Alpine Linux
Linux distribution based on musl and BusyBox / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alpine Linux is a Linux distribution designed to be small, simple, and secure.[3] It uses musl, BusyBox, and OpenRC instead of the more commonly used glibc, GNU Core Utilities, and systemd.[4][5][6][7][8] This makes Alpine one of few Linux distributions not to be based on the GNU Core Utilities.[9]
Developer | Alpine Linux development team |
---|---|
OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
Working state | Active |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | August 2005; 18 years ago (2005-08)[1] |
Latest release | 3.19.1 / 26 January 2024; 2 months ago (2024-01-26)[2] |
Repository | |
Marketing target | General-purpose. Security, embedded systems and other resource-constrained systems, such as containers.[3] |
Available in | Multilingual |
Package manager | apk-tools |
Platforms | |
Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux) |
Userland | BusyBox |
Default user interface | Ash |
Official website | alpinelinux |
For security, Alpine compiles all user-space binaries as position-independent executables with stack-smashing protection.[10]
Because of its small size and rapid startup, it is commonly used in containers providing quick boot-up times,[11][12] on virtual machines as well as on real hardware in embedded devices, such as routers, servers and NAS.[citation needed]