uutils / uutils/coreutils

Feature Request: Busybox style '--install'

Open
#13,324 4 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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 -h and "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

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. 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

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.