BusyBox

BusyBox
Original authorBruce Perens
DevelopersErik Andersen, Rob Landley, Denys Vlasenko and others
Release4 November 1999 (1999-11-04)
Stable release
1.36.1 Edit this on Wikidata / 19 May 2023 (19 May 2023)
Preview release
1.38.0 Edit this on Wikidata / 13 May 2026 (13 May 2026)
Written inC
Operating systemUnix-like
Size2.1 MB (compressed "tar.bz2")
Type
LicenseSince 1.3.0: GPL-2.0-only
Until 1.2.2.1: GPL-2.0-or-later
Websitebusybox.net Edit this on Wikidata
Repository

BusyBox is an implementation of many Unix commands in a single executable file. It runs in many POSIX environments including Linux, Android, and FreeBSD, 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", 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, having not been moved to version 3.