Software management

2024-08-25T00:06:47Z

Manoel: GlibMus-HQ!

If you want to run [https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/ glibc] programs in Alpine Linux, there are a few ways of doing so. You can install the [https://git.adelielinux.org/adelie/gcompat gcompat] compatibility layer, you can install glibc alongside [https://musl.libc.org/ musl] (manually, as it isn't packaged), or you could do it the easy way and use either Flatpak (the easiest), containers or a chroot.<br>

Because there are different use cases, this is just a slight overview about what's possible and what's sensible.<br>

= Your options =

== gcompat ==

gcompat is the go-to compatibility layer for Alpine users.

{{cmd|apk add {{pkg|gcompat}}}}

After that you run your binaries as normal.

== GlibMus-HQ ==

GlibMus-HQ is the go-to compatibility layer for Alpine users. Made in C++, it offers enhanced compatibility.

Before running the shell script, ensure you have the necessary dependencies: sudo and bash. Install them with the following command:

{{cmd|apk add {{pkg|sudo bash git}}}}

Next, clone the repository, navigate to the directory, make the script executable, and run it:

{{cmd|git clone https://gitlab.com/manoel-linux1/GlibMus-HQ.git
cd GlibMus-HQ
chmod a+x compile-your_arch-alpine-linux.sh
./compile-your_arch-alpine-linux.sh}}

After completing these steps, you can run your binaries as usual.

To update GlibMus-HQ, simply repeat the installation steps.

== Flatpak ==

Flatpak is by far the easiest method of running any graphical glibc program on Alpine.
Firstly install it.

{{cmd|apk add {{pkg|flatpak}}}}

Then you can run any Flatpak application:

{{cmd|flatpak run <flatpak name>}}

It is recommended to enable [https://flathub.org Flathub] using its instructions [https://flatpak.org/setup/Alpine/ here], as most glibc programs you might need will be packaged there.

You can then install applications from it, for example:

{{cmd|flatpak install com.valvesoftware.Steam}}

== Chroot ==

An option that's easier to generalize to other glibc applications is installing a glibc-based distribution into a chroot. You can then either chroot into it, or use a symlink and some configuration to make its glibc (and associated libraries) usable from Alpine.

After setting up a chroot using any of the methods described below, the loader can be set up in Alpine like so (these instructions are for a Debian chroot in /var/chroots/debian, on x86_64, but can be adapted to other systems by using the appropriate paths):

{{cmd|mkdir -p /lib64
ln -s /var/chroots/debian/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ld-2.33.so /lib64
printf '/var/chroots/debian/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu\n/var/chroots/debian/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu\n' > /etc/ld.so.conf
/var/chroots/debian/sbin/ldconfig}}

=== Gentoo Linux ===

Select a stage3 from [https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/ here] and portage latest from [https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/mirrors/ here] at gentoo/snapshots/portage-latest.tar.xz.

First,

{{cmd|doas apk add {{pkg|xz}}}}

Enter the chroot:
{{cmd|mkdir ~/chroot
cd ~/chroot
tar -xvf stage3-*.tar.xz
tar -xvf portage-latest.tar.xz
mv portage usr
doas mount --bind /dev dev
doas mount --bind /sys sys
doas mount -t proc proc proc
cp /etc/resolv.conf etc
doas chroot . /bin/bash}}

And voilà, you have your working Gentoo chroot!<br>

You can now take a look at [https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:Main_Page Gentoo's Handbook] to find out how you can configure and install your system, or simply extract/copy the program you need to run in your chroot enviroment and execute it.

Here is a wrapper script that is similar to <code>arch-chroot</code> when you frequently reuse this chroot:

Also, create an account with the same user name as host current user to the chroot or make changes to the userspec option to chroot line.

{{Cat|gentoo-chroot.sh|<nowiki>!/bin/bash
CHROOT_PATH="/home/$USER/chroot"
cd $CHROOT_PATH
mount | grep $CHROOT_PATH/dev || doas mount --bind /dev dev
mount | grep $CHROOT_PATH/sys || doas mount --bind /sys sys
mount | grep $CHROOT_PATH/proc || doas mount -t proc proc proc
cp /etc/resolv.conf etc
doas chroot --userspec=$USER:users . /bin/bash
echo "You must manually unmount $CHROOT_PATH/dev, $CHROOT_PATH/sys, $CHROOT_PATH/proc."
</nowiki>
}}

Do at <code>chmod +x gentoo-chroot.sh</code> to get it to work.

