Alpine Install: from a disc to a virtualbox machine single only: Difference between revisions

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'''Overall description:''' Alpine Installation from a official disc/iso downloaded to a VirtualBox machine, where will be single OS only.
'''Overall description:''' Installing Alpine from an official disc image to a VirtualBox machine.


This document will guide you to install Alpine into VirtualBox virtual machine, use if you have a VirtualBox virtual machine and only wants to take a shoot into it.
This document guides you through installing Alpine on a VirtualBox VM - this is ideal if you only want to try out Alpine. For other ways to install (including dual-boot) see [[Alpine_newbie_install_manual#Ways_to_install_Alpine_into_machines_or_virtuals|Alpine_newbie_install_manual]].


== Terminology ==
== Terminology ==


* '''Host machine''': will be your real machine with installed operating system that have installed the VirtualBox software and "will host" the target operating system, in that case Alpine.
* '''Host machine''': the machine you're running VirtualBox on. It will "host" the target virtual machine.
* '''Guest machine''': will be your target machine where Alpine will be installed, emulated by the host operating system using the VirtualBox software installed in the real machine.
* '''Guest machine''': your target machine where Alpine will be installed, executed by the VirtualBox software on the host machine.
* '''Reserved RAM''': will be the amount of RAM that will be need to share exclusively to the virtual machine created by the VirtualBox software in the host machine, stolen from the real RAM.
* '''Reserved RAM''': the amount of host machine RAM that will be needed for exclusive use by the guest machine. The host machine cannot use this RAM while the guest machine is running.
* '''Virtual disc''': will be the storage medium device emulated as target for the emulated machine or "guest machine", where the Alpine will be installed.
* '''Virtual disc''': the emulated storage medium attached to the guest machine. Usually it is a file (or several files) which VirtualBox presents as a disk to the guest OS (Alpine).


== Requirements ==
== Requirements ==


* In the host machine we need installed the <code>virtualbox</code> program from VirtualBox software
On the host machine:
* In the host machine we need at least 1Gb of RAM, recommended 2Gb of RAM installed
 
* The guest machine need 512Mb RAM, but recommended 1Gb reserved if desktop software will be installed
* Qemu or VirtualBox using package manager! Do not promote Oracle's policy of overversiones without security patches
* In the host machine we need installed <code>wget</code> or a web browser to download install medium
* At least 1GB of RAM, 2GB or more if you don't want lockups while running something in addition to the virtual machine software
* The <code>curl</code> or <code>wget</code> programs to download the image to boot in the virtual software
 
On the guest machine:
 
* Minimum 512Mb RAM, but 1Gb or more is recommended if you're going to use a graphical interface. That obviouly must be in sync with the host machine.


== Preparing the medium to install ==
== Preparing the medium to install ==


Download the source medium to install and put into your home
Download the source medium to install and put into your home; there's more hardware medium sources to download, like the '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_on_z_Systems s390x]''' and '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ppc64 ppc64le]''', but because VirtualBox handles only '''x86''' and '''x64'''
hardware, we will list those here


The source medium to install will be as following format: '''<code><nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v</nowiki><VERSION>/releases/<ARCH>/alpine-extended-<VERSION>.0-<ARCH>.iso</code>''' where <code>ARCH</code> and <code>VERSION</code> could be the following for VirtualBox virtual machines:
The name of the source medium to install will be in the following format: '''<code><nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v</nowiki><VERSION>/releases/<ARCH>/alpine-standard-<VERSION>.0-<ARCH>.iso</code>''' where <code>ARCH</code> and <code>VERSION</code> can be one of the following, for VirtualBox virtual machines:


* <code><ARCH></code> can be
* <code><ARCH></code> can be
** '''x86''': The most and well know i386 to i686 of 32-bit machines.
** '''x86''': The well known i386 to i686. (32-bit machines)
** '''x86_64''': The popular AMD64 compatible 64-bit x86 based machines.
** '''x86_64''': The popular AMD64 compatible 64-bit x86 based machines.
** '''armhf''': The newer ARM hard-float for newer, more powerful 32-bit devices alongside 64-bit
* <code><VERSION></code> can be
* <code><VERSION></code> can be
** '''latest-stable''' for a more up to date without taking care of numbered
** '''latest-stable''' as the name says, the latest, stable version
** '''3.10''' where the UEFI started to become a option supported
** '''3.10''' UEFI support began with this version
** '''3.8''' the most recommended for machines between 2012 to 2016
** '''3.8''' recommended for machines manufactured between 2012 and 2016
** '''3.6''' the most recommended for machines very older
** '''3.6''' recommended for older machines


