alpine-wiki

AlpineLinux with wlan settings.

The alpine wiki is a crap .. information is “less” so much people is just losing the patiente..

Before taking any copy from this document check Licensing clarifications at the end.

Introduction to Wireless devices

A “wifi” is a term to short name the Wireless most famous devices, but there are so many devices that are “wireless”, like bluetooh as the most moderns.. (in the past there are others like IR, etc).

The wifi devices are from two kind, the only pure network ones and the hybrid ones, this means that a pure network device just are a device to use linked to a network, but currently bluetooth is a network device but for paired devices, just like point to point, so nomadays curerntly almost any laptop wifi is also a bluetooth device too, we called those for convenience hybrid ones.

Also important, many laptops and special computers, have a hardware button (or switch) to turn off wireless card, however, sometimes this are a software switch by the vendor, so we can also be blocked by kernel if the card its well supported. This is only by the two important requirements, first by using rfkill (util-linux) and also if the module of the device is currently well and complete supported hardware.

Wifi status on Alpine linux

As any tech piece, we have hardware and software, so then a “wifi” is made by two parts:

The hardware as the module manager from kernel .. (like compiling rtl8192eu-linux or r8169)
The software interface.. (like installing wpa_supplicant or iwd programs)

Most linux distros just configures network-manager package that oversimplified the things, console setup is bit complicated but easyle covered, currently there is two options for, the wpa_supplicant and the newer iwd from Intel, this last with less usage cases.

Software	UI	WEXT	nl80211	WEP	WPA/2/3	WORKING apk alpine version
wireless_tools	Console	Yes	No	Yes	No	since 3.5
iw	Console	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	since 3.5
wpa_supplicant	Console	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	since 3.0
iwd	Console	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	since 3.15
network-manager	Con+Gui	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	since 3.12
connman	Console	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	since 3.12

The iwd packages exits since 3.10 but only since 3.15 has support for right autentications protocols. The package networkmanager and his applet are since 3.6 but only working applet was noted since Alpine 3.12 due right setup of permissions.

Note the networkmanager and connman packages has wifi management but are only frontend interfaces and relies heavily over the iwd or wpa_supplicant backends.

The iwd claims to be the future of wireless networking on linux, but even this has unfinished issues, it still doesn’t cover the vast amount of configurations and has only been tested on common computers just check https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues/13048#note_305688 the mayor feature of alpine is the mayor problem, minimalist and simplicity.

Configuration of alpine wifi

Due the huge problem that represent the hardware, we only will covert software interface, and we will assume you already have the modules already compiled into the kernel, nowadays this is easily handled by installing the firmware packages and only few devices too recents represents minor problems, such instalation is partialy covered as necesary.

Warning if in our telegram channel you called “driver” to a module kernel, you will be punished.. a driver is a person that drive a car! right?

1 - software requirements and network lack

You will need the packages, but if you dont have network how you can grab the packages?

Then you will be offered the possible cases where you will need to configure the Wi-Fi, first, when you do not have cable or telephone internet, second when you have at least external internet and third when you have cable internet:

Option 1 grab the packages manually

If you cannot setup wired network, you can use direct download of the packages and later put into your alpine computer, using USB.. this is easy but tedious, cos you need to grab the file and compute the dependeces by searching each package in the web search interface (yew only in the web cos in your alpine you dont have index generated).

Go to the package search web at https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages
Fill the field Package name with wpa_supplicant with carte.
Change edge branch by your alpine version, this tutorial will assume alpine 3.12 only.
Fill field arch with your architecture, use uname -m as reference but not exact value.
Now hit enter, will show you one or two results, hit into the package name
After package shows, at the right side you can view the dependencies, lest make a list:
On a text file, made list of those names, later hit and click each then and do the same.
You will finish list when all the dependences will be already present in your list.
Go to http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/version/flavor/arch/ for the files

This method is most common to cases like tvboxes, raspberrys, or small devices that dont have wired network devices and the ISO/IMG of installation media does not provide all the packages.

Option 2 using a local mirror

This means you already have a local copy of the main repository, or a local copy of all the hole repository of alpine packages, but the x86 (i386) and x86_64 (amd64) installation media provides extended instalation isos that have in the media all the necesary packages and only few are missing.

Go to http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/
now visit the version you need to install, for x86 older 32bit use 3.12 as max
go to /releases/arch/ and download alpine-extended-version-arch.iso

When you perform the installation, you can grap the package cos the ISO media is already listed as a repository. If not, you can copy the entire repository locally and each need package taken from it manually.

