[Question] Questions about the BusyBox specification.

[Denys Vlasenko]

On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 2:05 PM, Frank Ihle <frank.ihle at hs-offenburg.de> wrote:
> Dear BusyBox,
>
> due to we consider about using BusyBox on our Embedded System, I have some questions left whose answers couldn't be found on the BusyBox homepage or documentation.
>
> I hope somebody can give me a bit more information, probably these questions/answers could be put on the BusyBox homepage, since I think that other developers trying to get into touch with BusyBox are interested in these kind of information too.
>
> Here are the questions:

Most questions are assuming that Busybox is an OS.
Please read http://busybox.net/FAQ.html#whatis

> (1) What is the minimum footprint in flash memory of BusyBox ?

Fully configured busybox (all 350+ applets) on x86 compiles to less
than 1 megabyte.

> (2) Is there a number for the latency to handle events (e.g. interrupt latency) ?
> (3.1) Is there an investigation about power consumption with BusyBox during sleep modes ?
> (3.2) Is there an investigation about power consumption with BusyBox during normal/(full) operation mode?
> (4) Are sleep modes configurable ?
> (5) How many GPIO user out/inputs can be used e.g.: for user interaction (buttons, LEDS, dip-switches ...) ?
> (6) Is there a (stateless/statefull) firewall for BusyBox ?
> (7.1) Does BusyBox provide a Network stack ?
> (7.2) Does BusyBox provide a Bluetooth stack ?
> (7.3) Does BusyBox provide a ZigBee stack ?
> (7.4) Does BusyBox provide a ZWave stack ?
> (7.5) Does Busybox provide a 6LOWPAN stack ?
> (8.1) Due to BusyBox seems to be written in C, is it still possible to execute a C++ application successfully ?
> (8.2) Is it possible to execute a Java application ?
> (9) Can applications be debugged while they are executed on the target ?
> (11) Is remote login to a target possible, that is running with BusyBox? (e.g. with telnet or SSH)


All of the above assume that Busybox is an OS. It is not.
OS provides networks stacks and runs apps.
Please read http://busybox.net/FAQ.html#whatis

> (10) What is the long-term availability of BusyBox? Can it be expected to be available for at least 10 years?

Unless something drastic happens, yes.
The project is popular and will be maintained even if any given
individual developer stops working on it.