Upgrading Alpine - v1.9.x

This document covers upgrading from a previous version of Alpine Linux 1.9 (or 1.10) to newer versions of 1.9 / 1.10 / 2.x. Thanks to many improvements in Alpine Linux 1.9 and later, it is possible to easily upgrade in most scenarios.

All examples/instructions/actions mentioned in this document should be executed on the box that you are planning to upgrade (unless you are instructed otherwise).

Upgrading an Alpine Linux Hard-disk installation

When Alpine Linux is installed to hard drive, upgrading the installation is simple.

Edit the /etc/apk/repositories file using any editor of your choice (nano for instance) to edit the Alpine Linux package repositories.

Contents of /etc/apk/repositories

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.19/main
http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.19/community

In the above file, to upgrade Alpine Linux from version 3.19 to 3.20, simply replace the number 3.19 by 3.20 in all the places, so that the updated repositories file looks like below:

Contents of /etc/apk/repositories

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

Note: For upgrading to Alpine 1.9 / 1.10, the following steps apply. Alpine 2.x is treated slightly differently (See below).

Ensure you have the latest available version of the Alpine Linux Package Manager first before upgrading anything else:

apk add -u apk-tools

Finally, upgrade all remaining packages, including the kernel if applicable:

apk upgrade sync

Note: For upgrading to Alpine 2.x, the following steps apply.

Ensure you have the latest available version of the Alpine Linux Package Manager first before upgrading anything else:

apk add -u apk-tools

Remove GNU Wget before attempting an upgrade:

apk del wget

Finally, upgrade all remaining packages, including the kernel. The --available switch is used to force all packages to be upgraded, even if they have the same version number, due to changes in uClibc:

apk upgrade --update-cache --available sync

Note: You will need to restart any services that have been upgraded to begin using the upgraded versions. If the kernel is upgraded, you will need to reboot to begin using the upgraded version.

Upgrading Separate Boot Media

You may have an installation where the boot media being used (such as a CD, for example) is separate from the media used to store the configuration information. In this case, simply download the latest ISO, and replace the boot media contents with the contents of the latest ISO. If you are booting from a CD, this would simply mean replacing the CD with a CD made from the new image and rebooting the Alpine Linux box.

Upgrading Alpine Linux on CF/USB

Your installation may consist of Alpine Linux running on Compact Flash or USB media. In most cases, it should be sufficient to upgrade most packages using the Alpine Linux Hard-disk Installation upgrade procedures described above. However, for new packages to survive after a reboot, you should enable APK caching.

Warning: As the newer version of alpine may include kernel upgrades, simply pointing the Alpine Linux Package Manager to an Internet-based repository and running apk upgrade will not be enough, as kernel components are not upgraded when Alpine Linux is run from memory.

Setup environment variables

To make the documentation a bit more "generic" we start by setting some environment variables.

vi /etc/lbu/lbu.conf

Make sure that the variable LBU_MEDIA is not commented (by removing the leading '#').

You also need to set a appropriate value for your LBU_MEDIA. The media you choose will be the media where you store your settings/configuration.

Note: Even if you have you alpine installed on CF, HD or USB you can still choose to save your config on some other media that suits your needs. But remember that both the media where you have your Alpine system AND the media where you have your config need to be in your box when booting it.

Examples:

LBU_MEDIA=usb

or:

LBU_MEDIA=sda1

Now that you have your /etc/lbu/lbu.conf configured for your needs, we will set the environment variables (note the leading .).

. /etc/lbu/lbu.conf

You can test if your environment variable was set:

echo $LBU_MEDIA

It should output something like usb, sda1, or whatever you just configured.

Back up your config

Before starting to upgrade, it's wise to save your configuration.

lbu ci

Upgrade Step-by-Step

Start by checking that you have enough space on your media.
You need at least 400MB available space.

df -h

Download and verify new release

Start downloading a new '.iso' and a '.sha1' file

cd /media/$LBU_MEDIA wget -c {{#latestalp:alpine|url}} wget {{#latestalp:alpine|url}}.sha1

Check integrity of the downloaded files (it might take some time)

sha1sum -c {{#latestalp:alpine|file}}.sha1

The output of the above command should say 'OK'.
If says 'FAILED', delete the iso file and download it again.

Copy the new release

Note: There is a tool, setup-bootable, in alpine-1.10.4 and newer, that does the mounting and copying for you. With this tool simply do:

setup-bootable -u {{#latestalp:alpine|file}} /media/$LBU_MEDIA

Mount the ISO.

mount -t iso9660 {{#latestalp:alpine|file}} /mnt

Back up files that you have modified. For example, you might have modified syslinux.cfg to show console output on a serial port.

cp /media/$LBU_MEDIA/syslinux.cfg /media/$LBU_MEDIA/syslinux.cfg.my

Install the rsync package if necessary, and copy the files:

cd /mnt apk add rsync rsync --delete -rltv .alpine-release * /media/$LBU_MEDIA/

Restore your backed up files (in case you had any)

mv -f /media/$LBU_MEDIA/syslinux.cfg.my /media/$LBU_MEDIA/syslinux.cfg

Make sure that all files are permanently saved in right place

sync

Clean up

Clean up the downloaded/unpacked files

cd .. umount /mnt rm /media/$LBU_MEDIA/{{#latestalp:alpine|file}} rm /media/$LBU_MEDIA/{{#latestalp:alpine|file}}.sha1

Save changes

Now that all upgrades are done, we should save our settings to our media (which you hopefully have backed up prior to doing this upgrade).

lbu ci

Load new kernel

In most cases you will need to reboot Alpine Linux (especially if there are changes in the kernel):

reboot

Note: If you know what you are doing, you might not need to reboot. But make sure that all services affected by the upgrade are restarted.

Update remaining packages from Web repository

Check that /etc/apk/repositories reflects the current version, for example, for 2.1 it could say:

http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v2.1/packages/main

Upgrade packages from Web.

apk update apk add -u apk-tools apk upgrade -U