The most common option to use in a virtual box obviously must be x86 due are more cheap to test and does not consumes lot of memory due the address bus are more small respect 64-bit flavor, so the downloaded iso can be a url as:
Typically, the version most commonly used in a virtual box is the x86. The hardware is cheaper and operation does not consume a lot of memory.
The iso download URL format is:


* For '''"x86" <code><ARCH></code>''' and '''"3.8" <code><VERSION></code>''' will be:
* For '''"x86" <code><ARCH></code>''' and '''"3.10" <code><VERSION></code>''' will be:
<code><nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.8/releases/x86/alpine-extended-3.8.0-x86.iso</nowiki></code>
<code><nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.10/releases/x86/alpine-standard-3.10.0-x86.iso</nowiki></code>
* For '''"x86_64" <code><ARCH></code>''' and '''"3.10" <code><VERSION></code>''' will be:
<code><nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.10/releases/x86_64/alpine-extended-3.10.0-x86_64.iso</nowiki></code>


'''Graphicall download''': Just point the web browser to that url and the download of the iso file will start. A file with '''.iso''' extension type, with name like <code>"alpine-extended-..."</code> will be downloaded.
'''Graphical download''': Just point the web browser to that URL and the download will start. A file with '''.iso''' extension type, with a name like <code>"alpine-standard-3.10.0-x86.iso"</code> (if i386/686); will be downloaded into the directory specified in your browser configuration.


'''Command line method''': just open a terminal and ejecuted: <code>wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate <nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v</nowiki><VERSION>/releases/<ARCH>/alpine-extended-<VERSION>.0-<ARCH>.iso</code>, so for example:
'''Command line method''': just open a terminal and execute: <code>wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate <nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v</nowiki><VERSION>/releases/<ARCH>/alpine-standard-<VERSION>.0-<ARCH>.iso</code>, for example:


* For '''"x86" <code><ARCH></code>''' and '''"3.8" <code><VERSION></code>''' will be:
* For '''"x86" <code><ARCH></code>''' and '''"3.10" <code><VERSION></code>''' the command will be:
<code>wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate <nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.8/releases/x86/alpine-extended-3.8.0-x86.iso</nowiki></code>
<code>wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate <nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.10/releases/x86/alpine-standard-3.10.0-x86.iso</nowiki></code>
* For '''"x86_64" <code><ARCH></code>''' and '''"3.10" <code><VERSION></code>''' will be:
<code>wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate <nowiki>http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.10/releases/x86_64/alpine-extended-3.10.0-x86_64.iso</nowiki></code>


You must take care the place where you run the command, in that place will be downloaded the file.
You must be mindful of the directory you run the command from, as that is where the file will be saved.


== Preparing the virtual machine to install ==
== Preparing the virtual machine to install ==
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Start the VirtualBox software program.
Start the VirtualBox software program.


# In the main window '''create a new virtual machine''' by '''clicking the blue spark New button'''. Will open a new window with the following questions:
# In the main window '''create a new virtual machine''' by '''clicking the blue spark New button'''. That will open a new window with the following questions:
## Will ask for a '''name for the virtual like "alpine-desktop-try1"'''.  
## It will ask for a '''name for the virtual like "alpine-desktop-try1"'''.  
## The Type of the '''Operating system choose "linux"'''
## The Type of the '''Operating system choose "linux"'''.
## The version '''choose "other linux"''' and must match with the <code><ARCH></code> choosed (like x86)
## The version '''choose "other linux"'''. It must match the chosen <code><ARCH></code> (e.g. x86).
## By push "Next" button to continue to create the machine
## Click the "Next" button to continue creating the virtual machine.
# Second are RAM of the virtual machine, choose '''memory as 512MB''' minimum amount of. and push "Next" button.
# When selecting the amount of RAM for the virtual machine, choose a minimum of '''512MB''' then click the "Next" button.
# A new windows with a '''Hard disk assistant will opened'''
# A new window with a '''Hard disk assistant will open'''.
## First choose the option '''"Create a virtual hard disk now"''' and push "Create" button.
## First choose '''"Create a virtual hard disk now"''' then click the "Create" button.
## Next choose the option for '''hard disk type: VDI''' and push "Next" button.
## Next choose the option for '''hard disk type: VDI''' and push "Next" button.
## Choose the '''dynamically allocated''' and push the "Next" button.
## Choose '''dynamically allocated''' then click the "Next" button.
## Next window will offer the '''size of virtual disk, not so much due 4GB are far enough''', use as you desire
## The next window will offer the '''size of virtual disk. 4GB''', however, you may choose a different amount of storage space.
## By push on "Create" the virtual machine will be ready to use
## After clicking on "Create" the virtual machine will be ready to use.
# Now the main window show you the "alpine-desktop-try1" created virtual machine, select them
# Now the main window shows you the "alpine-desktop-try1" virtual machine, select it.
## By push on "Configuration" yellow button go to the storage part and push it over
## Click on the yellow "Configuration" button. Go to the storage menu and pull it down.
## Select the disc drive icon for CD/DVD rom and push on the again CD/DVD drive icon at the right
## Select the disc drive icon for CD/DVD ROM and click on the CD/DVD drive icon at the right.
## Mini menu will opened, choose to select and external file event the host CD/DVD drive
## A Mini menu will open. Select an external file event the host CD/DVD drive.
## A file open dialog will open.. search to the downloaded iso of Alpine and select it
## A file open dialog will open. Search for the downloaded Alpine iso and select it.
## Once defined the iso file to boot, push on the "Ok" button and virtual machines are finished.
## Once you choose the iso file to boot, click the "Ok" button to finish creating the virtual machine.
# Push on the green arrow that said "Start" to start the virtual machine and boot up the iso
# Click the green "Start" arrow to start the virtual machine and boot the iso.


