BusyBox

BusyBox
Original author(s)Bruce Perens
Developer(s)Erik Andersen,[1] Rob Landley,[2] Denys Vlasenko[3] and others
Initial releaseNovember 4, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-11-04)[4]
Stable release
1.36.1[5] Edit this on Wikidata / 19 May 2023
Repository
Written inC
Operating systemUnix-like
Size2.1 MB (compressed "tar.bz2")
Type
LicenseSince 1.3.0: GPL-2.0-only[6]
Until 1.2.2.1: GPL-2.0-or-later[7]
Websitebusybox.net

BusyBox is a software suite that provides several Unix utilities in a single executable file. It runs in a variety of POSIX environments such as Linux, Android,[8] and FreeBSD,[9] although many of the tools it provides are designed to work with interfaces provided by the Linux kernel. It was specifically created for embedded operating systems with very limited resources. The authors dubbed it "The Swiss Army knife of Embedded Linux",[10] as the single executable replaces basic functions of more than 300 common commands. It is released as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2,[6] after controversially deciding not to move to version 3.

  1. ^ "Erik Andersen's Homepage". Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2009.
  2. ^ Active Projects Archived July 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Rob Landley's website
  3. ^ Denys Vlasenko Archived September 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, BusyBox maintainer
  4. ^ "busybox-complaint-2009-12-14" (PDF). Software Freedom Law Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  5. ^ "BusyBox 1.36.1 (stable)".
  6. ^ a b "BusyBox". Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  7. ^ "busybox-1.2.2.1.tar.bz2". Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2021. From changelog: This is the last release of BusyBox under the old "GPLv2 or later" dual license. Future versions (containing changes after svn 16112) will just be GPLv2 only, without the "or later".
  8. ^ BitCubate X. "BusyBox Classic". Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  9. ^ "Port details". Archived from the original on July 9, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  10. ^ "The slogan for 'The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux' source". Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.