=== Arch Linux ===

Either use '''pacstrap''' (included with the arch-install-scripts package) or an Arch bootstrap image:

{{cmd|doas apk add {{pkg|arch-install-scripts}}
mkdir ~/chroot && cd ~/chroot
curl -O https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/archlinux/iso/latest/archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz
doas tar xzf archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz && rm archlinux-bootstrap-x86_64.tar.gz
doas sed -i '/evowise/s/^#//' root.x86_64/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
doas sed -i '/CheckSpace/s/^/#/' root.x86_64/etc/pacman.conf
doas arch-chroot root.x86_64
[chroot]# pacman-key --init
[chroot]# pacman-key --populate archlinux}}

Once that is done, update the system and install the desired package(s) (denoted by ''"foo"'' in this example):

{{cmd|[chroot]# pacman -Syu ''foo''}}

=== Debian ===
{{todo|gresec referencs need to be cleanly removed from this section.}}
Use the provided debootstrap package to create the Debian chroot. <code>--arch</code> is optional, depending of your needs.

On the '''linux-grsec''' kernel, you will need to relax chroot limitations:

sudo apk add debootstrap
for i in /proc/sys/kernel/grsecurity/chroot_*; do echo 0 | sudo tee $i; done
mkdir ~/chroot
sudo debootstrap --arch=i386 wheezy ~/chroot https://deb.debian.org/debian/
for i in /proc/sys/kernel/grsecurity/chroot_*; do echo 1 | sudo tee $i; done
sudo chroot ~/chroot /bin/bash

You can now use <code>apt-get</code> to install needed packages.

== Containers ==

It's also possible to use Docker or Podman containers with a helper like Distrobox. This allows using graphical programs easily and doesn't require root privileges once set up.

{{cmd|# apk add {{pkg|distrobox}}}}

=== Distrobox + Podman ===

{{cmd|# apk add {{pkg|podman}}}}

Then set up rootless Podman, following [[Podman|these steps]].
You'll need to mount your root as shared for Distrobox to function.

Fill in {{path|/etc/local.d/mount-rshared.start}} like so:

{{cmd|#!/bin/sh
mount --make-rshared /}}

Mark it as executable.

{{cmd|# chmod +x /etc/local.d/mount-rshared.start}}

Then autostart its service.

{{cmd|# rc-update add local default
# rc-service local start}}

Finally you can create a container using your chosen image.

{{cmd|$ distrobox create --image debian --name debian
$ distrobox enter debian}}

It may also be necessary to allow X authorization for GUI programs to work.

{{cmd|$ xhost +si:localuser:$USER}}

== Chroot + Bubblewrap ==

It's also possible to use a Debian system chroot with Bubblewrap. This allows running programs without root.

{{cmd|# apk add bubblewrap debootstrap
# mkdir -p /var/chroots/debian
# debootstrap --arch amd64 stable /var/chroots/debian/ https://deb.debian.org/debian}}

Finally we can make an alias for bwrap.

{{cmd|$ alias glibc{{=}}"LANG{{=}}en_US.UTF-8 bwrap --bind /var/chroots/debian / --dev-bind /dev /dev --proc /proc --bind /sys /sys --bind /run /run --bind /home /home --ro-bind /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf --ro-bind /etc/passwd /etc/passwd --ro-bind /etc/group /etc/group"}}

To run programs that use X11/Xorg you can use:
{{cmd|$ alias glibcX11{{=}}"LANG{{=}}en_US.UTF-8 bwrap --bind /var/chroots/debian / --dev-bind /dev /dev --proc /proc --bind /sys /sys --bind /run /run --bind /home /home --ro-bind /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf --ro-bind /etc/passwd /etc/passwd --ro-bind /etc/group /etc/group --bind /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 --setenv DISPLAY :0"}}

In this case you might need to use xhost to allow local connections, e.g.:
{{cmd|# xhost + local:}}

Now we can invoke glibc-built binaries like so:
{{cmd|$ glibc ./binary}} or {{cmd|$ glibcX11 ./binary}}

For updating the Chroot or installing dependencies we can mount it and then login as root:
{{cmd|# mount --bind /dev /var/chroots/debian/dev
# mount --bind /proc /var/chroots/debian/proc
# chroot /var/chroots/debian /bin/bash
# apt update && apt upgrade}}

After installing what you might want to umount the binds for dev and proc to avoid issues.
{{cmd|# umount /var/chroots/debian/dev}}
{{cmd|# umount /var/chroots/debian/proc}}

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