[[File:Alpine Install from a disc to a virtualbox machine single only-01-0.png|center|Alpine configuration commonly used of a virtual machine on virtual box virtual machine]]
[[File:Alpine Install from a disc to a virtualbox machine single only-01-0.png|center|Alpine configuration commonly used of a virtual machine on virtual box virtual machine]]
Line 79: Line 81:
== Booting the Alpine ISO disc ==
== Booting the Alpine ISO disc ==


When the machine start, you must be sure to choose the Optical drive (commonly named CD/DVD Rom drive), so the disc/iso will boot and after a while a command line shell will show you:
When the machine starts, you must be sure to choose the Optical drive (commonly named CD/DVD ROM drive), so the disc/iso will boot. After a while, a command line shell will show you:


{{Tip|If your system are not configure to boot from a CD/DVD drive must be configure in the BIOS, ask to your vendor or technical support, VirtualBox need to hit the F12 key to choose boot medium}}
{{Tip|If your system are not configure to boot from a CD/DVD drive, you must configure the BIOS. Ask to your vendor or technical support. Hitting the F12 key will enable you to choose the virtual machine's boot medium}}


[[File:Alpine Install boot up to a shell 01-1.png|center|After boot up.. a command line shell of a complete ready to use Alpine will show you]]
[[File:Installation-alpine-alpine-setup-2-boot.png|350px|thumb|right|Installation : setup-alpine : booting process until login prompt]]


== The setup install process ==
{{:Installation_pages_setup-alpine_script_normal}}
{{:Installation_pages_setup-disk_script_alpine_main_single}}


After boot up.. a command line shell of a complete ready to use Alpine will show you
== Finishing the installation ==


* At the '''login:''' to appear, type '''root''' and press enter.
After setup ends, a "reboot" will be offered. Type "reboot" and press enter and your newly installed virtual machine will be booted. Don't forget to remove the boot medium.
* Run the '''setup-alpine''' script
** Choose your keyboard layout. If you don't know your keyboard layout choose '''us'''. By example for most Latin American a ''es'' are enough, for Russian (an maybe Cirilyc ones) ''ru'' are enough.
** Host name, which will be the name of your computer, a good format are '''''pcv-alp32-virtual1''''' where "pcv means "PC virtual", "alp32" means "Alpine 32bit" and "virtual1" means the first virtual machine to try.
** Choose your network card, most people can just go with the default (press enter), take in consideration that Wired connections are more stable and faster rather than Wireless connections, also at the most modern the Wireless card, the lest supported or still not well tested.
*** Most people will use DHCP, so press enter again, if you have Internet connection fro ISP most settings are just DHCP so all will be configured automatically
*** You will be asked if you want to do any manual network configuration, press enter for no
** Type in your root password twice.
** Choose a time zone, you can get a list by pressing '''?'''. If you want a sub zone, e.g. Africa, type in Africa and press enter, if again you type '''?''' and enter, it will give you a list of sub zones in Africa. By example for Venezuela the zone are "America/Caracas" .
** Press '''f''' to choose the fastest mirror; those mirrors something for strange reason are not available in some countries. (WIP put here a good mirror that never fail)
** Choose an SSH server, this allows you to remotely manage your machine. OpenSSH is what the big distro's use, Dropbear is a tiny SSH replacement. Choose '''openssh''' for able to connect using command line from Unix-like systems.
** Choose an NTP client, this keeps your machine's time accurate using an Internet time server. Openntpd is what the big distro's use, while Chrony is a tiny replacement.
** Choose a disk you want to install Alpine onto, as an example, '''sda''' is the first disk in your computer.
*** Now choose how you would like to use it, for this guide, choose '''sys''', this will install the entire OS onto your hard drive
*** You are given a final chance to back out, type in '''Y''' to continue
* The installation is now complete and you will be asked to reboot. Type in '''reboot''' and press enter


