Feature Request: Busybox style '--install'
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 24.1k
- Forks
- 2k
- Avg merge
- 1d 5h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 365
Description
Details
Please add a busybox style --install option when running the "coreutils" binary as shipped in the releases. Including supporting --install -s <folder>
This is a nice to have feature which creates either hard-links or soft-links for each of the functions in the defined folder. With all of the links pointing to the real path of the binary which ran the command.
Reasoning
Right now I can download a release. However, per the readme, if I want more than have a single binary, I need to install the entire build system.
- I would like to be able to set up a system with the coreutils binary as simply as I do with busybox.
- Releases do not include an install script or easy method to run coreutils functions other than
coreutils <function>. coreutils -hand "README.md" included in releases never states that re-naming or linking the binary will cause it to behave as the named function.- The closest it comes is mentioning it can be built as "a multicall (BusyBox-type) binary"
PS: I apologize if this has been requested before. GitHub seems to auto-strip quotes when searching for "--install"!
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by examining the shipped coreutils binary's multicall behavior and the existing coreutils -h and release README guidance. Define how --install -s <folder> should choose hard-links or soft-links, resolve the running binary's real path, and handle supported functions and platform differences. Done means releases provide a documented, usable BusyBox-style installation path.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100