Alpine Linux
| Alpine Linux | |
|---|---|
|
|
| developer | Alpine Linux Development Team |
| License (s) | GPLv2 , MIT , 2-BSD |
| Current version |
3.11.0 from December 20, 2019 (256 days ago) |
| Architecture (s) | x86 , x64 , PPC64 , ARM |
| Languages) | multilingual |
| https://alpinelinux.org | |
Alpine Linux is a Linux distribution based on musl and BusyBox , which was primarily developed for “ power users who value security, simplicity and resource efficiency”. It uses a hardened kernel and compiles all programs in the user space by default as position-independent code with stack smashing protection. A fork of the distribution, postmarketOS, was designed to run on mobile devices.
history
Alpine Linux originally started as a fork of the LEAF project. LEAF members still wanted a Linux distribution that would fit on a single floppy disk, while Alpine Linux developers wanted to include some larger packages such as Squid and Samba , as well as additional security features and a newer kernel. One of the original goals was to create a framework for larger systems; although it is useful for this purpose, it is no longer a primary goal.
Versions
| version | Release date | End-of-life date | Kernel release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 | 2010-08-16 | 2012-04-01 | - |
| 2.1 | 2010-11-01 | 2012-11-01 | - |
| 2.2 | 2011-05-03 | 2013-05-01 | - |
| 2.3 | 2011-11-01 | 2013-11-01 | - |
| 2.4 | 2012-05-02 | 2014-05-01 | - |
| 2.5 | 2012-11-07 | 2014-11-01 | - |
| 2.6 | 2013-05-17 | 2015-05-01 | - |
| 2.7 | 2013-11-08 | 2015-11-01 | - |
| 3.0 | 2014-06-04 | 2016-05-01 | - |
| 3.1 | 2014-12-10 | 2016-11-01 | - |
| 3.2 | 2015-05-26 | 2017-05-01 | 3.18.xx |
| 3.3 | 2016-01-06 | 2017-11-01 | 4.1.xx |
| 3.4 | 2016-05-31 | 2018-05-01 | 4.4.xx |
| 3.5 | 2016-12-22 | 2018-11-01 | 4.4.xx |
| 3.6 | 2017-05-24 | 2019-05-01 | 4.9.xx |
| 3.7 | 2017-11-30 | 2019-11-01 | 4.9.xx |
| 3.8 | 2018-06-26 | 2020-05-01 | 4.14.xx |
| 3.9 | 2019-01-29 | 2021-01-01 | 4.19.xx |
| 3.10 | 2019-06-19 | 2021-05-01 | 4.19.xx |
| 3.11 | 2019-12-20 | 2021-11-01 | 5.4.xx |
| 3.12 | 2020-05-29 | 2022-05-01 | 5.4.xx |
| edge | rolling | - | - |
Legend:
Older version; no longer supported
Older version; still supported
Current version
Current preliminary version
Future version
properties
- Package management
- Alpine uses its own package management system, apk-tools, which was originally a collection of shell scripts but was later rewritten in C. Alpine currently includes the most popular packages such as GNOME, Xfce, Firefox and others.
- From the RAM
- Alpine Linux can be installed as a run-from-RAM distribution. The LBU (Alpine Local Backup) tool optionally allows all configuration files to be backed up in an APK overlay file (usually abbreviated as apkovl), a tar.gz file that by default
/etcsaves a copy of all changed files in (with the option to add more Add directories). This enables Alpine to work reliably in demanding embedded environments or to survive (partial) partial hard drive failures as sometimes occur in public cloud environments. - safety
- A hardened kernel is included in the standard Alpine Linux kernel, which helps to reduce the effects of exploits and vulnerabilities. All packets are also compiled with stack burst protection to reduce the impact of userland buffer overflows.
- Networking
- Alpine Linux is the only distribution that includes patches by default that enable the use of efficient meshed VPNs with the DMVPN standard.
- Virtualization
- Alpine Linux has reliably supported Xen hypervisors in current versions, which avoids problems that occur with enterprise distributions. (The standard Linux hypervisor KVM is also available.)
- size
- The base system in Alpine Linux is only 4–5 MB in size (without the kernel). This enables very small Linux containers, approx. 8 MB in size, while a minimal installation on hard disk is possible (approx. 130 MB). The Linux kernel is much larger. The 3.18.16 kernel contains 121 MB of loadable kernel modules (mostly drivers) in addition to the 3.3 MB for the base x86-64 kernel image.
- Alpine Configuration Framework (ACF)
- Optionally, ACF is an application for configuring an Alpine Linux machine with goals similar to Debian Debconf . It is a standard framework based on simple Lua scripts.
- C standard library
- Alpine Linux previously used uClibc instead of the most widely used traditional GNU C library (glibc). While it is lighter, it has the major drawback of being binary incompatible with glibc. Hence, all software must be compiled for use with uClibc in order for it to function properly. On April 9, 2014, Alpine Linux switched to musl , which is partially binary compatible with glibc.
- Init system
- The simple and lightweight OpenRC is the init system currently used by Alpine Linux. Unlike Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, Arch Linux, and CentOS distributions of Linux, Alpine doesn't use systemd .
Web links
- official website
- Official Wiki
- Paul Krill: Hardened Node.js distro comes to Docker-friendly Alpine Linux. Computerworld.com.au. April 18, 2017, accessed December 31, 2017 .
- Paul Krill: Container-friendly Alpine Linux may get Java port. Infoworld.com. February 24, 2017, accessed December 31, 2017 .
- Kristian Kißling: Alpine-Linux 3.0.0 with Musl Libc. Linux magazine . June 5, 2014, accessed December 31, 2017 .
- Adrian Bridgwater: Alpine Linux is an OS at a new peak of binary packaging. Computerweekly.com. May 25, 2017, accessed December 31, 2017 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Shiz ...: Alpine License information. June 14, 2017, accessed January 8, 2019 .
- ↑ www.alpinelinux.org . 20th December 2019.
- ↑ https://alpinelinux.org/about/
- ↑ linux.leaf.devel - Re: [leaf-devel 2.6.x kernel support? - msg # 00039 - Recent Discussion OSDir.com] . Archived from the original on May 14, 2016.
- ↑ https://alpinelinux.org/posts/ Alpine Linux News archive
- ↑ https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_Linux:Releases Alpine Linux: Releases