Alpine Linux Package Management

Because Alpine Linux is designed to run from RAM, package management involves two phases:

Installing / Upgrading / Deleting packages on a running system
Restoring a system to a previously configured state (e.g. after reboot), including all previously installed packages and locally modified configuration files.

apk is the tool used to install, upgrade, or delete software on a running sytem lbu is the tool used to capture the data necessary to restore a system to a previously configured state.

This page documents the apk tool - See the Alpine Local Backup page for the lbu tool.

The apk tool has the following applets:

add	Add new packages to the running system
del	Delete packages from the running system
fix	Attempt to repair or upgrade an installed package
update	Update the index of available packages
info	Prints information about installed or available packages
search	Search for packages or descriptions with wildcard patterns
upgrade	Upgrade the currently installed packages
cache	Maintenance operations for locally cached package repository
version	Compare version differences between installed and available packages
index	create a repository index from a list of packages
fetch	download (but not install) packages
audit	List changes to the file system from pristine package install state
verify	Verify a package signature

Quickstart Guide

Packages and Repositories

Software packages for Alpine Linux are digitally signed tar.gz archives containing the programs, configuration files, and dependency metadata. They have the extension "*.apk", and are often called "a-packs"

The packages are stored in one or more repositories A repository is simply a directory with a collection of *.apk files. The directory must include a special index file, named APKINDEX.tar.gz to be considered a repository.

The apk utility can install packages from multiple repositories. The list of repositories to check is stored in /etc/apk/repositories, one repository per line. If you booted from USB stick (/media/sda1) or CD-ROM (/media/cdrom), your repository file probably looks like this:

/media/sda1/apks/

In addition to local repositories, the apk utility uses busybox wget to fetch packages using http:, https: or ftp: protocols. The following is a valid repository file:

/media/sda1/apks
http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.10/packages/main
https://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.10/packages/extra
ftp://ftp.alpinelinux.org/edge/packages/main

Note: Currently there are no public https or ftp repositories. The protocols are available for local repositories

Update the Package list

Remote repositories change as packages are added and upgraded. To get the latest list of available packages, use the update command. The command downloads the APKINDEX.tar.gz from each repository and stores it in the local cache, typically /var/lib/apk or /etc/apk/cache.

apk update

fetch http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.10/packages/main/APKINDEX.tar.gz
fetch http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.10/packages/testing/APKINDEX.tar.gz
alpine 1.10.1 [/media/sda1/apks]
main v1.10.1-34-g977ff46 [http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.10/packages/main]
testing v1.10.0-32-gbf6b6cb [http://dl-3.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v1.10/packages/testing]

Tip: If using remote repositories, it is a good idea to do an update just before doing an add or upgrade command. That way you know you are using the latest software available

Add a Package

Use add to install packages from a repository. Any necessary dependencies are also installed. If you have multiple repositories, the add command installs the newest package.

apk add openssh apk add openssh openntp vim

Remove a Package

Use del to remove a package (and dependencies that are no longer needed.)

apk del openssh apk del openssh openntp vim

Upgrade a Running System

To upgrade all the packages of a running system, use upgrade

apk update apk upgrade

To upgrade only a few packages, use the add command with the -u parameter:

apk update apk add -u busybox

Note: Remember that when you reboot your machine, the remote repository will not be available until after networking is started. This means packages newer than your local boot media will likely not be installed after a reboot. To make an "upgrade" persist over a reboot, use a local cache.

Search for Packages

The search command searches the repository Index files for installable packages.

Examples:

To list all packages available, along with their descriptions:
apk search -v
To list all packages are part of the ACF system:
apk search -v 'acf*'
To list all packages that list NTP as part of their description:
apk search -v -d 'NTP'

Additional apk Commands

In progress...

Local Cache

Cache info will go here.