (default:/var/log/messages)
        -l N            Set local log level
        -S              Smaller logging output
        -R HOST[:PORT]  Log to IP or hostname on PORT (default PORT=514/UDP)
        -L              Log locally and via network (default is network only if -R)
        -C[size(KiB)]   Log to shared mem buffer (read it using logread)

tac
tac [FILE]...

Concatenate FILEs and print them in reverse

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.

Options:

        -f              Print data as file grows
        -s SECONDS      Wait SECONDS between reads with -f
        -n N[kbm]       Print last N lines
        -c N[kbm]       Print last N bytes
        -q              Never print headers
        -v              Always print headers

N may be suffixed by k (x1024), b (x512), or m (x1024^2). If N starts with a '+', output begins with the Nth item from the start of each file, not from the end.

tar
tar -[cxtzjaZmvO] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

Operation:

        c       Create
        x       Extract
        t       List
Options:

        f       Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
        C       Change to DIR before operation
        v       Verbose
        z       (De)compress using gzip
        j       (De)compress using bzip2
        a       (De)compress using lzma
        Z       (De)compress using compress
        O       Extract to stdout
        h       Follow symlinks
        m       Don't restore mtime

tee
tee [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Copy stdin to each FILE, and also to stdout

Options:

        -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

Options:

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

test
test EXPRESSION ]

Check file types, compare values etc. Return a 0/1 exit code depending on logical value of EXPRESSION

tftp
tftp [OPTIONS] HOST [PORT]

Transfer a file from/to tftp server

Options:

        -l FILE Local FILE
        -r FILE Remote FILE
        -g      Get file
        -p      Put file
        -b SIZE Transfer blocks of SIZE octets

time
time [OPTIONS] PROG ARGS

Run PROG, display resource usage when it exits

Options:

        -v      Verbose

top
top [-b] [-nCOUNT] [-dSECONDS]

Provide a view of process activity in real time. Read the status of all processes from /proc each SECONDS and display a screenful of them.

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

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

Options:

        -c      Don't create files
        -d DT   Date/time to use

tr
tr [-cds] STRING1 [STRING2]

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

Options:

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

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

Trace the route to HOST

Options:

        -4, -6  Force IP or IPv6 name resolution
        -F      Set the don't fragment bit
        -I      Use ICMP ECHO instead of UDP datagrams
        -l      Display the TTL value of the returned packet
        -d      Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
        -n      Print numeric addresses
        -r      Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
        -v      Verbose
        -m      Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
        -p      Base UDP port number used in probes
                (default 33434)
        -q      Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
        -s      IP address to use as the source address
        -t      Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
        -w      Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)
        -g      Loose source route gateway (8 max)

traceroute6
traceroute6 [-dnrv] [-m MAXTTL] [-p PORT] [-q PROBES]         [-s SRC_IP] [-t TOS] [-w WAIT_SEC] [-i IFACE]
        HOST [BYTES]

Trace the route to HOST

Options:

        -d      Set SO_DEBUG options to socket
        -n      Print numeric addresses
        -r      Bypass routing tables, send directly to HOST
        -v      Verbose
        -m      Max time-to-live (max number of hops)
        -p      Base UDP port number used in probes
                (default is 33434)
        -q      Number of probes per TTL (default 3)
        -s      IP address to use as the source address
        -t      Type-of-service in probe packets (default 0)
        -w      Time in seconds to wait for a response (default 3)

true
true

Return an exit code of TRUE (0)

tty
tty

Print file name of stdin's terminal

Options:

        -s      Print nothing, only return exit status

udhcpc
udhcpc [-fbnqvoCR] [-i IFACE] [-r IP] [-s PROG] [-p PIDFILE]         [-H HOSTNAME] [-c CID] [-V VENDOR] [-O DHCP_OPT]...

