Help:Reading

Users of Alpine Linux wiki must understand the following conventions when reading the wiki pages.

Root and normal user

When the hash sign (#) is displayed before a command, it indicates that the command needs to be run with root privileges:

# apk add mandoc

When the dollar sign ($) is displayed before a command, it indicates that the command should be run as a regular user.

$ apk info mandoc

Refer User Accounts page for more information on root and regular user.

Placeholder

Anything in (< >) is likely just a placeholder that you need to replace. For example, <editor> file.txt means use an editor of your choice like vi or Emacs to open the file file.txt for editing.

Package installation

Packages in the Alpine Linux Repositories are indicated as follows: libreoffice. If you click on the package name, details about the package can be found in the Alpine Linux package database. Package filter available on the page can be used to search for further information.

If you find an instruction to install the package less, then the following apk command must be issued:

# apk add less

Alpine Linux packages stay close to the upstream design and are thinned out and split into subpackages. So always check and install necessary subpackages.

Manage services

This material is work-in-progress ... Do not follow instructions here until this notice is removed. (Last edited by Prabuanand on 15 Feb 2025.)

Whenever an article instructs to start, enable, etc., some OpenRC service, without detailed instructions, but instead you will read something like: Start example.service.

This means that you have to run:

# rc-service example.service start

The systemd#Using units section contains structured list of available actions (like start, enable, enable and start, etc.) with their corresponding systemctl commands.