Bootstrapping Alpine Linux: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:31, 23 February 2025

This page provides the instructions to bootstrap Alpine Linux on any VPS.

Prerequisite

Download apk binary file for your architecture or boot from an Alpine live ISO.

$ wget https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/api/v4/projects/5/packages/generic/v2.14.6/x86_64/apk.static

Assuming your alpine rootfs is mounted in /tmp/target and you downloaded apk binary (not using the live ISO).

Installation

You may want to replace "latest-stable" from the URL by a specific version of Alpine (e.g. v3.20, v3.21).

sudo ./apk.static --arch $(arch) -X https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/main/ -U --allow-untrusted --root /tmp/target --initdb add alpine-base

edit /tmp/target/etc/fstab
edit /tmp/target/etc/inittab
edit /tmp/target/etc/resolv.conf
mount proc/sys/dev

for a in proc sys dev; do mount -o bind /$a /tmp/target/$a; done

chroot into your new installation

chroot /tmp/target /bin/sh

setup hostname

setup-hostname

setup network

setup-interfaces

setup repos

setup-apkrepos -f

add a few base packages

apk update
apk add linux-lts linux-firmware-none acpi mkinitfs

add services to boot

rc-update add acpid default
rc-update add bootmisc boot
rc-update add crond default
rc-update add devfs sysinit
rc-update add dmesg sysinit
rc-update add hostname boot
rc-update add hwclock boot
rc-update add hwdrivers sysinit
rc-update add killprocs shutdown
rc-update add mdev sysinit
rc-update add modules boot
rc-update add mount-ro shutdown
rc-update add networking boot
rc-update add savecache shutdown
rc-update add seedrng boot
rc-update add swap boot

Bootloader

If you have bootstrapped Alpine Linux from an existing system in a different partition and intend to boot into it, you should always include the root filesystem type (rootfstype) in the kernel parameter (bootloader option), since by default kernel does not automatically load any filesystem modules for root partition, unless specified. That way mount will not complain about being unable to mount root partition on /sysroot.

Example bootloader option:

root=UUID=AAAAAAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD-EEEEEEEEEEEE rw rootfstype=ext4 vfat

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+This page provides the instructions to bootstrap Alpine Linux on any [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server VPS].
+== Prerequisite ==
-= VPS =
+Download apk binary file for your architecture or boot from an Alpine live ISO. {{Cmd|$ wget https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/api/v4/projects/5/packages/generic/v2.14.6/x86_64/apk.static}}
-This section is to provide a means to bootstrap Alpine Linux on any VPS.
-== Process ==
+Assuming your alpine rootfs is mounted in '''/tmp/target''' and you downloaded apk binary (not using the live ISO).
-=== Prepare ===
-<ol>
-<li>Download apk-tools-static for your architecture.</li>
-<pre>wget https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/api/v4/projects/5/packages/generic/v2.14.0/x86_64/apk.static</pre>
-<li>Unpack .apk</li>
+== Installation ==
-<pre>tar zxf apk-tools-static-*.apk</pre>
-</ol>
+You may want to replace "latest-stable" from the URL by a specific version of Alpine (e.g. v3.20, v3.21).
-=== Install ===
+<code>sudo ./apk.static --arch $(arch) -X https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/main/ -U --allow-untrusted --root /tmp/target --initdb add alpine-base</code>
-Assuming your alpine rootfs is mounted in '''/tmp/target'''
-<code>sudo ./sbin/apk.static --arch $(arch) -X http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/main/ -U --allow-untrusted --root /tmp/target --initdb add alpine-base</code>
 * edit /tmp/target/etc/fstab
@@ Line 58: / Line 49: @@
 </pre>
-=== Bootloader ===
+== Bootloader ==
-=== Notes ===
+If you have bootstrapped Alpine Linux from an existing system in a different partition and intend to boot into it, you should always include the root filesystem type (rootfstype) in the kernel parameter (bootloader option), since by default kernel does not automatically load any filesystem modules for root partition, unless specified. That way mount will not complain about being unable to mount root partition on /sysroot.
-If you have bootstrapped Alpine Linux from an existing system in a different partition and intend to boot into it, you should always include the filesystem module in the kernel parameter (bootloader option), since by default kernel does not automatically load any filesystem modules, unless specified. That way mount will not complain about being unable to mount root partition on /sysroot.
 Example bootloader option:
@@ Line 67: / Line 57: @@
 <code>root=UUID=AAAAAAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD-EEEEEEEEEEEE rw rootfstype=ext4 vfat</code>
-== References ==
+== See also ==
 * [https://www.linode.com/docs/tools-reference/custom-kernels-distros/running-a-custom-linux-distro-on-a-linode-vps Running a Custom Linux Distribution on a Linode]
 * [https://www.linode.com/docs/tools-reference/custom-kernels-distros/run-a-custom-compiled-kernel-with-pvgrub Run a Custom Compiled Kernel with PV-GRUB]
 * [[Replacing non-Alpine Linux with Alpine remotely]]
 * [[Install Alpine on Amazon EC2]]
-* [[Install Alpine on coLinux]]
-* [[Install Alpine on Rackspace]]
 * [[Alpine setup scripts]]
 * [https://serverfault.com/questions/98950/how-do-i-chain-boot-from-grub-to-syslinux How do I chain boot from grub to syslinux?]