How to get regular stuff working: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 03:27, 12 April 2026

Alpine Linux is built around musl libc and BusyBox and software packages are thinned out and split into subpackages. This makes it small and very resource efficient. The utilities in BusyBox tend to only implement standard options and lack GNU-specific extensions. This page explains how to get the utilities typically found in GNU/Linux distributions.

Many utilities on this page are provided either by a package containing multiple collected utilities, or through a meta package. The apk info command and its various flags (--provides, --depends, --who-owns, etc) is useful for determining exactly what is provided by what.

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 GNU coreutils package:

# apk add coreutils

Linux utilities

A set of approximately 100 basic Linux system utilities not included in the 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 (see below), so it is possible to install only some of them individually. To have the complete util-linux package:

# apk add util-linux

The standard file pager less is not actually provided by coreutils or util-linux, but rather by the standalone package less.

Subpackages and missing functionality

When a package is installed in Alpine Linux, no assumption is made as to what features the user wants, so subpackages are not installed by default. As such, the user might get a false impression of missing functionality.

For example, the networkmanager package for NetworkManager has 20+ subpackages based on features. If the user installs the networkmanager package, only the NetworkManager utility will get installed. To manage Wi-Fi networks, use commands like nmcli and nmtui, or launch the GTK applet, the user is expected to add the required subpackages networkmanager-wifi, networkmanager-cli, networkmanager-tui, and network-manager-applet respectively.

This is in contrast to many other Linux distributions, where when NetworkManager is installed all the above functionality plus that of networkmanager-bluetooth, networkmanager-adsl, networkmanager-wwan, networkmanager-openvpn, networkmanager-l2tp, networkmanager-ppp, and the like are automatically installed, along with their dependencies.

Search utilities

The standard search tools find and xargs are provided by the findutils package:

# apk add findutils

GNU Grep is available as the grep package. The ripgrep package is also available and provides rg.

Shell management

The default shell used by Alpine Linux is the Busybox variant of the ash shell. This is a POSIX compliant shell. All popular shells are available in Alpine Linux and the default shell can be changed, if desired.

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.

Filesystem support

Alpine supports a variety of filesystems. Support (and tooling) for them may be had through their various packages: dosfstools, exfatprogs, zfs, etc...

Disk management

udisks and GVfs make managing (removable) disks much easier.

# apk add udisks2 gvfs-fuse

Network management

For network, you may want to install iproute2.

# apk add iproute2

Locale and key management

Locales, including keyboards, languages and date and time formats are typically configured with the setup-alpine and like scripts, and within desktop environment settings.

Consult the Compose Key wikipage to create foreign currency symbols, accents and diacritics, endashes (–) and emdashes (—), etc.

Development environment

Compiling codebases in Alpine Linux may be more challenging because it uses musl instead of glibc. The build-base meta package provides regular compiler stuff such as binutils (providing ld, objdump, readelf, etc...), 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

cmake may be desirable to have installed.

