alpine-wiki

Script setup-alpine

This script is the main install program for Alpine linux, only can run as root.

Table of Contents

Log in as root and press enter. No password will be asked for if you’re running from the boot image.

Environment variables before run

At the bash prompt you can export those environment variables that the scripts will handle it automatically:

Note The followin variables are only handle by setup-disk and setup-bootable

Note The following variables one only supported by the setup-alpine and others

Warning Check the complete support of scripts from Setup scripts section.

Running setup alpine script

Run the setup-alpine script as shown in the image:

The script interactively walks the user through executing several auxiliary setup-* scripts, in the order shown below.

The bracketed options represent example configuration choices, formatted as they may be supplied when manually calling the independing setup scripts, or using a setup-alpine “answerfile” using the variable environments prevously cited.

Select keyboard layout

Choose your keyboard layout. If you don’t know your keyboard layout, choose us. Typically, for a Latin American environment, es is enough. For Russian (and maybe Cyrilic) ru is sufficient.

Note check setup-keymap script at Setup scripts section.

Select keyboard variant

Choose your keyboard variant. If you don’t know your keyboard variant, choose the default from the list. For example, the typical Latin American keymap is es-winkeys.

Note check setup-keymap script at Setup scripts section.

Enter system hostname

Host name, which will be the name of your computer. using localhost is enough and recommended for testing purposes because permits apply mostly to how-tos and tutorials on the wiki pages.

Note check setup-hotname script at Setup scripts section.

Initialize network cards

Choose your network card. Typically, you can just go with the default (press enter), a second question will ask about any other configuration. Type “no” then press enter to bypass the step to property set up after installation finished property.

IMPORTANT NOTE: mostly in x86 and x64 ISO images we can let configurations for later, cos at the most modern the network card, the lest supported or still not well tested. Just type done and press enter. If you configured the wired interface, another question will be asked, use dhcp? Most people will use DHCP, so press enter again. If you have Internet connection from ISP, most settings are just DHCP, so all will be configured automatically.

Note check setup-networking script at Setup scripts section.

Warning check ../tutorials/alpine-tutorial-wifi-routering.md

Initialize network DNS

The DNS will be automatically detected, if not, you will be asked ask for the server addresses. Type “” (empty string) for domain, then press enter. Later you can change it to 8.8.8.8 (or the DNS server address of your choice) as shown in the picture. Press enter to go to the next question:

Note check setup-dns script at Setup scripts section.

Changing the root password

Next a root password must be defined. You’ll need to type it twice for confirmation as the picture shows. If it’s too short you will get a warning, but your password will still work. Just retype it and go.
Note: when you type, NO chars will be shown.

Which timezone to choose?

Select a timezone, just press enter to use UTC when perform a single installation.

Note check setup-timezone script at Setup scripts section.

Proxy chooser

Then setup script will ask for proxy chooser.. just type none and then press enter

Note check setup-proxy script at Setup scripts section.

Enter mirror number

Then setup script will ask for repository mirror chooser.. just type done and then press enter, this will be configure many times later during usage of the system. Almost any tutorial of newbie pages will explain detailed so lest bypass using “done”.

Note check setup-apkrepos script at Setup scripts section.

Which ssh server?

Installing an SSH server enables you to manage your machine remotely. OpenSSH is what the big distros use. Dropbear is a tiny SSH replacement. Recommended to type openssh and then press enter, because you able to connect using command line from Unix-like systems also is the offline available in all alpine installer images.

Note check setup-sshd script at Setup scripts section.

Which NTP client to run?

This is for time sync. Press enter to use the image offline. It can be changed after installation.

Note check setup-ntp script at Setup scripts section.

Script setup-disk choose the target device

This script its called at last from setup-alpine, it will mount a target device, wil try to partitioned and copy the data to the target device. Those are the questions that wil be prompt if you just invoke by default:

Check the setup disk next section for specific script options

After a while the installation will finish and alpine can be booted

Setup scripts

setup-hostname

setup-hostname [-h] [-n hostname]

setup-interfaces

setup-interfaces [-i < interfaces-file]

setup-dns

setup-dns [-h] [-d domain name] [-n name server]

setup-disk

This script its invoked by setup-alpine and as the same it support the following enviroment variables:

Those are the most working options to parse to the script, only supported if you runs directly, not if you parse it to setup-alpine script:

Data modes

In “sys” mode, it’s an installer, it permanently installs Alpine on the hole target partition, in “data” mode, it provides a larger and persistent /var volume on the hole target partition.

data - Data Disk Mode

This mode runs OS from system RAM install media, but using swap and /var persistent.

If this mode is selected, script creates two partitions on the selected storage device asked by setup-disk firts question, /var and swap respectivelly. this setup is used for special server deploys or minimal devices deploys like ARM devices.

sys - System Disk Mode

This is a traditional hard-disk install.

If this mode is selected, script creates three partitions on the selected storage device asked by setup-disk firts question, /boot, / and swap respectivelly. this setup is used for generic desktop and development machines, or server bare metal deploys.

ram - Diskless Mode

This means the entire operating system with all applications are first loaded into RAM and then only run from there. This is the method already used to boot the .iso installation images, however setup-alpine can also configure the installed system to continue to boot like this if “disk=none” is specified.

Custom configurations and package installations may optionally still be preserved or “persist” across reboots by using the Alpine local backup tool lbu.

setup-timezone

setup-timezone [-z UTC | -z America/New_York | -p EST+5]

setup-proxy

setup-proxy [-hq] [PROXYURL]

setup-apkrepos

setup-apkrepos [-fhr] [REPO...]

setup-sshd

setup-sshd [-h] [-c dropbear|openssh|none]

setup-ntp

setup-ntp [-h] [busybox|openntpd|chrony|none]

setup-bootable

Setup boot loaders, it’s not invoked directly by setup-alpine but it triggers by setup-disk if you choose sys or data mode.

setup-bootable [-usfk] source [dest]

Those are the options:

Licensing clarifications

CC BY-NC-SA: the project allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creators involved. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms, includes the following elements:

https://codeberg.org/alpine/alpine-wiki/src/branch/main#license

See also

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