Upgrading Alpine - v1.9.x
Upgrading Alpine 1.9.x that runs on HD/CF/USB
This document covers upgrading from a previous version of Alpine 1.9 to newer versions of 1.9. Thanks to many improvements in 1.9, it is possible to easily upgrade in most scenerios.
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 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
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
Ensure you have the latest available version of the Alpine Package Manager first before upgrading anything else:
apk add -u apk-tools
Finally, upgrade all remaining packages, including the kernel if applicable:
apk upgrade
Upgrading 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 box.
Upgrading Alpine on CF/USB
Your installation may consist of Alpine running on Compact Flash or USB media. In most cases, it should be sufficient to upgrade most packages using the Alpine Hard-disk Installation upgrade procedures described above. However, for new packages to survive after a reboot, you should enable APK caching.
Please note: As newer version of alpine may include kernel upgrades, simply pointing the Alpine Package Manager to an internet-based repository and running apk upgrade will not be enough, as kernel components are not upgraded when Alpine 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.
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 $LBU_MEDIA
It should output something like usb, sda1, or whatever you just configured.
Back up your config
Before starting to upgrade, it's wise to save your configuration.
lbu ci
Upgrade Step-by-Step
Start by checking that you have enough space on your media.
You need at least 400MB available space.
df -h | grep "Filesystem\|$LBU_MEDIA"
Download and verify new release
Start downloading a new '.iso' and a '.sha1' file
cd /media/$LBU_MEDIA wget -c Template:Latest 1.9 alpine iso-mirroralpine-1.9.3-x86.iso wget http://dev.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.9/iso/alpine-1.9.3-x86.iso.sha1
Check integrity of the downloaded files (it might take some time)
sha1sum -c alpine-1.9.3-x86.iso.sha1
The output of the above command should say 'OK'.
If says 'FAILED', delete the iso file and download it again.
Copy the new release
Mount the ISO.
mkdir /tmp/alpine-new mount -t iso9660 alpine-1.9.3-x86.iso /tmp/alpine-new
Back up files that you have modified. For example, you might have modified syslinux.cfg to show console output on a serial port.
cp /media/$LBU_MEDIA/syslinux.cfg /media/$LBU_MEDIA/syslinux.cfg.my
Copy the files:
cd /tmp/alpine-new rsync --delete -rltv .alpine-release * /media/$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
umount /tmp/alpine-new rmdir /tmp/alpine-new rm /media/$LBU_MEDIA/alpine-1.9.3-x86.iso rm /media/$LBU_MEDIA/alpine-1.9.3-x86.iso.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
Rebooting
In most cases you will need to reboot Alpine (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.