[[File:Alpine Install from a disc to a virtualbox machine single only-02-0.png|center]]
[[File:Installation-alpine-alpine-setup-9-setup-disk-3-7end.png]]


== Finishing the installation ==
'''You cannot see a graphical window system? No problem.''' With Alpine, GUIs are made the right way.  So '''if you need a desktop, you can install a desktop''' follow this link: [[Alpine newbie apk packages]] or go directly to [[Alpine newbie desktops]]


'''You cannot see a graphical window system? take easy''' and get calm down.. in Alpine all are made by the right way..  so '''if user need a desktop.. user can install a desktop''' follow the next: [[Alpine newbie apk packages]] or bypass and go directly to [[Alpine newbie desktops]]
For other ways to install, see the [[Alpine_newbie_install_manual#Ways_to_install_Alpine_into_machines_or_virtuals|Alpine_newbie_install_manual]]


= Documents series =
= Documents series =

Revision as of 21:04, 22 June 2021

Overall description: Installing Alpine from an official disc image to a VirtualBox machine.

This document guides you through installing Alpine on a VirtualBox VM - this is ideal if you only want to try out Alpine. For other ways to install (including dual-boot) see Alpine_newbie_install_manual.

Terminology

  • Host machine: the machine you're running VirtualBox on. It will "host" the target virtual machine.
  • Guest machine: your target machine where Alpine will be installed, executed by the VirtualBox software on the host machine.
  • Reserved RAM: the amount of host machine RAM that will be needed for exclusive use by the guest machine. The host machine cannot use this RAM while the guest machine is running.
  • Virtual disc: the emulated storage medium attached to the guest machine. Usually it is a file (or several files) which VirtualBox presents as a disk to the guest OS (Alpine).

Requirements

On the host machine:

  • Qemu or VirtualBox using package manager! Do not promote Oracle's policy of overversiones without security patches
  • At least 1GB of RAM, 2GB or more if you don't want lockups while running something in addition to the virtual machine software
  • The curl or wget programs to download the image to boot in the virtual software

On the guest machine:

  • Minimum 512Mb RAM, but 1Gb or more is recommended if you're going to use a graphical interface. That obviouly must be in sync with the host machine.

Preparing the medium to install

Download the source medium to install and put into your home; there's more hardware medium sources to download, like the s390x and ppc64le, but because VirtualBox handles only x86 and x64 hardware, we will list those here

The name of the source medium to install will be in the following format: http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v<VERSION>/releases/<ARCH>/alpine-standard-<VERSION>.0-<ARCH>.iso where ARCH and VERSION can be one of the following, for VirtualBox virtual machines:

  • <ARCH> can be
    • x86: The well known i386 to i686. (32-bit machines)
    • x86_64: The popular AMD64 compatible 64-bit x86 based machines.
  • <VERSION> can be
    • latest-stable as the name says, the latest, stable version
    • 3.10 UEFI support began with this version
    • 3.8 recommended for machines manufactured between 2012 and 2016
    • 3.6 recommended for older machines

Typically, the version most commonly used in a virtual box is the x86. The hardware is cheaper and operation does not consume a lot of memory. The iso download URL format is:

  • For "x86" <ARCH> and "3.10" <VERSION> will be:

http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.10/releases/x86/alpine-standard-3.10.0-x86.iso

Graphical download: Just point the web browser to that URL and the download will start. A file with .iso extension type, with a name like "alpine-standard-3.10.0-x86.iso" (if i386/686); will be downloaded into the directory specified in your browser configuration.

Command line method: just open a terminal and execute: wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v<VERSION>/releases/<ARCH>/alpine-standard-<VERSION>.0-<ARCH>.iso, for example:

  • For "x86" <ARCH> and "3.10" <VERSION> the command will be:

wget -c -t8 --no-check-certificate http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.10/releases/x86/alpine-standard-3.10.0-x86.iso

You must be mindful of the directory you run the command from, as that is where the file will be saved.

