Can busybox be considered a full-fledged lin ... similar distribution?

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HexUserHex2020-01-09 00:07:50

linux

HexUserHex, 2020-01-09 00:07:50

Is it technically correct to consider busybox a full-fledged linux distribution?

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5 answer(s)

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Sergey Karbivnichy, 2020-01-09
@HexUserHex

BusyBox is a set of UNIX command line utilities used as the primary interface in embedded operating systems. The advantages of this application are its small size and low hardware requirements. It is a single file (this saves disk space).

And what does a set of utilities have to do with a linux distribution?

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Vadim Priluzkiy, 2020-01-09
@Oxyd

No. BusyBox is a way to package utilities that run on top of the linux kernel and is primarily aimed at embedded systems. For example, BusyBox is included with the OpenWRT distribution .

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Karpion, 2020-01-10
@Karpion

Judging by Wikipedia - no, because it does not have a core and libraries.

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Alexey Cheremisin, 2020-01-09
@leahch

BusyBox is a shell program like bash/csh/zsh and the like. Only! Yes, it can be expanded by adding its own components, it is small and fast, but each time you have to compile it again, or load it with modules. It does not pull at all on the distribution kit, but as a replacement for a bunch of basic utilities (pwd/cd/ls/find ...) - yes!
BusyBox was created as a replacement for the standard and rather thick command line utilities that live in one binary file.
Everything in busybox will not succeed, alas. so you still have to install additional programs-utilities-packages and do your own assembly of the system.

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Alexey Kharchenko, 2020-01-09
@AVX

There are a lot of comments, but the main thing that distinguishes distributions from each other is the way software is managed (package manager), and repositories. Well, yes, even pre-installed distro-specific utilities for configuration and management. Otherwise, there is just a bootloader, a kernel, and a bunch of utilities. And there can be combinations of such sets ... almost on every computer they are different - hundreds of thousands. So, it's just a kernel and busybox is not a distribution, tk. there is no package manager, and no repository (or other repository) of programs. Vadim Priluzkiy has already answered that busybox may be included in the distribution, but in itself it is just a binary with a bunch of functions that implement the functionality of many utilities.