Upgrading Alpine Linux to a new release branch
This page covers upgrading to newer releases.
Doing regular security updates with the package manager is shown at Upgrading a running system.
Upgrading an Alpine Linux Hard-disk installation
Upgrading from older versions
In case an older version needs to be upgraded, i.e. not just upgrading from the last release to the subsequent version as covered by the individual release notes, also check Upgrading from older versions for potential specifically required upgrade steps.
Upgrading to latest release
When Alpine Linux is installed in sys mode, e.g. on a hard drive, upgrading to the next stable version should be a straightforward package manager operation. However, for specific info always refer to the appropriate release notes.
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 v3.19 to v3.20:
# sed -i -e 's/v3\.19/v3\.20/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) 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
Using latest-stable instead of version number
Note, subsequent manual changes of the version numbers in /etc/apk/repositories may be avoided for future release upgrades by having the repository lines refer to "latest-stable" instead of an absolute value:
Contents of /etc/apk/repositories
latest-stable may initiate unexpected release upgrades. So beware of the consequences of unexpected release upgrades, when using latest-stable.
Updating package lists
With the correct repositories file in place, the latest index list of available packages can be obtained with:
# apk update
--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.
sync reboot
Upgrading to Edge
An upgrade of Alpine Linux from a stable version to the rolling development version edge basically requires the same steps as Upgrading to latest release.
The crucial difference is, that when editing the /etc/apk/repositories file, all referenced repository versions (such as v3.2 or latest-stable) therein need to be pointing to edge.
When using edge branch, testing repository can be added if the packages that one needs are available only in testing repository.
Contents of /etc/apk/repositories
After upgrading to edge, the currently installed edge version may be checked with
$ cat /etc/alpine-release
and referring to the build date that is attached to the release.
Upgrading Alpine Linux on CD
Boot media
If the boot media being used (such as a CD, for example) is separate from the media used to store the configuration information, simply download the latest ISO, and replace the boot media contents with the contents of the latest ISO.
If 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.
Update local package installations
If you have locally installed and configured additional packages using APK caching you should also perform the following steps.
Backup the local configuration prior to upgrading.
lbu ci
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 v3.19 to v3.20:
# sed -i -e 's/v3\.19/v3\.20/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) 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
Using latest-stable instead of version number
Note, subsequent manual changes of the version numbers in /etc/apk/repositories may be avoided for future release upgrades by having the repository lines refer to "latest-stable" instead of an absolute value:
Contents of /etc/apk/repositories
latest-stable may initiate unexpected release upgrades. So beware of the consequences of unexpected release upgrades, when using latest-stable.
Updating package lists
With the correct repositories file in place, the latest index list of available packages can be obtained with:
# apk update
--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.
sync reboot
After upgrading the packages, save the upgraded configuration changes.
lbu ci
Upgrading Alpine Linux on other removable media (such as CF/USB)
The following instructions are for run-from-RAM Alpine installations running on Compact Flash or USB media. Updating your repositories using the procedures detailed above, then running:
apk upgrade --update-cache --available
will suffice for some purposes. (If you want the new packages to be used after a reboot, you should enable APK caching.)
However, this is not an adequate general solution because it won't honor any kernel upgrades and the like. For the general solution, you'll need to upgrade your boot medium (Compact Flash or USB). That is what the following steps describe how to do.
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 $LBU_MEDIA
It should output something like usb, sda1, or whatever you just configured.
Back up your config
Before starting to upgrade, it's wise to save your configuration.
lbu ci
Upgrade Operating System
Start by checking that you have enough space on your media. For a standard Alpine image, you need at least 400MB available space.
df -h | grep "Filesystem\|$LBU_MEDIA"
Download and verify new release
Make sure the media that holds your Alpine system is mounted readwrite.
mount -oremount,rw /media/$LBU_MEDIA
If using Alpine Linux 2.2.3 or newer: Download the latest release,
wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.13/releases/<arch>/<image>.iso
and then use the following command to mount and copy files as needed for you:
setup-bootable -u alpine-extended-<version>-<arch>.iso /media/$LBU_MEDIA
Once the command completes, proceed to the Save changes section.
