Alpine Linux is a small, simple and secure Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox. For questions related to the Alpine.js framework, use the tag [alpine.js].
The Alpine Linux distribution is born from a fork of another Linux project called LEAF (Linux Embedded Appliance Framework Project) that was itself forked from a project aimed at keeping a Linux distribution fitting on a floppy disk.
With its light-weighted approach, Alpine is very popular for embedded systems and containers alike, as it also offers quick boot-up time. A container running Alpine would take no more than 8 MB; while an installation on a disk would require around 130 MB.
This small size is also achieved with simplicity in mind. Alpine uses its own package manager, called apk and is coming with a really limited set of tools:
- musl, for a minimal libc
- openrc, as the init system
- the coreutils of busybox
Alpine is making use of techniques like Position Independent Executables (PIE) and stack smashing protection, which protects the OS from some common vulnerabilities.