Option 3 easyle use a wired connetion first

The most easy option is to first use a wired connetion that provides internet, so you can easyle install the necesary packages to perform the wifi setup.

Option 4 using the USB ISO file as media repository

This means you already have the source instalation media as a USB boot phisical medium like USBstick or USBdrive, and can you put it on the installed Alpine linux to later mount and use as source media CDROM repository:

You of course must have already installed Alpine linux
Put the already USB in to a port and try to mount in /media/cdrom
- You must guess which device is your USB stick, use blkid command to identify then
- The output of the command will show some string, your usb label will appears
- Note the path device of your indentification USB, its the first one like /dev/sdg
Now mount the USB media as the iso, like mount /dev/sdg1 /media/cdrom -t vfat if not then try /dev/sdg1
Now run command echo "/media/cdrom/apk" > /etc/apk/repositories as root
After run such command you can now foward to the next section “install the packages”

Option 5 using the USB VENTOY with the ISO as media repository

This means you already have the source instalation media as a ISO file in a phisical medium like USBstick or USBdrive, and can you put it on the installed Alpine linux to later mount the ISO and use as source media repository:

You of course must have already installed Alpine linux
Put the already USB in to a port and try to mount in /mnt
- You must guess which device is your USB sctick, use blkid command to identify then
- The output of the command will show some string, your usb label will appears
- Note the path device of your indentification USB, its the first one like /dev/sdg
Now mount the USB media as the iso, like mount /dev/sdg1 /mnt -t vfat
The USB is ventoy so copy the iso file as cp /mnt/alpine*.iso /
When copy complete, umount the USB with umount /mnt
Now you have the ISO file, mount it as CDROM mount /alpine*.iso /media/cdrom -t iso9660
Now run command echo "/media/cdrom/apk" > /etc/apk/repositories as root
After run such command you can now foward to the next section “install the packages”

Option 6 using the burned CDROM media from the iso file

This means you already have the source instalation media recorded as a CDROM/DVDROM as phisical medium, and can you put it on the optical drive of your computer, this media source ISO CDROM/DVDROM must be the EXTENDED ISO image, and you wil use it as source repository:

You of course must have already installed Alpine linux
Put the already burned CD/DVD source media of Alpine in the optincal drive
Now mount the source disc media as mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom -t iso9660
Now run command echo "/media/cdrom/apk" > /etc/apk/repositories as root
After run such command you can now foward to the next section “install the packages”

2 - Install the packages

Wireless need a special packages, the package iwd is available since 3.10 but ther are two problems for Alpine Linux since 3.10 to 3.15 releases:

It depends on dbus the is not included in all ISOS/IMG install images.
Work only on common laptops/desktops: https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues/13048#note_305688**

So yeah.. we will use the old and fiable methods, later we will provide another tutorial with iwd:

apk add wireless-tools wpa_supplicant linux-firmware util-linux

Those are the minimal packages to work, linux-firmware is a huge package because at this point we dont know which firmwares will need for your wifi card so if you already have wired method internet, just install all the need packages (otherwise you must download a huge amount of packages as linux-firmware-xxx etc):

apk add wireless-tools wpa_supplicant dbus-libs libnl3 pcsc-lite-libs linux-firmware util-linux arch-install-scripts

Warning since Alpine 3.15 the rfkill program is at util-linux-misc package, and not in the util-linux package cos was splited so we forced with arch-install-scripts package!

3 - configure wireless devices

check the devices availables

First of all check wich is your interface network device for wireless and is active:

rfkill list

This will show you the current names of the devices only if are wireless, also will show you bluetooh mixed ones, so be care with the name of which device will you use.

This document will assume the device named wlan0 from such command.
At the output if the line Soft blocked says no the device can be used or activated.
At the output if the line Hard blocked says no the device can be used.
If you receive yes, run rfkill unblock wifi but this depends of kernel module support
If the module has not complete support of the hardware, this will be limited or impossible.

check the availables wifis

Use the interface to scan for wireless access points, we need to check and make sure the ESSID you want to connect to appears:

iwlist scanning | grep ESSID

The output will show the available “wifi’s” (SSID’s), lest assume your one is named mywifi this document will use the SSID named mywifi to make the practice.

create the coifiguration wpa

Next, create a “wpa_supplicant” configuration stanza for the wireless access point:

echo "ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev" > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_passphrase 'mywifi' 'thepasswordwifi' >> /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

The commands just help to initialize the configuration file.

