Tag: Alpine

Download and verify installation media Download the installation media You should obtain the appropriate install media as well as sha256 and GnuPG signatures for that media.

Partitioning on the Linux command line Partitioning information in the official Alpine Linux User’s Handbook For this guide we only consider two types of install: BIOS to ‘msdos’-type partition table (disklabel) and UEFI to gpt partition table.

Add and use filesystem tools Overview You need to add the tools that will let you format/create one or more additional volumes/filesystems of your choice.

Copy tarball to boot under Gnome Steps Screenshots are from GNOME but most GUI desktops are similar. Select install tarball wherever you have it downloads (often in your Downloads directory), right-click and select ‘Extract To…’ Browse to the boot partition of the SD card Select the boot partition of the SD card as extraction destination The result will be a directory containing the boot files on the boot partition; we actually want the files in the top-level (root) of the boot partition.

Prepare SD card using GNOME Disks Procedure Start with an empty (unpartitioned, unformatted) SD card. If you disk is not empty, you will need to do a search on how to clean the disk and create an msdos disklabel (aka partition table).

Daniel’s documentation for using Alpine Linux for local servers on x86-64 and Raspberry Pi family. These documents use only the ‘main’ repository, except in one or more optional HowTo guides.

Configure off-system backups Overview This guide uses only tools included in the base configuration of Alpine Linux. It is only suitable for cases where your backups are small, or you have a very reliable network connection.

Creating initial boot media Create the initial boot image Obtain and verify install tarball Prepare your SD card Do pre-boot tweaks

Do pre-boot tweaks On Windows 10 TBD On Linux GUI (GNOME) Screenshots are from GNOME but other GUI desktops are similar On Mac OS TBD

Guides for setting kernel parameters Overview These vary with architecture and specific device Linux kernel guide to its parameters https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html A suggested tweak Adding consoleblank=300 can be a nice addition to the kernel commandline.

Hardware-specific tweaks and configuration Systems with No RTC (real-time clock) Includes the Raspberry Pi family of SBC (single board computers). Disable hwclock (if enabled; on the Raspberry Pi it has already been disabled).

HowTos In alphabetical order Add etckeeper for ‘/etc’ backup Add etckeeper git remote and push on commit Add on-system documentation, including the ‘man’(ual) command Add nano and use as default editor

Important post-install configuration Overview The following are not part of the base install, but either can be essential to system function (like adding boot entropy for some headless systems like the Raspberry Pi) or are widely accepted best practices (like creating a non-root admin user and limiting time spent as root).

Kernel and hardware notes Guides for setting kernel parameters Hardware-specific tweaks and configuration

Obtain and verify install tarball Obtain the official Alpine Linux image Choose tarball to download based on the model of Pi you have Partial table of model of Raspberry Pi to Linux kernel max architecture available (where aarch64 > armv7 > armhf).

Prepare your SD card Partition the SD card On Windows 10 Using built-in GUI ‘Disk Management’ feature TBD Using diskpart TBD Using PowerShell TBD On Linux (many distros) GUI Using Gnome ‘Disks’ applet

Setup network required for package installation Use Alpine Linux setup sub-scripts for network/DNS Execute setup-keymap # To make sure you can successfully do keyboard input Execute setup-hostname.

Use Alpine Linux on Raspberry Pi as a server Special Notes NOTE: For boot to succeed /media/mmcblk0p1/usercfg.txt must exist. See kernel parameters and device-tree settings for information on what you can set in that file.

Add etckeeper Overview While the LBU mechanism with backups allows restoring to previous state it lacks commented history. Done right, etckeeper will lead to a better record of what changes you made to the configuration and why, which improves your ability to recreate what you did, as well as understand why you did what you did.

Add etckeeper git remote for pushing on commit Overview Tracking configuration changes in etckeeper is great, but even better is storing in an off-system private repository, preferably one with a decent web interface to the repo (makes browsing the repo much friendlier).

Add man pages and other on-system docs Overview Unless you have packages that are ’expensive’ either in terms of the memory they use while operating or in terms of the amount space they take up (since in Alpine ‘data’ (and in ‘diskless’) mode packages are stored in RAM while the system is booted) you should have plenty of available RAM and storage to add the online documentation (mostly in the form of man pages).

Add nano and use as default editor Overview For many users vi (the default editor for Alpine) is difficult and confusing to use. Even if that is not the case for you, if you find it helpful to have the same experience as others you wish to help, you might implement this for your own use as well.

Add packages for pre-mount filesystem check Overview Where possible it is a best practise to check your filesystem before mounting them (especially read-write) to ensure you are not working with a corrupted (and further damaging a) filesystem.

Add tmux Overview Tmux is a handle tool that gives the ability to have multiple (text) windows in a single terminal session. In addition, if you get disconnected from the terminal (e.

Commit LBU Overview Once you are sure everything is correct for the initial boot into your configured system, commit your changes Do the commit (unencrypted) For the initial commit and reboot, use an unencrypted LBU (to make sure everything works).

Configure SSH for public key access only Overview Disallowing SSH login with only a username and password is a well known security best practise, therefore we implement it.

Create a non-root admin user Avoid operating as root, where possible It is generally considered an administrative best practise to avoid logging in and/or operating with elevated privileges, to the extent reasonable to do so.

Create semi-data/semi-diskless install Overview This guide presumes you are booted into a fresh install media (no stored configuration). It further presumes that neither the pure diskless configuration from the Alpine wiki, the data configuration from the Alpine wiki, nor the system disk (classic) configuration from the Alpine wiki suits your situation.

Edit message of the day (MOTD) Overview The existing message of the day (MOTD) includes: You can setup the system with the command: setup-alpine You may change this message by editing /etc/motd.

Enable enhanced shell prompt Add colour and context information to prompt. Overview /etc/profile and the ‘.sh’ scripts in /etc/profile.d are sourced on every invocation of the ‘ash’ (default Alpine/Busybox shell) as well as the ‘bash’ shell when launched as a login shell.

Firstboot troubleshooting Overview Uh-oh. The reboot after initial setup didn’t work. Now what? Problems and solutions TBD

For headless systems, add boot entropy Overview As mentioned in Raspberry Pi - Alpine Linux under ‘Troubleshooting: Long boot time when running headless’, some systems might take an excessively long time to boot when no peripherals are attached (not only with the Pi series).

Recommended tweaks and configuration Overview Assuming the reboot was successful, it is time to make your system more useful. Otherwise see Firstboot troubleshooting Commit changes at your preferred granularity Don’t forget that these changes will not survive reboot unless you commit your changes.

Server install & configure Overview This set of guides and recommendations is aimed at the use of Alpine as your local servers on physical hardware where you have access to the console on boot.

Use encrypted LBU Overview Unless you need headless, or unattended reboots or power up (e.g. after power loss), it is highly recommended to use an encrypted configuration backup.

Use modified ‘setup-alpine’ procedure Overview You’ll want to be careful during the LBU configuration and APK cache configuration sections using the default setup-alpine script. You also need to have pre-mounted the partition(s) that will hold the LBU and APK cache (see Create semi-data/semi-diskless install).