Compilation of busybox-1.18.3 in order to support additional POSIX command to Vsphere5

 Note –  This is unsupported features of VMware – Please use at own risks.
VMware is currently using BusyBox v1.9.1-VMware-visor-6030 on Vsphere5

Steps for compilation of busybox

Note– I am using CentOS 5.x for compiling BusyBox.

1 –  Download busybox on /usr/src/redhat/BUILD

[root@linux10 ~]# wget http://busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.18.3.tar.bz2
–23:15:09–  http://busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.18.3.tar.bz2
Resolving busybox.net… 140.211.167.224
Connecting to busybox.net|140.211.167.224|:80… connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
Length: 2119251 (2.0M) [application/x-bzip2]
Saving to: `busybox-1.18.3.tar.bz2′

100%[=====================================================================>] 2,119,251   35.4K/s   in 82s

23:16:32 (25.4 KB/s) – `busybox-1.18.3.tar.bz2′ saved [2119251/2119251]

You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root
[root@linux10 ~]#

========================================================================

2 – Checking/Extracting the busybox

[root@linux10 BUILD]# ls -tlr
total 2076
-rw-r–r– 1 root root 2119251 Feb  9  2011 busybox-1.18.3.tar.bz2
[root@linux10 BUILD]# tar -xf busybox-1.18.3.tar.bz2
[root@linux10 BUILD]# cd busybox-1.18.3
[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# ls
applets    console-tools  editors    INSTALL     mailutils        miscutils   README   sysklogd              TODO
arch       coreutils      examples   libbb       Makefile         modutils    runit    TEST_config_nommu     TODO_unicode
archival   debianutils    findutils  libpwdgrp   Makefile.custom  networking  scripts  TEST_config_noprintf  util-linux
AUTHORS    docs           include    LICENSE     Makefile.flags   printutils  selinux  TEST_config_rh9
Config.in  e2fsprogs      init       loginutils  Makefile.help    procps      shell    testsuite
[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]#

======================================================================================
3 – compiling busybox to largest generic configuration with defconfig

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# make defconfig
[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# make

Last fews lines –

CC      util-linux/volume_id/volume_id.o
CC      util-linux/volume_id/xfs.o
AR      util-linux/volume_id/lib.a
LINK    busybox_unstripped
Trying libraries: crypt m
Library crypt is not needed, excluding it
Library m is needed, can’t exclude it (yet)
Final link with: m
DOC     busybox.pod
DOC     BusyBox.txt
DOC     busybox.1
DOC     BusyBox.html
[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]#

=====================================================================

4 –  If compilation went well it will create  “busybox” binary file inside the current directory

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# ls -trl busybox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 744680 Nov  5 23:20 busybox

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# file busybox
busybox: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# ./busybox
BusyBox v1.18.3 (2011-11-05 23:18:53 IST) multi-call binary.
Copyright (C) 1998-2009 Erik Andersen, Rob Landley, Denys Vlasenko
and others. Licensed under GPLv2.
See source distribution for full notice.

Usage: busybox [function] [arguments]…
or: busybox –list[-full]
or: function [arguments]…

BusyBox is a multi-call binary that combines many common Unix
utilities into a single executable.  Most people will create a
link to busybox for each function they wish to use and BusyBox
will act like whatever it was invoked as.