Preparing the virtual machine to install

Start the VirtualBox software program.

  1. In the main window create a new virtual machine by clicking the blue spark New button. That will open a new window with the following questions:
    1. It will ask for a name for the virtual like "alpine-desktop-try1".
    2. The Type of the Operating system choose "linux".
    3. The version choose "other linux". It must match the chosen <ARCH> (e.g. x86).
    4. Click the "Next" button to continue creating the virtual machine.
  2. When selecting the amount of RAM for the virtual machine, choose a minimum of 512MB then click the "Next" button.
  3. A new window with a Hard disk assistant will open.
    1. First choose "Create a virtual hard disk now" then click the "Create" button.
    2. Next choose the option for hard disk type: VDI and push "Next" button.
    3. Choose dynamically allocated then click the "Next" button.
    4. The next window will offer the size of virtual disk. 4GB, however, you may choose a different amount of storage space.
    5. After clicking on "Create" the virtual machine will be ready to use.
  4. Now the main window shows you the "alpine-desktop-try1" virtual machine, select it.
    1. Click on the yellow "Configuration" button. Go to the storage menu and pull it down.
    2. Select the disc drive icon for CD/DVD ROM and click on the CD/DVD drive icon at the right.
    3. A Mini menu will open. Select an external file event the host CD/DVD drive.
    4. A file open dialog will open. Search for the downloaded Alpine iso and select it.
    5. Once you choose the iso file to boot, click the "Ok" button to finish creating the virtual machine.
  5. Click the green "Start" arrow to start the virtual machine and boot the iso.
Alpine configuration commonly used of a virtual machine on virtual box virtual machine
Alpine configuration commonly used of a virtual machine on virtual box virtual machine

Booting the Alpine ISO disc

When the machine starts, you must be sure to choose the Optical drive (commonly named CD/DVD ROM drive), so the disc/iso will boot. After a while, a command line shell will show you:

Tip: If your system are not configure to boot from a CD/DVD drive, you must configure the BIOS. Ask to your vendor or technical support. Hitting the F12 key will enable you to choose the virtual machine's boot medium
Installation : setup-alpine : booting process until login prompt


This page exists to provide a basic overview to get started. Before actually installing, it can help to skim through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), as well as to refer to the official installation guide at docs.alpinelinux.org.

Tip: This is a wiki!

If something isn't correct, or is incomplete, you will have to figure it out, or ask for the correct solution in the community.

And then carefully edit the wiki page.

Just as those before who did it for you.

Minimal Hardware Requirements

  • At least 128 MB of RAM. [A graphical desktop system may require up to 512 minimum.]. Note that an installation itself (from ISO) generally requires at least 320 MB during installation.
  • At least 0-700 MB space on a writable storage device. [Only required in "sys" or "data" mode installations (explained below). It is optional in "diskless" mode, where it may be used to save newer data and configurations states of a running system.]

Installation Overview

The general course of action

Note:
  • For single-board-computer (SBC) architectures which can not boot .iso images, see Alpine on ARM for peculiarities.
  • For headless system, initial network setup may be fed by pre-built apkovl overlay file, custom-made or via 3rd party

As usual, starting an installation procedure requires some basic steps (additional details for all the steps follow below):

  1. Downloading and verifying the proper stable-release ISO installation image-file for the target computer's architecture with their corresponding sha256 (checksum) and GPG (signature) files.
  2. Preparing the installation media (e.g.: CD, DVD, USB drive, SD Card, etc).
  3. Optionally, custom-made headless apkovl can be done by first booting the install media on some computer with a display and keyboard attached, or in a virtual machine, and doing an intermediate "diskless" setup of just the boot media (more details below), i.e. using the offical setup-alpine to configure the system's network, possibly for dhcp if needed, a ssh server, and a login user. Choosing "disks=none" for now, yet, configure to store configs on the boot media (if it is writable, otherwise on a separate storage media). And afterwards calling lbu commit to store the configs as local backup. Then your completed setup, including its securely created own private keys, will readily get (re)loaded on every subsequent (headless) boot from your custom-build <hostname>.apkovl.tar.gz stored on the boot media (or on an auxilary media or server location, in case the boot media is read-only).
  4. Booting the target computer from the prepared disk or storage device.

The boot process of the alpine installation image first copies the entire operating system into the RAM memory, and then already starts a complete Alpine Linux system from there. It will initially only provide a basic command line environment that does not depend on reading from any (possibly slow) initial boot media, anymore.

