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Alpine Linux

Small. Simple. Secure.

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Alpine Linux is an independent, non-commercial, general purpose Linux distribution built around musl libc and busybox. It is designed for power users who want a security-oriented, lightweight environment that stays out of the way. A container can run in roughly 8 MB, and a minimal installation to disk uses around 130 MB of storage, while still providing a complete Linux environment and access to a large package repository.

The distribution uses its own package manager, apk, along with the OpenRC init system and script-driven setup. Binary packages are split and thinned out so users can control what they install. Alpine Linux is built with security in mind: userland binaries are compiled as Position Independent Executables (PIE) with stack smashing protection. It is intended for projects ranging from home PVRs and iSCSI storage controllers to mail server containers and embedded switches. Alpine Linux is distributed as a free, open-source operating system; no paid editions, trials, or seat-based licensing are described.

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