This will be a minimal file, but this may need some extra configurarions depending of the network setup or the device using, by example some USB network devices change the MAC address ramdownly that produces problems for routers.. so a complete recommended setup is then:

# recommended, for idetification check wikipedia ISO/IEC country code list
country=VE

# this depends of the alpine package configuration, just use it as is or use /run for:
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

# wpa_supplicant initiates scanning of the wifi's (SSID AP) and 
# the option 0 is only for special wired and option 2 for specifics purposes
# e.g., with ndiswrapper to enable operation with hidden SSIDs and optimized roaming
ap_scan=1

# Automatic scan for SSID and chosse one if routers are not 100% online
# but ignored if If sched_scan_plans are configured and supported by the driver
# here a delay of 120 seconds will be used on each scan.. if you only have one SSID
# and if you only have good signal (over 80%) just put this to 300
autoscan=periodic:160

# Disable automatic offloading of scan requests (sched_scan) by the module kernel
disable_scan_offload=1

# general MAC address policy default 0 = permanet
mac_addr=0

# 0 = use permanent MAC address for pre-association operations (scanning, ANQP)
preassoc_mac_addr=0

# 0 = use permanent MAC address for GAS operations
gas_rand_mac_addr=0

# now lest improve the SSID wifi setup to connect:

network={
    # name of the wifi of the router to connect, the SSID AP
        ssid="mywifi"
    #psk="thepasswordwifi"
        psk=eec720af4bf770f83e9cd7d425d1ced46e0ca7e2df9be8745e4a16f810677ce4
    # this tell to wpa to use this before the other that have priority=2 or priority=1
        priority=3
    # this is an indentification, can be a string name short but no symbols allowed
        id_str="mywifi"
}

So then the configuration for a password WPA/WPA2 wifi will be:

country=VE
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
ap_scan=1
autoscan=periodic:160
disable_scan_offload=1
mac_addr=0
preassoc_mac_addr=0
gas_rand_mac_addr=0
network={
        ssid="mywifi"
        psk=eec720af4bf770f83e9cd7d425d1ced46e0ca7e2df9be8745e4a16f810677ce4
        priority=3
        id_str="mywifi"
}

So then the configuration for a password less or no-password free wifi will be:

country=VE
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
ap_scan=1
autoscan=periodic:120
disable_scan_offload=1
mac_addr=0
preassoc_mac_addr=0
gas_rand_mac_addr=0
network={
        ssid="mywifi"
        key_mgmt=NONE
        priority=3
        id_str="mywifi"
}

4 - testing the configuration

Start wpa_supplicant in the foreground to make sure the connection succeeds.

wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

This will take the console output when is running, this is just for testing. just stop by pressing CRTL and C key at the same time.

5 - Automatic Configuration on System Boot

Alpine already has a configuration tool, but is just script that writes to the /etc/network/interfaces with pretty limited feature, so again minimalist shit, lest take own and made master usage of the onfigurations:

check if your lo interface is present and working
check if you machine already have other devices such eth0 and maybe eth1 or both
check if both or at least lo is already present in the /etc/network/interfaces
open with editor (vi busybox by default) the file /etc/network/interfaces
get sure auto lo is first and followed by iface lo inet loopback or add it
then only put similar for eth0 and such kind of devices as iface eth0 inet dhcp
now add the wlan0 part of the network wifi interface but this one must have the SSID
use the metric keyword to determine the device that will be use for internet as primary

So the file will be:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
	metric 2

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
	wireless-essid mywifi
	wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
	metric 1

So the bring the interface down to reconnect to the network, and later then start the service of the wireless conecctions, later then confiugure at boot:

ifconfig wlan0 down

/etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant start

rc-update add wpa_supplicant boot

Note : If this errors with ioctl 0x8914 failed: No error information, that’s busybox ip’s way of saying your wireless radio is rfkill’d, for information on how to unblock your wireless radio; the base installation should have busybox rfkill available, check the section check the devices availables.

Warning Hardware buttons to toggle wireless cards are handled by vendor specific kernel modules. Frequently, these are WMI modules. Particularly for very new hardware models, it happens that the model is not fully supported in the latest stable kernel yet. In this case, it often helps to search the kernel bug tracker for information and report the model to the maintainer of the respective vendor kernel module, if it has not happened already.

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:

BY – Credit must be given to the creator of each content respectivelly, starting at the first contributor.
NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted, with exceptions if you fill an issue here!
SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms, you must obey this terms and do not change it.

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