User:Ncopa

From Alpine Linux
Revision as of 19:22, 28 February 2010 by Ncopa (talk | contribs) (→‎APKBUILD Reference: functions)

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About

Alpine Linux is an x86 Linux distribution suitable for firewalls, routers, VPN gateways, lightweight servers (http, sql, mail), resque livecd or other embedded devices.

Lightweight

Alpine is based on and busybox (and are thus not a GNU/Linux distro).

The base system, excluding the kernel, is less than 2MB. That includes:

  • the C library runtime, uclibc
  • standard tools from busybox (cp, ls, mv, wget, iproute, nc etc)
  • package manager, apk-tools
  • openrc init system

Proactive security

The default kernel is patched with the grsecurity patches and provides features like:

  • Address Space Randomization Layout
  • Memeory protection

Alpine Linux is a run-from RAM linux distribution. Its original target was small appliances like routers, VPN gateways, or embedded x86 devices. However, it supports hosting other Linux guest OSes under VServer control, making it an attractive hosting solution as well.

It can boot from a 1GB USB stick, CDrom, or hard drive. Packages compiled against uClibc are pulled into RAM for execution. All packages are compiled with grsecurity patches and SSP to provide a secure runtime environment. The lbu backup system stores all changes to /etc (and custom changes) to the boot media, making system disaster recovery brain-dead simple.

APKBUILD Reference

APKBUILDs are scripts to build alpine packages using the abuild tool.

Variables

depends
Runtime dependencies that are not shared-object dependencies.
depends_dev
Runtime dependencies for -dev subpackage.
install
pre/post install/deinstall/remove scripts
license
License(s) for the package.
makedepends
Build time dependencies
options
build time options for package. Valid values are currently only !strip for avoid stripping the binaries.
pkgdesc
Short package description.
pkggroups
Groups to be created during buildtime
pkgname
The name of the package. All letters should be lowercase. Lua libraries/modules should be prefixed with lua- (for example lua-posix), perl modules with perl- (for example perl-xml-parser), php modules with php- and python modules with py--.
pkgusers
Users to be created during buildtime
pkgver
The package version.
replaces
package(s) that this package replaces. Useful when files moves
source
URL(s) to sources and patches
subpackages
Subpackages built from this APKBUILD.
url
The homepage for the package. This is to help users find upstream developer, documentation etc.

from one package to another.

Functions

The following functions are expected to be there

prepare
Optional. Build preparation. Here should patches etc be applied. This is function is for convenience while working with the APKBUILD.
build
Required. This is the compilation stage. This function will be called as normal user (unless the package() function is missing - for compatibility reasons)
package
"Required. In this function the built application and files should be installed in "$pkgdir".