Local log-in is possible as the user root. Initially, the root user has no password.

At the command prompt, an interactive script named setup-alpine is available to configure and install the initial Alpine Linux system.

The question-and-answer dialog of setup-alpine takes care of the base configuration and allows to configure the system to boot into one of three different Alpine Linux "disk" modes: "diskless"(none), "data", or "sys".

These modes are explained in more detail in the following subsections.

Note: It is really helpful for many cases that it is possible to first only complete a basic setup of the initial "diskless" installation media in order to prepare for the installation of the target system. For example, also to download and install some specific driver or software tool. And to possibly use more specific setup-scripts afterwards in order to proceed with the final installation in a custom way. A most basic pre-setup of just the "diskless" system may be completed by running setup-alpine and answering "none" when asked for the disk to use, for where to store configs, and for the location of the package cache.

Examples of preparation options:

  • Preparing a custom partitioning or filesystem scheme that avoids to use and/or overwrite an entire disk (details below).
  • Installing something that may be missing in the live system to configure the hardware, e.g. by using the alpine package manager apk.

Examples of proceeding options:

  • setup-lbu to configure a "local backup" location for the diskless system, and lbu commit to then save the local configuration state.
  • setup-apkcache to configure a local package cache storage location.
  • setup-disk to add a "data" mode partition, or do a classic full install of the "diskless" system onto a "sys" disk or partition.

There are many more setup-scripts available. All these tools may also be run later to adjust specific configurations. For example, to set up a graphical environment as covered under Post-Installation below.

Diskless Mode

This means the entire operating system with all applications are first loaded into RAM and then only run from there. This is the method already used to boot the .iso installation images, however setup-alpine can also configure the installed system to continue to boot like this if "disk=none" is specified. The mode is extremely fast and can save on unnecessary disk spin-ups, power, and wear. It is similar to what other linux distributions may call a "frugal" install or boot into with a "toram" option.

Custom configurations and package installations may optionally still be preserved or "persist" across reboots by using the Alpine local backup tool lbu. It enables committing and reverting system states by using .apkovl files that are saved to writable storage and loaded when booting. If additional or updated packages have been added to the system, these may also be made available for automatic (re)installation during the boot phase without any (re)downloading, by enabling a local package cache on the writable storage.

[FIXME-1: Storing local configs and the package cache on internal disks still require some manual steps to have the partition listed, i.e. making a /etc/fstab entry, mountpoint, and mount, *before* running setup-alpine. The linked workaround also still requires to commit these configurations to disk manually before rebooting.]

If a writable partition is available, setup-alpine can be told to store the configs and the package cache on that writable partition. (Later, another directory on that same partition or another available partition may also be mounted as /home, or for example, for selected important applications to keep their run-time and user data on it.)

The boot device of the newly configured local "diskless" system may remain the initial (and possibly read-only) installation media. But it is also possible to copy the boot system to a partition (e.g. /dev/sdXY) with setup-bootable.

Data Disk Mode

This mode also runs from system RAM, thus it enjoys the same accelerated operation speed as "diskless" mode. However, swap storage and the entire /var directory tree get mounted from a persistent storage device (two newly created partitions). The directory /var holds e.g. all log files, mailspools, databases, etc., as well as lbu backup commits and the package cache. This mode is useful for having RAM accelerated servers with variable amounts of user-data that exceed the available RAM size. It enables the entire current system state (not just the boot state) to survive a system crash in accordance with the particular filesystem guarantees.

[FIXME-2]: Setup-alpine will create the data partition and mount it as /var, but setup-alpine's "data" disk mode can not yet configure lbu config storage settings automatically. The current workaround, is to select "none" at the 'where to store configs' prompt (as the new data partition is not listed anyway) and configure lbu manually after setup-alpine exits, and before rebooting:

  1. Identify the created data partition, e.g. /dev/sdXY, and its filesystemtype, e.g. using lsblk
  2. Manually edit the lbu backups location in /etc/lbu/lbu.conf and configure LBU_MEDIA=sdXY (according to the previous findings).
  3. Save the configuration on that partition for the next boot with lbu commit.
  4. If (a new) partition fails to get mounted, execute: mkdir /media/sdXY ; echo "/dev/sdXY /media/sdXY fstype noauto,rw 0 0" >> /etc/fstab, and try lbu commit again.

In data disk mode, the boot device may also remain the initial (and possibly read-only) installation media, or be copied to a partition (e.g. /dev/sdXY) with setup-bootable.