# 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| musl libc]] and [[BusyBox]] and software packages are thinned out and split into [[#Subpackages and missing functionality|subpackages]]. This makes it small and very resource efficient. The [[BusyBox#BusyBox applets|utilities in BusyBox]] tend to only implement standard options and lack GNU-specific extensions. This page explains how to get the utilities typically found in GNU/Linux distributions.
-Not all man-pages are in Alpine, those who are are not readily available after installing man and man-pages,
+Many utilities on this page are provided either by a package containing multiple collected utilities, or through a meta package. The [[Alpine Package Keeper|apk info]] command and its various flags (<code>--provides</code>, <code>--depends</code>, <code>--who-owns</code>, etc) is useful for determining exactly what is provided by what.
-you also need to install mdocml-pages to have man pages built at install time. Below is the quick and easy commandline:
-    apk add man man-pages mdocml-pages
+== Core utilities ==
+{{Main|GNU core utilities}}
-== Operational hints ==
+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 GNU {{pkg|coreutils}} package:{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|coreutils}}}}
-==== Shell @ commandline ====
+== Linux utilities ==
-Alpine comes with busybox by default, busybox is and endpoint for numerous symlinks for various utilities. Though busybox is not that bad the commands are impaired in functionality.
+A set of approximately 100 basic Linux system utilities not included in the 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 (see below), 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}}}}
-* Bash
+The standard file pager <code>less</code> is not actually provided by {{pkg|coreutils}} or {{pkg|util-linux}}, but rather by the standalone package {{pkg|less}}.
-It is easy enough to have bash installed but this does not mean the symlinks to busybox are gone
-install bash like
+== Subpackages and missing functionality  ==
-   apk add bash bash-doc bash-completion
+When a package is installed in Alpine Linux, no assumption is made as to what features the user wants, so [[Alpine_Package_Keeper#Subpackages|subpackages]] are not installed by default. As such, the user might get a false impression of missing functionality.
-* shell utils ( things like grep, awk, ls, brctl  ... are all busybox symlinks )
+For example, the {{pkg|networkmanager}} package for [[NetworkManager]] has 20+ subpackages based on features. If the user installs the {{pkg|networkmanager}} package, ''only'' the NetworkManager utility will get installed. To manage Wi-Fi networks, use commands like <code>nmcli</code> and <code>nmtui</code>, or launch the GTK applet, the user is expected to add the required subpackages {{pkg|networkmanager-wifi}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-cli}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-tui}}, and {{pkg|network-manager-applet}} respectively.
-   this should document how to have real utils instead of symlinks to busybox
+This is in contrast to many other Linux distributions, where when NetworkManager is installed all the above functionality plus that of {{pkg|networkmanager-bluetooth}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-adsl}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-wwan}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-openvpn}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-l2tp}}, {{pkg|networkmanager-ppp}}, and the like are automatically installed, along with their dependencies.
-==== Disk Management ====
+== Search utilities  ==
-Disk management is soo much easier with udisks or udisks2
+The standard search tools <code>find</code> and <code>xargs</code> are provided by the {{pkg|findutils}} package:{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|findutils}}}}
-Installation
+GNU Grep is available as the {{pkg|grep}} package. The {{pkg|ripgrep}} package is also available and provides <code>rg</code>.
-   apk add udisks2 udisks2-doc
+== Shell management ==
+{{Main|Shell management}}
+The default shell used by Alpine Linux is the Busybox variant of the [[Shell_management#Ash_shell|ash shell]]. This is a POSIX compliant shell. All popular shells are available in Alpine Linux and the [[Shell_management#Change_default_shell|default shell can be changed]], if desired.
-See the mounted disks
+== Hardware management ==
-   udisksctl status
+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}}}}
-== Compiling : a few notes and a reminder  ==
+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.
-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.
+== Filesystem support ==
+{{Main|Filesystems}}
-Alpine offers the regular compiler stuff like gcc and cmake ... possible others
+Alpine supports [[Filesystems#Overview|a variety of filesystems]]. Support (and tooling) for them may be had through their various packages: {{pkg|dosfstools}}, {{pkg|exfatprogs}}, {{pkg|zfs}}, etc...
-==== (unvalidated) apk packages to install so one can start building software ====
+== Disk management ==
-   apk add build-base gcc abuild
+{{Main|File management}}
-==== a complete install for cmake looks like ====
+[[File management#Udisks|udisks]] and [[File management#GVfs|GVfs]] make managing (removable) disks much easier.
+{{cmd|# apk add {{pkg|udisks2}} {{pkg|gvfs-fuse}}}}
-   apk add cmake cmake-doc extra-cmake-modules extra-cmake-modules-doc
+== Network management ==
+{{Main|Configure Networking}}
+For network, you may want to install {{pkg|iproute2}}. {{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|iproute2}}}}
-==== ccache is also available ====
+== Locale and key management ==
+* [[Locale|Locales]], including keyboards, languages and date and time formats are typically configured with the [[Alpine_configuration_management_scripts#setup-alpine|setup-alpine]] and like scripts, and within desktop environment settings.
-   apk add ccache ccache-doc
+* Consult the [[Compose_key|Compose Key]] wikipage to create foreign currency symbols, accents and diacritics, endashes (–) and emdashes (—), etc.
+== Development environment ==
+{{Main|Developer Documentation}}
+Compiling codebases in Alpine Linux may be more challenging because it uses [[Musl|musl instead of glibc]]. The {{pkg|build-base}} meta package provides regular compiler stuff such as {{pkg|binutils}} (providing <code>ld</code>, <code>objdump</code>, <code>readelf</code>, etc...), {{pkg|gcc}}, {{pkg|g++}}, {{pkg|make}}, etc...
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|build-base}}}}
+The {{pkg|alpine-sdk}} meta package is provided to build packages for Alpine Linux. It includes {{pkg|abuild}}, {{pkg|build-base}}, and {{pkg|git}}.
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|alpine-sdk}}}}
+{{pkg|cmake}} may be desirable to have installed.
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|cmake}} {{pkg|extra-cmake-modules}}}}
+{{pkg|ccache}} and a lot other tools are also available in Alpine Linux.
+[[Category:Installation]]
+[[Category:System Administration]]