For older versions of Alpine
Start downloading a new '.iso' and a '.sha1' file
cd /media/$LBU_MEDIA wget -c {{#latestalp:alpine|url}} wget {{#latestalp:alpine|url}}.sha1
Check integrity of the downloaded files (it might take some time):
sha1sum -c {{#latestalp:alpine|file}}.sha1
The output of the above command should say 'OK'.
If says 'FAILED', delete the iso file and download it again.
If using Alpine Linux 1.10.4 or newer: there is a tool setup-bootable that will mount and copy the image you just downloaded to your boot medium. With this tool simply do:
setup-bootable -u {{#latestalp:alpine|file}} /media/$LBU_MEDIA
Instructions for older versions of Alpine are located elsewhere.
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):
sync reboot
Update to latest kernel on armhf (eg. Raspberry Pi 0 or 1)
On Alpine 3.X and newer, kernel is not upgraded when using apk upgrade and setup-bootable does not work properly.
If you want to upgrade your kernel, you will need to get it from the latest release, but first you must have and run :
apk update; apk version -l '<'; apk upgrade; lbu ci;
So now all your packages are upgraded, you can upgrade your kernel.
1. We need to get some variables :
. /etc/os-release; . /etc/lbu/lbu.conf; ARCH=$(cat /etc/apk/arch);
2. You must verify if they are correctly set, using this :
echo "alpine version : $VERSION_ID"; echo "lbu media : $LBU_MEDIA"; echo "arch : $ARCH"
3. And it will output something like this (if not, do not continue this process) :
alpine version : 3.16.2 lbu media : mmcblk0p1 arch : armhf
4. Then you can run this script (WARNING : config.txt will be overwritten!) :
cd /media/$LBU_MEDIA; mount -oremount,rw /media/$LBU_MEDIA; wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/$ARCH/alpine-rpi-$VERSION_ID-$ARCH.tar.gz; wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/latest-stable/releases/$ARCH/alpine-rpi-$VERSION_ID-$ARCH.tar.gz.sha256; sha256sum -c *.sha256; rm /media/$LBU_MEDIA/apks/$ARCH/*; rm /media/$LBU_MEDIA/cache/*; apk update && apk cache -v download; tar xzf alpine-rpi-$VERSION_ID-$ARCH.tar.gz; rm alpine-rpi-$VERSION_ID-$ARCH.tar.gz alpine-rpi-$VERSION_ID-$ARCH.tar.gz.sha256; sync; reboot;
5. Test-it !
uname -a
Update local package installations
This is done just as at #Update local package installations, above.
Updating a USB/CF diskless install without setup-bootable
It is possible to update a diskless install of Alpine from another system, or without using the setup-bootable script. This was tested for the 3.13 to the 3.14 upgrade on a Raspberry Pi.
Before starting, update /etc/apk/repositories file to retrieve packages for the new release. Then update all packages with:
apk update && apk upgrade -i -a --update-cache
We can then use update-conf to check for changes to configurations from the new packages.
# check apk-new config changes update-conf -a -l update-conf -a
We now need to prepare to update the kernel and boot materials. To do this, we stop the modloop (which is the loopback mount providing kernel modules) and remount the SD media as read/write.
We can also shutdown the system, eject the media, and perform the next steps on another machine (if so, skip this command block)
/etc/init.d/modloop stop mount /media/mmcblk0p1 -o remount,rw cd /media/mmcblk0p1
At this point, remove all files from the SD media except for /cache, *.apkvol.tar.gz, usercfg.txt, and config.txt Rename config.txt to config.txt.bak temporarily, as extracting the new tar file will overwrite the file.
We can now download the new release and extract it. This example is for an Alpine Raspberry Pi release, so feel free to adjust the URLs for your system.
wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.13/releases/aarch64/alpine-rpi-3.13.0-aarch64.tar.gz.sha256 wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.13/releases/aarch64/alpine-rpi-3.13.0-aarch64.tar.gz sha256sum -c *.sha256 tar zxf *-aarch64.tar.gz && sync rm alpine-rpi-*
Restore the original config.txt:
mv config.txt.bak config.txt
Update the persistent storage using lbu:
lbu ci -d
We can now reboot, and this should boot into the new kernel. Once this is done, we can clean up and re-download apk caches:
mount /media/mmcblk0p1 -o remount,rw rm /media/mmcblk0p1/cache/* sync && apk update && apk cache -v download mount /media/mmcblk0p1 -o remount,ro