Currently defined functions:
[, [[, acpid, add-shell, addgroup, adduser, adjtimex, arp, arping, ash, awk, base64, basename, beep, blkid, blockdev, bootchartd,
brctl, bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, catv, chat, chattr, chgrp, chmod, chown, chpasswd, chpst, chroot, chrt, chvt, cksum, clear,
cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crond, crontab, cryptpw, cttyhack, cut, date, dc, dd, deallocvt, delgroup, deluser, depmod, devmem, df,
dhcprelay, diff, dirname, dmesg, dnsd, dnsdomainname, dos2unix, du, dumpkmap, dumpleases, echo, ed, egrep, eject, env, envdir,
envuidgid, ether-wake, expand, expr, fakeidentd, false, fbset, fbsplash, fdflush, fdformat, fdisk, fgconsole, fgrep, find, findfs,
flock, fold, free, freeramdisk, fsck, fsck.minix, fsync, ftpd, ftpget, ftpput, fuser, getopt, getty, grep, gunzip, gzip, halt, hd,
hdparm, head, hexdump, hostid, hostname, httpd, hush, hwclock, id, ifconfig, ifdown, ifenslave, ifplugd, ifup, inetd, init, insmod,
install, ionice, iostat, ip, ipaddr, ipcalc, ipcrm, ipcs, iplink, iproute, iprule, iptunnel, kbd_mode, kill, killall, killall5,
klogd, last, length, less, linux32, linux64, linuxrc, ln, loadfont, loadkmap, logger, login, logname, logread, losetup, lpd, lpq,
lpr, ls, lsattr, lsmod, lspci, lsusb, lzcat, lzma, lzop, lzopcat, makedevs, makemime, man, md5sum, mdev, mesg, microcom, mkdir,
mkdosfs, mke2fs, mkfifo, mkfs.ext2, mkfs.minix, mkfs.vfat, mknod, mkpasswd, mkswap, mktemp, modinfo, modprobe, more, mount,
mountpoint, mpstat, mt, mv, nameif, nbd-client, nc, netstat, nice, nmeter, nohup, nslookup, ntpd, od, openvt, passwd, patch, pgrep,
pidof, ping, ping6, pipe_progress, pivot_root, pkill, pmap, popmaildir, poweroff, powertop, printenv, printf, ps, pscan, pwd,
raidautorun, rdate, rdev, readahead, readlink, readprofile, realpath, reboot, reformime, remove-shell, renice, reset, resize, rev,
rm, rmdir, rmmod, route, rpm, rpm2cpio, rtcwake, run-parts, runlevel, runsv, runsvdir, rx, script, scriptreplay, sed, sendmail, seq,
setarch, setconsole, setfont, setkeycodes, setlogcons, setsid, setuidgid, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha512sum, showkey, slattach,
sleep, smemcap, softlimit, sort, split, start-stop-daemon, stat, strings, stty, su, sulogin, sum, sv, svlogd, swapoff, swapon,
switch_root, sync, sysctl, syslogd, tac, tail, tar, tcpsvd, tee, telnet, telnetd, test, tftp, tftpd, time, timeout, top, touch, tr,
traceroute, traceroute6, true, tty, ttysize, tunctl, udhcpc, udhcpd, udpsvd, umount, uname, unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlzma, unlzop,
unxz, unzip, uptime, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vconfig, vi, vlock, volname, wall, watch, watchdog, wc, wget, which, who, whoami,
xargs, xz, xzcat, yes, zcat, zcip

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]#

=============================================================================
5 – Edit the “Makefile” to modified the EXTRAVERSION like this
EXTRAVERSION = “-SatyendraSingh”

Note– You can use any meaningful name whatever you like

==========================================================================
6 – Now need to re run “make” command to write the modified EXTRAVERSION information on “busybox” binary

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# make

Few lines

LINK    busybox_unstripped
Trying libraries: crypt m
Library crypt is not needed, excluding it
Library m is needed, can’t exclude it (yet)
Final link with: m
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/root
[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]#

=====================================================================

7 – Run the “busybox” on current directory to check what changes you made on “EXTRAVERSION”
[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# ./busybox
BusyBox v1.18.3-SatyendraSingh (2011-11-05 23:18:53 IST) multi-call binary.
Copyright (C) 1998-2009 Erik Andersen, Rob Landley, Denys Vlasenko
and others. Licensed under GPLv2.
See source distribution for full notice.

Usage: busybox [function] [arguments]…
or: busybox –list[-full]
or: function [arguments]…

BusyBox is a multi-call binary that combines many common Unix
utilities into a single executable.  Most people will create a
link to busybox for each function they wish to use and BusyBox
will act like whatever it was invoked as.

