How to get regular stuff working: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:31, 3 March 2025

Alpine Linux is built around Musl libc and BusyBox. This makes it small and very resource efficient. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options and hence missing some extended functionality. This page explains how to get the regular utilities working as found in GNU/Linux distributions.

Core utilities

Most of the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities commonly grouped under Core Utilities are provided by BusyBox. To replace it with original coreutils package:

# apk add coreutils

Util-linux

A set of approximately 100 basic Linux system utilities not included in GNU Core Utilities, such as mount, cfdisk, more, lsblk and kill are maintained under Util-linux. The util-linux package is split into multiple subpackages, so it is possible to install only some of them individually. To have the complete util-linux package:

# apk add util-linux

The full featured file pager utility less can be installed from the less package.

Search utilities

Standard search tools grep and find can be installed by installing the packages grep and findutils as follows:

# apk add grep findutils

Bash shell

The default shell used by Alpine Linux is the busybox variant of the ash shell. To install bash shell:

# apk add bash bash-completion

Hardware Management

Install pciutils and usbutils for identifying and configuring PCI and USB hardware using the full featured version of lspci and lsusb commands respectively.

# apk add pciutils usbutils

The packages hwdata-pci and hwdata-usb are dependencies for the above utilities and they are installed automatically. These packages can be removed once the hardware configuration has been completed.

Disk Management

Managing (removable) disks is much easier with udisks.

# apk add udisks2

To see the mounted disks:

# udisksctl status

Network Management

For network, you may want to install iproute2.

# apk add iproute2

Subpackages and missing functionality

When a package is installed in Alpine Linux, no assumption is made on what features the user wants, so subpackages are not installed by default. The user might get a false impression of missing functionality. Alpine Linux package database page shows the list of available subpackages.

For eg: NetworkManager, a popular network configuration tool is split into 20+ subpackages based on features. If the user installs networkmanager package or network-manager-applet only the NetworkManager utility and the applet will get installed. To manage Wifi networks or to use commands like nmcli and nmtui the user is expected to add the required subpackages networkmanager-wifi, networkmanager-cli and networkmanager-tui respectively.

In other Linux distributions when NetworkManager is installed, all the above features plus bluetooth, adsl, wwan, vpn, l2tp, ppp etc are automatically installed along with their dependencies.

Development environment

Compiling in Alpine Linux may be more challenging because it uses musl-libc instead of glibc. The build-base meta package provides regular compiler stuff such as binutils, gcc, g++, make etc..

# apk add build-base

The alpine-sdk meta package is provided to build packages for Alpine Linux. It includes abuild, build-base, and git.

# apk add alpine-sdk

To install CMake:

# apk add cmake extra-cmake-modules

ccache and a lot other tools are also available in Alpine Linux.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== Man pages ==
+Alpine Linux is built around [[Musl]] libc and [[BusyBox]]. This makes it small and very resource efficient. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options and hence missing some extended functionality. This page explains how to get the regular utilities working as found in GNU/Linux distributions.
-Not all man-pages are in Alpine, but this will get you most of the way there:
+== Core utilities ==
+{{Main|GNU core utilities}}
-    '''apk add mandoc man-pages mdocml-apropos less less-doc'''
+Most of the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities commonly grouped under [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GNU_Core_Utilities_commands Core Utilities] are provided by [[BusyBox]]. To replace it with original {{pkg|coreutils}} package:{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|coreutils}}}}
-    '''export PAGER=less'''
-The above only provides ''core'' man pages. Other packages typically don't include their own man pages (nor other documentation). Rather, they provide an associated package that carries such stuff. For example:
+== Util-linux ==
-    $ '''apk add curl'''
+A set of approximately 100 basic Linux system utilities not included in GNU Core Utilities, such as <code>mount</code>, <code>cfdisk</code>, <code>more</code>, <code>lsblk</code> and <code>kill</code> are maintained under [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Util-linux Util-linux]. The {{pkg|util-linux}} package is split into multiple subpackages, so it is possible to install only some of them individually. To have the complete {{pkg|util-linux}} package:{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|util-linux}}}}
-    $ '''man curl'''
-    man: No entry for curl in the manual.
-    $ '''apropos curl | wc -l'''
-    <span style="color: green;">''After adding curl, there are no man pages''</span>
-    $ '''apk add curl-doc'''
-    (1/1) Installing curl-doc (7.52.1-r2)
-    Executing mdocml-apropos-1.13.3-r6.trigger
-    OK: 60 MiB in 31 packages
-    $ '''apropos curl | wc -l'''
-  <span style="color: green;">''Now, with curl-doc installed, there's a boatload of pages!''</span>
-'''NOTE:''' Not all packages separate out their documentation, but it is the ''Alpine Way'' (e.g. small footprint). Some packages don't provide any installable documentation at all, neither within themselves nor an associated doc packages. Further, appending "-doc" is merely a convention. In fact, the core man documentations are in man-pages (as in the ''apk add ...'' command, above). To find the right documentation package, try something like:
+The full featured file pager utility <code>less</code> can be installed from the {{pkg|less}} package.
-    $ '''apk search gcc | grep ^gcc'''
+== Search utilities  ==
-    gcc-objc-5.3.0-r0
-    gcc-gnat-5.3.0-r0
-    gcc-5.3.0-r0
-    gcc-java-5.3.0-r0
-    gcc-doc-5.3.0-r0    <span style="color: green;">''Here it is!''</span>
-'''FINALLY:''' If you're wondering why I've added ''less'' (and ''less-doc''), it's because ''man'' doesn't work correctly with ''more'' (the default pager). Don't fret too much about bloating up Alpine, though - adding man pages has a bigger footprint than less (''"less is more than man"???'')
+Standard search tools <code>grep</code> and <code>find</code> can be installed by installing the packages {{pkg|grep}} and {{pkg|findutils}} as follows:{{Cmd|# apk add  {{pkg|grep}} {{pkg|findutils}} }}
-== Operational hints ==
+== Bash shell ==
+{{Main|Change default shell}}
+The default shell used by Alpine Linux is the busybox variant of the [[BusyBox#Ash_shell|ash shell]]. To install {{pkg|bash}} shell: {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|bash}} {{pkg|bash-completion}}}}
-==== Shell @ commandline ====
+== Hardware Management ==
-Alpine comes with busybox by default.  Busybox is an endpoint for numerous symlinks for various utilities. Though busybox is not that bad, the commands are impaired in functionality.
+Install {{pkg|pciutils}} and {{pkg|usbutils}} for identifying and configuring PCI and USB hardware using the full featured version of <code>lspci</code> and <code>lsusb</code> commands respectively. {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|pciutils}} {{pkg|usbutils}}}}
-* Funny characters at the console
+The packages {{pkg|hwdata-pci}} and {{pkg|hwdata-usb}} are dependencies for the above utilities and they are installed automatically. These packages can be removed once the hardware configuration has been completed.
-Edit the file at {{Path|/etc/rc.conf}} and change line 92 to:
-  unicode="YES"
-* Bash
+== Disk Management ==
-It is easy enough to have bash installed, but this does not mean the symlinks to busybox are gone.
-Install bash with:
+Managing (removable) disks is much easier with udisks. {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|udisks2}}}}
-   apk add bash bash-doc bash-completion
-* Shell utilities (things like grep, [[awk]], ls are all busybox symlinks)
+To see the mounted disks:{{Cmd|# udisksctl status}}
-   apk add util-linux pciutils usbutils coreutils binutils findutils grep
-* /etc/{shadow,group} manipulation requires
+== Network Management ==
-   apk add shadow
-==== Disk Management ====
+For network, you may want to install {{pkg|iproute2}}. {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|iproute2}}}}
-Disk management is so much easier with udisks or udisks2
+== Subpackages and missing functionality  ==
-Installation
+When a package is installed in Alpine Linux, no assumption is made on what features the user wants, so [[Alpine_Package_Keeper#Subpackages|subpackages]] are not installed by default. The user might get a false impression of missing functionality. Alpine Linux [https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org package database] page shows the list of available subpackages.
-   apk add udisks2 udisks2-doc
+For eg: [https://networkmanager.dev/ NetworkManager], a popular network configuration tool is split into 20+ subpackages based on features. If the user installs {{pkg|networkmanager}} package or {{pkg|network-manager-applet}} only the NetworkManager utility and the applet will get installed. To manage Wifi networks or to use commands like <Code>nmcli</Code> and <Code>nmtui</Code> the user is expected to add the required subpackages {{pkg|networkmanager-wifi}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-cli}} and {{pkg|networkmanager-tui}} respectively.
-See the mounted disks
+In other Linux distributions when NetworkManager is installed, all the above features plus bluetooth, adsl, wwan, vpn, l2tp, ppp etc are automatically installed along with their dependencies.
-   udisksctl status
+== Development environment ==
-== Compiling : a few notes and a reminder  ==
+Compiling in Alpine Linux may be more challenging because it uses [https://musl.libc.org/ musl-libc] instead of glibc. The {{pkg|build-base}} meta package provides regular compiler stuff such as {{pkg|binutils}}, {{pkg|gcc}}, {{pkg|g++}}, {{pkg|make}} etc..
-Compiling in Alpine may be more challenging because it uses [http://www.musl-libc.org/ musl-libc] instead of glibc. Please review [http://wiki.musl-libc.org/wiki/Functional_differences_from_glibc 'The functional differences with glibc' ] if you think of porting packages or just for the sake of knowing, of course.
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|build-base}}}}
-Alpine offers the regular compiler stuff like gcc and cmake ... possible others
+The {{pkg|alpine-sdk}} meta package is provided to build packages for Alpine Linux.  It includes {{pkg|abuild}}, {{pkg|build-base}}, and {{pkg|git}}.
-==== (unvalidated) apk packages to install so one can start building software ====
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|alpine-sdk}}}}
-   apk add build-base gcc abuild binutils binutils-doc gcc-doc
-==== a complete install for cmake looks like ====
+To install CMake:
-   apk add cmake cmake-doc extra-cmake-modules extra-cmake-modules-doc
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|cmake}} {{pkg|extra-cmake-modules}}}}
-==== ccache is also available ====
+{{pkg|ccache}} and a lot other tools are also available in Alpine Linux.
-   apk add ccache ccache-doc
 [[Category:Installation]]
+[[category: System Administration]]