Embedded Linux from Source - Version GIT-0.0.1-20130818-mips

Chapter 7. Installing Basic System Software

7.4. Busybox-1.21.1

BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable. It provides replacements for most of the utilities you usually find in GNU fileutils, shellutils, 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 provides a fairly complete environment for any small or embedded system.

7.4.1. Installation of Busybox

First ensure the BusyBox source is completely clean: 

 make distclean
[Note]

Note

Currently we are just telling Busybox to use a generic configuration. For those for more adventurous, you can use make menuconfig, and create a custom or modified configuration for your build.

The following patch contains a default configuration for BusyBox: 



patch -Np1 -i ../busybox-1.21.1-config-3.patch
cp -v clfs/config .config

The following tells BusyBox to validate the configuration, and makes sure all required options are defined: 

yes "" | make oldconfig

Compile the package: 

make CROSS_COMPILE="${CLFS_TARGET}-"

Install the package: 

make CROSS_COMPILE="${CLFS_TARGET}-" \
  CONFIG_PREFIX="${CLFS}" install

If you're going to build your kernel with modules, you will need to make sure depmod.pl is available: 

cp examples/depmod.pl ${CLFS}/cross-tools/bin
chmod 755 ${CLFS}/cross-tools/bin/depmod.pl

7.4.2. Contents of Busybox

Installed programs: To be Written