Currently defined functions:
[, [[, acpid, add-shell, addgroup, adduser, adjtimex, arp, arping, ash, awk, base64, basename, beep, blkid, blockdev, bootchartd,
brctl, bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2, cal, cat, catv, chat, chattr, chgrp, chmod, chown, chpasswd, chpst, chroot, chrt, chvt, cksum, clear,
cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crond, crontab, cryptpw, cttyhack, cut, date, dc, dd, deallocvt, delgroup, deluser, depmod, devmem, df,
dhcprelay, diff, dirname, dmesg, dnsd, dnsdomainname, dos2unix, du, dumpkmap, dumpleases, echo, ed, egrep, eject, env, envdir,
envuidgid, ether-wake, expand, expr, fakeidentd, false, fbset, fbsplash, fdflush, fdformat, fdisk, fgconsole, fgrep, find, findfs,
flock, fold, free, freeramdisk, fsck, fsck.minix, fsync, ftpd, ftpget, ftpput, fuser, getopt, getty, grep, gunzip, gzip, halt, hd,
hdparm, head, hexdump, hostid, hostname, httpd, hush, hwclock, id, ifconfig, ifdown, ifenslave, ifplugd, ifup, inetd, init, insmod,
install, ionice, iostat, ip, ipaddr, ipcalc, ipcrm, ipcs, iplink, iproute, iprule, iptunnel, kbd_mode, kill, killall, killall5,
klogd, last, length, less, linux32, linux64, linuxrc, ln, loadfont, loadkmap, logger, login, logname, logread, losetup, lpd, lpq,
lpr, ls, lsattr, lsmod, lspci, lsusb, lzcat, lzma, lzop, lzopcat, makedevs, makemime, man, md5sum, mdev, mesg, microcom, mkdir,
mkdosfs, mke2fs, mkfifo, mkfs.ext2, mkfs.minix, mkfs.vfat, mknod, mkpasswd, mkswap, mktemp, modinfo, modprobe, more, mount,
mountpoint, mpstat, mt, mv, nameif, nbd-client, nc, netstat, nice, nmeter, nohup, nslookup, ntpd, od, openvt, passwd, patch, pgrep,
pidof, ping, ping6, pipe_progress, pivot_root, pkill, pmap, popmaildir, poweroff, powertop, printenv, printf, ps, pscan, pwd,
raidautorun, rdate, rdev, readahead, readlink, readprofile, realpath, reboot, reformime, remove-shell, renice, reset, resize, rev,
rm, rmdir, rmmod, route, rpm, rpm2cpio, rtcwake, run-parts, runlevel, runsv, runsvdir, rx, script, scriptreplay, sed, sendmail, seq,
setarch, setconsole, setfont, setkeycodes, setlogcons, setsid, setuidgid, sh, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha512sum, showkey, slattach,
sleep, smemcap, softlimit, sort, split, start-stop-daemon, stat, strings, stty, su, sulogin, sum, sv, svlogd, swapoff, swapon,
switch_root, sync, sysctl, syslogd, tac, tail, tar, tcpsvd, tee, telnet, telnetd, test, tftp, tftpd, time, timeout, top, touch, tr,
traceroute, traceroute6, true, tty, ttysize, tunctl, udhcpc, udhcpd, udpsvd, umount, uname, unexpand, uniq, unix2dos, unlzma, unlzop,
unxz, unzip, uptime, usleep, uudecode, uuencode, vconfig, vi, vlock, volname, wall, watch, watchdog, wc, wget, which, who, whoami,
xargs, xz, xzcat, yes, zcat, zcip

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]#

Note- Check the following line under IInd line of point “5” for EXTRAVERSION changes you made.

BusyBox v1.18.3-SatyendraSingh (2011-11-05 23:18:53 IST) multi-call binary.
=========================================================================

8 – Renaming the “buxybox” binary to meaningful name in order to avoid any conflict with “busybox” binary if exist.

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# cp busybox busybox-satya
cp: overwrite `busybox-satya’? y

[root@linux10 busybox-1.18.3]# ./busybox-satya

BusyBox v1.18.3-SatyendraSingh (2011-11-05 23:18:53 IST) multi-call binary.
Copyright (C) 1998-2009 Erik Andersen, Rob Landley, Denys Vlasenko
and others. Licensed under GPLv2.
See source distribution for full notice.

==========================================================================

9 – copy the “busybox-satya” to vsphere5 and use as per the requirement but make sure some of the applet of busy box may/may not work

Let’s take an example

1 – If I want to see what is ifconfig output on vsphere5, I am not able to find it from command prompt

~ # ifconfig
-sh: ifconfig: not found
~ # busybox ifconfig
ifconfig: applet not found

But if I run with my own compiled busybox-satya, it gives me the same output as Unix does.

~ # /tmp/busybox-satya ifconfig
ifconfig: /proc/net/dev: No such file or directory
lo0       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:00:08:00:10:08
inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:16384  Metric:1

vmk0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0C:29:E3:38:76
inet addr:192.168.1.9  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

2 – If I want to see what is crontab setting. I need to check the following way around –
~ # cat /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
#min hour day mon dow command
1    1    *   *   *   /sbin/tmpwatch.py
1    *    *   *   *   /sbin/auto-backup.sh
0    *    *   *   *   /usr/lib/vmware/vmksummary/log-heartbeat.py

I tried to run the following commands as well but did not get the output

~ # busybox crontab -l
crontab: applet not found
~ #

But If I run with own compiled busybox-satya, It gives me the same output as Unix does. even I am able to edit/list the cron
~ # /tmp/busybox-satya crontab -l
#min hour day mon dow command
1    1    *   *   *   /sbin/tmpwatch.py
1    *    *   *   *   /sbin/auto-backup.sh
0    *    *   *   *   /usr/lib/vmware/vmksummary/log-heartbeat.py
~ # /tmp/busybox-satya crontab -e

~ # /tmp/busybox-satya crontab -l
#min hour day mon dow command
1    1    *   *   *   /sbin/tmpwatch.py
1    *    *   *   *   /sbin/auto-backup.sh
0    *    *   *   *   /usr/lib/vmware/vmksummary/log-heartbeat.py
#Satya here -5th Nov 2011

Note – I have added “#Satya here -5th Nov 2011” for example Purpose.
==============================================================================