        -i,--interface IFACE    Interface to use (default eth0)
        -p,--pidfile FILE       Create pidfile
        -r,--request IP         IP address to request
        -s,--script PROG        Run PROG at DHCP events (default /usr/share/udhcpc/default.script)
        -t,--retries N          Send up to N discover packets
        -T,--timeout N          Pause between packets (default 3 seconds)
        -A,--tryagain N         Wait N seconds after failure (default 20)
        -f,--foreground         Run in foreground
        -b,--background         Background if lease is not obtained
        -S,--syslog             Log to syslog too
        -n,--now                Exit if lease is not obtained
        -q,--quit               Exit after obtaining lease
        -R,--release            Release IP on exit
        -a,--arping             Use arping to validate offered address
        -O,--request-option OPT Request DHCP option OPT (cumulative)
        -o,--no-default-options Don't request any options (unless -O is given)
        -x OPT:VAL              Include option OPT in sent packets (cumulative)
        -F,--fqdn NAME          Ask server to update DNS mapping for NAME
        -H,-h,--hostname NAME   Send NAME as client hostname (default none)
        -V,--vendorclass VENDOR Vendor identifier (default 'udhcp VERSION')
        -c,--clientid CLIENTID  Client identifier (default own MAC)
        -C,--clientid-none      Don't send client identifier

udhcpd
udhcpd [-fS] [configfile]

DHCP server

        -f      Run in foreground
        -S      Log to syslog too

umount
umount [OPTIONS] FILESYSTEM|DIRECTORY

Unmount file systems

Options:

        -a      Unmount all file systems
        -r      Try to remount devices as read-only if mount is busy
        -l      Lazy umount (detach filesystem)
        -f      Force umount (i.e., unreachable NFS server)
        -d      Free loop device if it has been used

uname
uname [-amnrspv]

Print system information

Options:

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

uncompress
uncompress [-cf] [FILE]...

Decompress .Z file[s]

Options:

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Overwrite

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

Discard duplicate lines

Options:

        -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 [OPTIONS] [FILE]

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

Options:

        -u      dos2unix
        -d      unix2dos

unlzma
unlzma [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

Options:

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

unxz
unxz [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

Options:

        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

unzip
unzip [-opts[modifiers]] FILE[.zip] [LIST] [-x XLIST] [-d DIR]

Extract files from ZIP archives

Options:

        -l      List archive contents (with -q for short form)
        -n      Never overwrite files (default)
        -o      Overwrite
        -p      Send output to stdout
        -q      Quiet
        -x XLST Exclude these files
        -d DIR  Extract files into DIR

uptime
uptime

Display the time since the last boot

usleep
usleep N

Pause for N microseconds

uudecode
uudecode [-o OUTFILE] [INFILE]

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

uuencode
uuencode [-m] [INFILE] STORED_FILENAME

Uuencode a file to stdout

Options:

        -m      Use base64 encoding per RFC1521

vi
vi [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Edit FILE

Options:

        -c      Initial command to run ($EXINIT also available)
        -R      Read-only
        -H      Short help regarding available features

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

Run PROG periodically

Options:

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

watchdog
watchdog [-t N[ms]] [-T N[ms]] [-F] DEV

Periodically write to watchdog device DEV

Options:

        -T N    Reboot after N seconds if not reset (default 60)
        -t N    Reset every N seconds (default 30)
        -F      Run in foreground

Use 500ms to specify period in milliseconds

wc
wc [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Print line, word, and byte counts for each FILE (or stdin), and a total line if more than one FILE is specified

Options:

        -c      Print the byte counts
        -l      Print the newline counts
        -L      Print the length of the longest line
        -w      Print the word counts

wget
wget [-c|--continue] [-s|--spider] [-q|--quiet] [-O|--output-document FILE]         [--header 'header: value'] [-Y|--proxy on/off] [-P DIR]
        [--no-check-certificate] [-U|--user-agent AGENT] URL

Retrieve files via HTTP or FTP

Options:

        -s      Spider mode - only check file existence
        -c      Continue retrieval of aborted transfer
        -q      Quiet
        -P      Set directory prefix to DIR
        -O FILE Save to FILE ('-' for stdout)
        -U STR  Use STR for User-Agent header
        -Y      Use proxy ('on' or 'off')

which
which [COMMAND]...

Locate a COMMAND

who
who [-a]

Show who is logged on

Options:

        -a      Show all

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

Options:

        -r      Don't run command if input is empty
        -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

xz
xz -d [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Decompress FILE (or stdin)

Options:

        -d      Decompress
        -c      Write to stdout
        -f      Force

xzcat
xzcat FILE

Decompress to stdout

yes
yes [STRING]

Repeatedly output a line with STRING, or 'y'

zcat
zcat FILE

Decompress to stdout

 

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.


 

Index

NAME
SYNTAX
DESCRIPTION
USAGE
COMMON OPTIONS
COMMANDS
COMMAND DESCRIPTIONS
LIBC NSS
MAINTAINER
AUTHORS

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 07:35:53 GMT, March 26, 2013