179 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
179 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
Toybox: all-in-one Linux command line.
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--- Getting started
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You can download static binaries for various targets from:
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http://landley.net/toybox/bin
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The special name "." indicates the current directory (just like ".." means
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the parent directory), and you can run a program that isn't in the $PATH by
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specifying a path to it, so this should work:
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wget http://landley.net/toybox/bin/toybox-x86_64
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chmod +x toybox-x86_64
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./toybox-x86_64 echo hello world
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--- Building toybox
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Type "make help" for build instructions.
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Toybox uses the "make menuconfig; make; make install" idiom same as
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the Linux kernel. Usually you want something like:
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make defconfig
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make
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make install
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Or maybe:
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LDFLAGS="--static" CROSS_COMPILE=armv5l- make defconfig toybox
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PREFIX=/path/to/root/filesystem/bin make install_flat
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The file "configure" defines default values for many environment variables
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that control the toybox build; if you export any of these variables into your
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environment, your value is used instead of the default in that file.
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The CROSS_COMPILE argument above is optional, the default builds a version of
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toybox to run on the current machine. Cross compiling requires an appropriately
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prefixed cross compiler toolchain, several example toolchains (built using
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the file "scripts/mcm-buildall.sh" in the toybox source) are available at:
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https://mkroot.musl.cc/latest/
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For the "CROSS_COMPILE=armv5l-" example above, download
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cross-compiler-armv5l.tar.bz2, extract it, and add its "bin" subdirectory to
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your $PATH. (And yes, the trailing - is significant, because the prefix
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includes a dash.)
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For more about cross compiling, see:
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https://landley.net/toybox/faq.html#cross
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http://landley.net/writing/docs/cross-compiling.html
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http://landley.net/aboriginal/architectures.html
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For a more thorough description of the toybox build process, see:
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http://landley.net/toybox/code.html#building
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--- Using toybox
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The toybox build produces a multicall binary, a "swiss-army-knife" program
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that acts differently depending on the name it was called by (cp, mv, cat...).
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Installing toybox adds symlinks for each command name to the $PATH.
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The special "toybox" command treats its first argument as the command to run.
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With no arguments, it lists available commands. This allows you to use toybox
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without installing it, and is the only command that can have an arbitrary
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suffix (hence "toybox-armv5l").
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The "help" command provides information about each command (ala "help cat"),
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and "help toybox" provides general information about toybox.
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--- Configuring toybox
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It works like the Linux kernel: allnoconfig, defconfig, and menuconfig edit
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a ".config" file that selects which features to include in the resulting
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binary. You can save and re-use your .config file, but may want to
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run "make oldconfig" to re-run the dependency resolver when migrating to
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new versions.
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The maximum sane configuration is "make defconfig": allyesconfig isn't
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recommended as a starting point for toybox because it enables unfinished
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commands, debug code, and optional dependencies your build environment may
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not provide.
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--- Creating a Toybox-based Linux system
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Toybox has a built-in simple system builder (scripts/mkroot.sh) with a
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Makefile target:
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make root
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sudo chroot root/host/fs /init
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Type "exit" to get back out. If you install appropriate cross compilers and
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point it at Linux source code, it can build simple three-package systems
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that boot to a shell prompt under qemu:
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make root CROSS_COMPILE=sh4-linux-musl- LINUX=~/linux
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cd root/sh4
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./qemu-sh4.sh
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By calling scripts/mkroot.sh directly you can add additional packages
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to the build, see scripts/root/dropbear as an example.
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The FAQ explains this in a lot more detail:
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https://landley.net/toybox/faq.html#system
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https://landley.net/toybox/faq.html#mkroot
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--- Presentations
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1) "Why Toybox?" talk at the Embedded Linux Conference in 2013
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outline: http://landley.net/talks/celf-2013.txt
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video: http://youtu.be/SGmtP5Lg_t0
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The https://landley.net/toybox/about.html page has nav links breaking that
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talk down into sections.
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2) "Why Public Domain?" The rise and fall of copyleft, Ohio LinuxFest 2013
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outline: http://landley.net/talks/ohio-2013.txt
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audio: https://archive.org/download/OhioLinuxfest2013/24-Rob_Landley-The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Copyleft.mp3
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3) Why did I do Aboriginal Linux (which led me here)
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260 slide presentation:
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https://speakerdeck.com/landley/developing-for-non-x86-targets-using-qemu
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How and why to make android self-hosting:
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http://landley.net/aboriginal/about.html#selfhost
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More backstory than strictly necessary:
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https://landley.net/aboriginal/history.html
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4) What's new with toybox (ELC 2015 status update):
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video: http://elinux.org/ELC_2015_Presentations
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outline: http://landley.net/talks/celf-2015.txt
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5) Toybox vs BusyBox (2019 ELC talk):
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outline: http://landley.net/talks/elc-2019.txt
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video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkJkyMuBm3g
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--- Contributing
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The three important URLs for communicating with the toybox project are:
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web page: http://landley.net/toybox
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mailing list: http://lists.landley.net/listinfo.cgi/toybox-landley.net
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git repo: http://github.com/landley/toybox
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The maintainer prefers patches be sent to the mailing list. If you use git,
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the easy thing to do is:
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git format-patch -1 $HASH
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Then send a file attachment. The list holds messages from non-subscribers
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for moderation, but I usually get to them in a day or two.
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I download github pull requests as patches and apply them with "git am"
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(which avoids gratuitous merge commits). Sometimes I even remember to close
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the pull request.
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If I haven't responded to your patch after one week, feel free to remind
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me of it.
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Android's policy for toybox patches is that non-build patches should go
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upstream first (into vanilla toybox, with discussion on the toybox mailing
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list) and then be pulled into android's toybox repo from there. (They
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generally resync on fridays). The exception is patches to their build scripts
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(Android.mk and the checked-in generated/* files) which go directly to AOSP.
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(As for the other meaning of "contributing", https://patreon.com/landley is
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always welcome but I warn you up front I'm terrible about updating it.)
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