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I want to preface this with I am new to Linux. I am trying to install some libraries (and a program that depends on them) on an embedded Linux server running Busybox v1.20.2. I am not able to run ./configure on them, the cause I found being that there is no C compiler on this version.

A coworker more experienced in Linux has said that "it doesn't make sense" that were wouldn't/couldn't be one. But, it looks like that is indeed the case. How could I go about setting up a tar.gz on the system?

Worthwelle
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Mr. Mojo Risin
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1 Answers1

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Busybox is used for small and limited performance / use and embedded systems. They often don't have compilers on them.

You may be able to untar the files on the system using 

gzip -d tarfile.tar.gz  <---- uncompresses.

or

gunzip tarfile.tar.gz

then

tar -xvf tarfile.tar    <---- extracts the files.

It's possible tar and gzip / gunzip are also not available.

The tar file will have to contain binaries suitable for the system you're putting them on.

If they contain source code, there would be no point putting them on to the Linux device. They will have to be compiled, and for embedded systems that usually means cross compiled. i.e. you would have to have a development environment set up for the embedded Linux somewhere else, and setting up an embedded development environment goes way beyond the scope of this answer.

Colin
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  • Gzip/gunzip are not available. I checked the official site where I got the tar, it does contain source code, so that last paragraph is likely what I'm going to have to do. – Mr. Mojo Risin Dec 06 '19 at 16:45
  • In this case, you're going to have to gather information about the embedded system, and either create from scratch or download an existing development environment (one may already exist) for it which has a cross compiler. This means, you need to know the CPU of the device, the OS version, the libraries *and* library versions that are already installed on it. This is all doable, but is non trivial even for someone very experienced with Linux. You're essentially becoming an embedded Linux developer. – Colin Dec 09 '19 at 14:06