System Disk Mode

This is a traditional hard-disk install.

If this mode is selected, the setup-alpine script creates three partitions on the selected storage device, /boot, swap and / (the filesystem root). This mode may, for example, be used for generic desktop and development machines.

For custom partitioning, see Setting up disks manually.

To install along side another operating systems, see Dualbooting.

Preparing for the installation

Note: This "Additional Details" section needs to be consolidated with the work at https://docs.alpinelinux.org (not finished) (Restructuring things there, moving and linking from here or there?).

Verifying the downloaded image-file

Commands to verify the checksum and GPG signature of a downloaded image-file on different systems.
OS type SHA256 check SHA256 calculation (to be compared manually) GPG signature verification
Linux sha256sum -c alpine-*.iso.sha256 curl https://alpinelinux.org/keys/ncopa.asc | gpg --import ;

gpg --verify alpine-<version>.iso.asc alpine-<version>.iso

MACOS - ? - shasum -a 256 alpine-*.iso - ? -
OpenBSD sha256 -C alpine-*.sha256 alpine-*.iso doas pkg_add gnupg;

ftp -o - https://alpinelinux.org/keys/ncopa.asc | gpg --import ; gpg --verify alpine-<version>.iso.asc alpine-<version>.iso

FreeBSD - ? - /usr/local/bin/shasum -a 256 alpine-*.iso - ? -
NetBSD - ? - /usr/local/bin/shasum -a 256 alpine-*.iso - ? -
Windows - ? - certutil -hashfile alpine-*.iso SHA256 - ? -

Flashing (direct data writing) the installation image-file onto a device or media

Note: These instructions are exclusively for x86_64 and x86. For ARM boards, see Alpine on ARM#Preparing installation media.

Unix/Linux

Under Unix (and thus Linux), "everything is a file" and the data in the image-file can be written to a device or media with the dd command. Afterward, executing the eject command removes the target device from the system and ensures the write cache is completely flushed.

dd if=<iso-file-to-read-in> of=<target-device-node-to-write-out-to> bs=4M; eject <target-device-node-to-write-to>

Be careful to correctly identify the target device as any data on it will be lost! All connected "bulk storage devices" can be listed with lsblk and blkid.

# lsblk
NAME            MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
sdX               0:0    0  64,0G  0 disk  
├─sdX1            0:1    0     2G  0 part  
└─sdX2            0:2    0    30G  0 part  /mnt/sdX2

# blkid
/dev/sdX1: LABEL="some" UUID="..." TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sdX2: LABEL="other" UUID="..." TYPE="ext4"

For example, if /dev/sdX is the desired target device, first make sure you un-mount all mounted partitions of the target device. For example sdX1 and sdX2:

umount /dev/sdX1 /dev/sdX2


For dd's output-file (of=), however, do not specify a partition number. For example, write to sdX, not sdX1:

Warning: This will overwrite the target device /dev/sdX, so before executing, make sure you have a backup of the data if you can't afford to lose it.

dd if=~/Downloads/alpine-standard-3.00.0-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M; eject /dev/sdX

Windows

For example, there is the Rufus program. Rufus will enable you to create bootable USB flash drives under Windows.

Rufus has been tested and works for Alpine Linux 3.12.x with the following settings:

  • Partition scheme: MBR
  • Target system: BIOS or UEFI
  • File system: FAT32
  • Cluster size: 4096 bytes (default)

Verifying the written installation media

After detaching and re-attaching the device, a bit-wise comparison can verify the data written to the device (instead of just data buffered in RAM). If the comparison terminates with an end-of-file error on the .iso file side, all the contents from the image have been written (and re-read) successfully:

# cmp ~/Downloads/alpine-standard-3.00.0-x86_64.iso /dev/sdX
cmp: EOF on alpine-standard-3.00.0-x86_64.iso

Booting from external devices

Insert the boot media to a proper drive or port of the computer and turn the machine on, or restart it, if already running.

If the computer does not automatically boot from the desired device, one needs to bring up the boot menu and choose the media to boot from. Depending on the computer, the menu may be accessed by repeatedly pressing a key quickly when booting starts. Some computers require that you press the button before starting the computer and hold it down while the computer boots. Typical keys are: F9-F12, sometimes F7 or F8. If these don't bring up the boot menu, it may be necessary to enter the BIOS configuration and adjust the boot settings, for which typical keys are: Del F1 F2 F6 or Esc.

