Alpine Linux: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:20, 30 November 2023

Revision as of 15:52, 3 December 2023

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'''Alpine Linux''' is a [[Linux distribution]] designed to be small, simple, and secure.<ref name="about">{{Cite web |title=about &#124; Alpine Linux |url=https://alpinelinux.org/about/ |website=alpinelinux.org}}</ref> It uses [[musl]], [[BusyBox]], and [[OpenRC]] instead of the more commonly used [[glibc]], [[GNU Core Utilities]], and [[systemd]].<ref name="linuxbsdos">{{Cite web|url=https://linuxbsdos.com/2010/08/23/alpine-linux-2-review/|title=Alpine Linux 2 review &#124; LinuxBSDos.com|first=GigaTux|last=says|date=24 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="softpedia">[https://news.softpedia.com/news/security-oriented-alpine-linux-3-7-has-uefi-support-grub-support-in-installer-518820.shtml Security-Oriented Alpine Linux 3.7 Has UEFI Support, GRUB Support in Installer], ''Softpedia News''</ref><ref name="fossbytes">[https://fossbytes.com/secure-linux-distros-privacy-anonymity/ 10 Most Secure Linux Distros For Complete Privacy & Anonymity | 2017 Edition], ''FossBytes''</ref><ref name="networkworld">{{Cite web|url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/3031762/is-docker-ditching-ubuntu-linux-confusion-reigns.html|title=Is Docker ditching Ubuntu Linux? Confusion reigns|first=Katherine|last=Noyes|date=9 February 2016|website=Network World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=OpenRC - Alpine Linux |url=https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/OpenRC |website=wiki.alpinelinux.org}}</ref> This makes Alpine one of few Linux distributions not to be based on [[GNU]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Alpine Linux? {{!}} Definition from TechTarget |url=https://www.techtarget.com/searchitoperations/definition/Alpine-Linux |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=IT Operations |language=en}}</ref>

For security, Alpine compiles all [[user space|user-space]] binaries as [[position-independent executable]]s with [[stack-smashing protection]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alpine Linux official website under Secure section. |url=https://alpinelinux.org/about/ |url-status=live |website=https://alpinelinux.org/}}</ref>

Because of its small size and rapid startup, it is commonly used in [[Operating-system-level virtualization|containers]] providing quick boot-up times,<ref name="thenewstack">{{Cite web|url=https://thenewstack.io/alpine-linux-heart-docker/|title=Meet Alpine Linux, Docker's Distribution of Choice for Containers|date=28 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="infoworld">{{Cite web|url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/3206644/review-alpine-linux-is-made-for-docker.html|title=Review: Alpine Linux is made for Docker|date=10 July 2017|website=InfoWorld}}</ref> on [[virtual machine]]s as well as on real hardware in [[Embedded system|embedded devices]], such as [[Router (computing)|routers]], [[Server (computing)|servers]] and [[Network-attached storage|NAS]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

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== Criticism ==

Alpine Linux is mainly criticized for compatibility issues with the musl library,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hub.docker.com/_/python |title=Python – Docker Official Image |accessdate=November 4, 2023 |work=Docker Hub |quote="The main caveat to note is that it does use musl libc instead of glibc and friends, so software will often run into issues depending on the depth of their libc requirements/assumptions." }}</ref><ref name="Syazwan"/> as well as for package pinning issues.<ref name="Syazwan">{{cite web |url=https://dev.to/asyazwan/moving-away-from-alpine-30n4 |title=Moving away from Alpine |first=Ahmad |last=Syazwan |date=February 16, 2019 |work=dev.to }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://stschindler.medium.com/the-problem-with-docker-and-alpines-package-pinning-18346593e891 |title=The problem with Docker and Alpine’sAlpine's package pinning |first=Stefan |last=Schindler |work=Medium |date=March 23, 2018 }}</ref>

==References==