Include:Upgrading to latest release

Update Repositories File

The Repositories file /etc/apk/repositories can be updated using one of the following methods.

Using setup-apkrepos script

Launch the setup-apkrepos script:

# setup-apkrepos

Pressing e will open the file to edit using vi editor. Edit the repository lines to reflect the new version number.

Using sed command

Use a one-line command to edit all version numbers in the file "in place". Here's how you'd change v3.20 to v3.21:

# sed -i -e 's/v3\.20/v3\.21/g' /etc/apk/repositories

Manual editing of /etc/apk/repositories

Edit the /etc/apk/repositories file using any editor of your choice (nano for instance).

Contents of /etc/apk/repositories

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/main http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/community

In the above file, to upgrade Alpine Linux from version 3.20 to 3.21, simply replace the number 3.20 by 3.21 in all the places:

Contents of /etc/apk/repositories

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.21/main http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.21/community

Using latest-stable instead of version number

Warning: Changing the repositories to latest-stable may initiate unexpected release upgrades. Beware of the consequences.

Manual changes of the version numbers may be avoided for future release upgrades by having the repository lines refer to "latest-stable" instead of an absolute value in the /etc/apk/repositories file as follows:

Contents of /etc/apk/repositories

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/main http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/community

Updating package lists

With the correct repositories file in place, the latest index list of available packages can be obtained with:

# apk update

Tip: Adding the --update-cache or -U to another apk command, as in apk add -U ... or apk upgrade -U, has the same effect as always running apk update immediately before the other apk command. Instead of auto-update it only if the index has not been updated recently.

Upgrading packages

At times it is required to first upgrade just the Alpine Linux Package Manager itself to the latest available version, before upgrading any other package. This was the case, for example, when upgrading from a version of Alpine before 2.3.0_rc1. But simply always doing so shouldn't hurt, either:

# apk add --upgrade apk-tools

Next, to upgrade all installed packages:

# apk upgrade --available

The --available switch is used to force all packages to be upgraded, even if they have the same version numbers. Sometimes changes in musl require doing this.

Note: All services that have been upgraded need to be restarted, to begin using the upgraded version. If the kernel is upgraded, it's required to reboot to begin using the upgraded version:

sync reboot