Alpine Linux
small. simple. secure.
musl libc, BusyBox, OpenRC init

Install in Quick Mode

Boot from the installation medium, log in as root, and run the setup script with option -q

$ setup-alpine -q

Install to disk

$ setup-disk -m sys

Reboot

Custom Partitioning

Run the setup script until Disk & Install and stop right there (Ctrl+c)

$ setup-alpine

Install to disk without creating the swap partition

$ setup-disk -m sys -s 0 /dev/sda

or no swap and also set /boot size (in MB, default 300)

$ export SWAP_SIZE=0

$ export BOOT_SIZE=500

$ setup-disk -m sys

Single partition setup ➔ https://github.com/wizetek/alpine

Post-Installation System Configuration

Base system

$ setup-keymap

$ setup-timezone

$ setup-interfaces

$ setup-ntp

Host name

$ setup-hostname

$ hostname -F /etc/hostname

Root and user accounts and passwords

$ passwd

$ setup-user -a

Option -a adds user to admin group wheel and installs doas

Secure Shell access (SSH)

$ setup-sshd

Note: There is no sudo. Alpine Linux uses doas by default.

Essentials

Enable community repo

$ setup-apkrepos

Select (c) Community repo enable or edit /etc/apk/repositories and uncomment the corresponding line.

Install man pages

$ apk add docs

Package docs is a metapackage that pulls in mandoc.

Install compatibility layer to run glibc binaries

$ apk add gcompat

Note: glibc is typically used by proprietary / binary-only software, like NVIDIA drivers. Sometimes such applications are available as Flatpaks which can run on musl systems.

GNU-like Setup

Core utilities

$ apk add coreutils

Linux utilities

$ apk add util-linux

Search utilities

$ apk add findutils grep

Bash shell

$ apk add bash bash-completion

Hardware management

$ apk add pciutils usbutils hwdata

Disk management

$ apk add udisks2

Network management

$ apk add iproute2

Build environment

$ apk add build-base

GUI

Set up desktop environment

$ setup-desktop

or just a window manager

$ apk add icewm

Install fonts

$ apk add font-terminus font-inconsolata font-dejavu font-noto font-noto-cjk font-awesome font-noto-extra

Add sound server and related tools

$ apk add pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa wireplumber pavucontrol

Set up device manager (eudev is a drop-in replacement for systemd udev)

$ setup-devd udev

***

The following services get automatically installed by setup-desktop but may still need to be added to the default runlevel via rc-update

D-Bus

$ apk add dbus dbus-x11

$ rc-update add dbus

$ rc-service dbus start

elogind

$ apk add elogind

$ rc-update add elogind

$ rc-service elogind start

polkit

$ apk add polkit-elogind

$ rc-update add polkit

$ rc-service polkit start

Start login manager

$ rc-service lightdm start

Package Management

Alpine Package Keeper (apk)

Search for a package name

$ apk search vim

and show description too

$ apk search -v vim

Search for exact match (-e or -x or --exact)

$ apk search -e vim

Search in description (--description)

$ apk search -d vim

Search reverse dependencies / required by (--rdepends)

$ apk search -r gvim

Add (install)

$ apk add vim

or manually edit package list

$ vim /etc/apk/world

$ apk fix

Delete (remove/uninstall)

$ apk del vim

and recursively delete dependencies

$ apk del -r vim

Fix (reinstall)

$ apk fix vim

and also fix dependencies (--depends)

$ apk fix -d vim

Update package list and upgrade all packages

$ apk update

$ apk upgrade

or both actions combined

$ apk -U upgrade

Upgrade specific package(s)

$ apk upgrade vim screen mc htop nmap

or

$ apk add -u vim

Prevent package upgrade

$ apk add 'vim=9.1.1415-r0'

or

$ apk add 'vim<9.1.1415'

then allow upgrading later

$ apk add 'vim>9.1.1415'

Ask for confirmation (--interactive)

$ apk -i upgrade

Do not make any changes (--simulate)

$ apk -s upgrade

Remove old packages from cache

$ apk cache clean

List all packages (show license and installation status by default)

$ apk list

List specific package(s)

$ apk list vim

and also show description

$ apk list -v vim

List upgradable packages

$ apk list -u

but do not show license and status (--quiet)

$ apk list -u -q

or

$ apk version

List installed packages

$ apk list -I

List orphaned packages

$ apk list -O

Show installed packages

$ apk info

and show version information

$ apk info -v

and include version and description

$ apk info -vv

Show "required by" reverse dependencies (--rdepends)

$ apk info -r xxd

Show "depends on" package dependencies (--depends)

$ apk info -R vim

Show "contains" – files provided by package (--contents)

$ apk info -L vim

Show "is owned by" – which package owns the specific file (--who-owns)

$ apk info -W /etc/rc.conf

Show all information about package (--all)

$ apk info -a vim

Show statistics about all packages

$ apk stats

Switch From Stable To Rolling

Edit /etc/apk/repositories to change version to edge and optionally add the testing repository.

#/media/cdrom/apks

http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main

http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community

http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing

Upgrade with confirmation

$ apk -U -i upgrade

Note: Packages in testing are user-contributed, are only built for edge and have no support (staging only).

OpenRC Init System

Start, stop, restart, status of services

$ rc-service sshd start

$ rc-service lightdm stop

$ rc-service networking restart

$ rc-service networking status

Add, delete services

$ rc-update add sshd

$ rc-update delete sshd

Show all services and their corresponding runlevels

$ rc-update show

include all services, even without runlevel

$ rc-update show -v

Show services at specific runlevel

$ rc-update show default

$ rc-update show boot

View active runlevel and services

$ rc-status

List runlevels

$ rc-status -l

Change runlevel

$ openrc single

$ openrc default