Installation Step Details

Custom partitioning of the harddisk

It is possible to specify configurations for RAID, encryption, LVM, etc. as well as manual partitioning.

For "diskless" or "data disk" mode installs, manual partitioning may be needed to prepare the harddisk for committing local backups of the system state with lbu commit, to have a place for a package cache, or to use it for a /var mount.

For a "sys" install, custom partitioning is needed only if the desired scheme differs from overwriting an entire disk, or using the default set of a /boot, swap and root partition on the disk.

See Setting up disks manually for the alpine options for RAID, encryption, LVM, etc. and manual partitioning.

Questions asked by setup-alpine

Example setup-alpine session

The setup-alpine script offers the following configuration options:

  • Keyboard Layout (Local keyboard language and usage mode, e.g. us and variant of us-nodeadkeys.)
  • Hostname (The name for the computer.)
  • Network (For example, automatic IP address discovery with the "DHCP" protocol.)
  • DNS Servers (Domain Name Servers to query. If unsure, leave DNS domain name blank and using 9.9.9.9 2620:fe::fe for DNS is typically adequate.)
  • Root password (the password used to login to the root account)
  • Timezone (Optionally display times/dates in your local time zone)
  • HTTP/FTP Proxy (Proxy server to use for accessing the web/ftp. Use "none" for direct connections to websites and FTP servers.)
  • Mirror (From where to download packages. Choose the organization you trust giving your usage patterns to.)
  • Setup a user (Setting up a regular user account)
  • SSH (Secure SHell remote access server. "OpenSSH" is part of the default install image. Use "none" to disable remote login, e.g. on laptops.)
  • Disk Mode (Select between diskless (disk="none"), "data" or "sys", as described above.)
Warning: The data on a chosen device will be overwritten!


  • NTP (Network Time Protocol client used for keeping the system clock in sync with a time server. Package "chrony" is part of the default install image.)

Preparing for the first boot

If setup-alpine has finished configuring the "sys" disk mode, the system should be ready to reboot right away (see next subsection).

If the new local system was configured to run in "diskless" or "data" mode, and you do not want keep booting from the initial (and possibly read-only) installation media, the boot system needs to be copied to another device or partition.

The target partition may be identified using lsblk (after installing it with apk add lsblk) and/or blkid, similar to previously identifying the initial installation media device.

The procedure to copy the boot system is explained at setup-bootable

Once everything is in place, save your customized configuration with lbu commit before rebooting.

Rebooting and testing the new system

First, remove the initial installation media from the boot drive, or detach it from the port it's connected to.

The system may now be power-cycled or rebooted to confirm everything is working correctly.

The relevant commands for this are poweroff or reboot.

Completing the installation

The installation script installs only the base operating system. No applications e.g. web server, mail server, desktop environment, or web browsers are installed.

Please look under Post-Installation below, for some common things to do after installation.

Further Installation Instructions

Note: Specific topics should be kept on separate, individually manageable topic-pages and only get listed with a direct reference (link) on this general page.

Installation

Also see other Installation Category pages.

Post-Installation






Broader Usage Guides

General Documentation

Tip: Alpine Linux packages stay close to the upstream design. Therefore, all upstream documentation about configuring a software package, as well as good configuration guides from other distributions that stay close to upstream, e.g. those in the ArchWiki, are to a large degree, also applicable to configuring the software on Alpine Linux, thus can be very useful.

Setup Disk

This will setup the destination usage of the files

Witch disk choose to use?

To choose the disk destination .. commonly sda are the hard disk cos sdb the USB boot or CD/DVD image

How would be used?

Then choose type of installation .. those are described at Setup modes section at Alpine setup scripts wiki page. "sys" mode is the familiar install to disk well knowed for usage as main OS to computers.

After all a confirmation question will raised, type "y" if everything are ok and the setup will proceed to erase, format and copy the files to the destination disk choose!

Finishing the installation

After setup ends, a "reboot" will be offered. Type "reboot" and press enter and your newly installed virtual machine will be booted. Don't forget to remove the boot medium.

You cannot see a graphical window system? No problem. With Alpine, GUIs are made the right way. So if you need a desktop, you can install a desktop follow this link: Alpine newbie apk packages or go directly to Alpine newbie desktops

For other ways to install, see the Alpine_newbie_install_manual

Documents series

Previous required What's next to read
Alpine newbie install manual Alpine newbie apk packages

See Also

  1. Newbie_Alpine_Ecosystem
  2. Alpine newbie apk packages
  3. Alpine newbie desktops
  4. Alpine newbie developer
  5. Alpine newbie lammers