='''Part 1'''=

== Background ==

[[File:Alpinelogo.png | right]]

[http://alpinelinux.org Alpine Linux] is a free, small, and easy to install Linux distribution that began as a fork of the LEAF project (Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall). The main focus of this distribution is security. It boasts features such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PaX Pax] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack-smashing_protection#GCC_Stack-Smashing_Protector_.28ProPolice.29 SSP](stack smashing protocol), it also prevents security hole exploitations. Alpine is designed for x86 Routers, VPNs (virtual private network), [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP VoIP] servers, and firewalls. This distribution is a unique blend of others, the network configuration is like Debian's and the package management is similar to RedHat's yum, and Arch Linux's PKGBUILDs (APKBUILD in Alpine). Its minuscule size is one of the main features of this distribution, this results in an ISO size of around 51 MBs.

Alpine is available in 3 possible versions. The standard/stable release which has most common packages installed and is less prone to crashing or fatal errors. Alternatively there is the edge release, this is the latest release with the newest packages, unfortunately these releases are more likely to suffer errors. The final release is the mini version, this release only comes with basic packages, but it is stable and incredibly small.

Alpine is available at [http://alpinelinux.org/downloads alpinelinux.org/downloads].
while the edge releases are available at http://nl.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/releases/x86/

== Installation ==

One of the unique features of Alpine is its simplicity and ease of use. This is evident in its installation process which is as follows.

'''For a real instal'''
*Step 1: [http://alpinelinux.org/downloads] Download ISO.
*Step 2: Burn to a CD.
*Step 3: Boot from CD, wait for an input prompt and login as root with no password.
*Step 4: Type setup-alpine, hit enter, and then follow the on screen instructions. Alternately refer to the next section for a walkthrough.

'''For a Virtual Machine instal'''
*Step 1: [http://alpinelinux.org/downloads] Download ISO.
*Step 2: Mount ISO onto a virtual drive.
*Step 3: Make a new Linux machine and boot from the virtual drive.
*Step 4: Type setup-alpine, hit enter, and then follow the on screen instructions. Alternately refer to the next section for a walkthrough.

'''Detailed Setup Walkthrough'''
The first thing setup-alpine will ask you to do is to pick your keyboard layout. You have many choices, like US, Russian, and Japanese. To pick a US layout, simply type us. It will then ask which variant you want to use, us-acentos or us, type us. The next step is to pick the hostname (like 'foo' or 'system'), type whatever you want to name your system. Once a name has been chosen, a interface must be initialized, the only options are eth0 so just hit enter. After this comes more options, we will skip these for now and go with the default options by just hitting enter. Next a password must be chosen, enter in whatever you like, alpine will tell you how strong of a password it is, following this it will ask you to retype it to make sure you remember it. Now you must select a timezone, you can type ? for a list of available ones or just hit enter for the default. Finally, you must pick a mirror or type f to pick the fastest. Following this are more advanced options, we will just skip these by entering the default by hitting enter.

== Basic Operation ==

Many basic linux commands work similarly in alpine. For example "ps" will list the processes and "ls" followed by a file will list its contents. However the man pages are not installed by default due to their size, but these pages can be installed by typing "apk add man" followed by "apk add" the package you want "-doc". For example, if you wanted the man pages for iptables, you must simply type "apk add iptables-doc" and then you can access the iptables man page.

Alpine Linux excels at servers, firewalls, and networks, none of which I have any experience with. Thankfully the website offers some tutorials (available at http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Tutorials_and_Howtos) for a multitude of features. These features include, but are not limited to; hosting a mail server, setting up a satellite Internet connection, formatting a hard drive, and backing up flash memory.

== Usage Evaluation ==

Overall I found Alpine Linux to be a complicated yet interesting system. This is most likely due to my lack of networking and server knowledge. The system has no GUI, it is just a terminal, this is likely due to the desire to keep the file size down. In the end this is a interesting and, I assume, competent Linux distribution, although definitely not meant for people who are new to Linux.

= '''Part 2''' =

==Software Packaging==

'''Packaging Format'''

Software packages for Alpine Linux are tar.gz archives containing
programs, files, and dependency. They have the extension .apk", also
called "a-packs."

The packages are stored in one or more repositories(a directory with a
collection of *.apk files and an index file, named APKINDEX.tar.gz).

'''Listing Packages'''

With Alpine Linux the method for listing all packages and their descriptions is to type
"apk search -v." This will give you a list of packages with their functions.

'''Adding Packages'''

Packages can be added by using "add" to install packages and any required dependencies. If you have
more than one repository, the add command installs the newest package. Just type "apk add package-name" where package-name is the name of the package you would like to install.

'''Removing Packages'''

Packages can be removed by using "del" to delete packages and its dependencies. Just type "apk del package-name" where package-name is the name of the package you would like to delete.

'''Catalog'''

Due to Alpine Linux's small size and portable nature, it has fewer
packages than most. There are 365 .apk files on disk, compared to the
37,000 total packages in Ubuntu.

'''Major Package Versions'''

{| border="1"
|-
! Package
! Definition
! Version
! Website
! Purpose
|-
| Kernel
| The kernel with grsecurity
| 3.0.8
| http://grsecurity.net
| A kernel is required
|-
| libc
| A library for c
| 0.9.32
| http://uclib.org
| A c library is required
|-
| Lua
| A powerful, lightweight programming language
| 5.1.4
| http://www.lua.org
| Many programs on Alpine are dependent on it.
|-
| Fetchmail
| A remote mail retrieval and forwarding utility
| 6.3.21
| http://fetchmail.berlios.de
| To allow mail operations
|-
| Kamailio
| An open source SIP proxy
| 3.2.0
| http://kamailio.org
| To enhance security
|-
| Pearl
| Pearl (Practical Extraction and Report Language)
| 5.14.2
| http://www.pearl.org
| Allows for pearl development
|-
| Samba
| Tools to access a server's filespace and printers
| 3.6.1
| http://samba.org
| Helps server manipulation
|-
| Shorewall
| A fire wall
| 4.2.10
| http://shorewall.net
| To enhance security
|-
| Squid
| A full-featured web proxy cache server
| 3.2.0.12
| http://www.squid-cache.org
| To enhance security
|-
| Util-Linux
| A collection of Linux utilities
| 2.20
| http://kernel.org/~kzak/util-linux/
| Allows for more versatility in Linux
|}

'''Initialization'''

Every time the system starts, the package alpine-init is run. This package tells all the other packages when they are to initialize. The following is the load order the last time I booted the system.

[[File:Alps.png| thumb | right| A typical initialization]]

* /proc is mounted (if it is not already)
* /run is mounted so things may be run
* Server dependencies are cached
* Security filesystems are mounted
* Debug filesystems are mounted
* Busybox mdev is started
* Hardware drivers are loaded
* Modules are loaded
* System clock is set
* Local filesystem is checked for problems
* fsk is run on (busybox 1.19.2, 20011-11-03 15:50:21 UTC)
* Root filesystem read/write is remounted
* Local filesystem is mounted
* Busybox acpid is started
* Kernel parameters are configured
* User login records are created
* /var/run is cleaned
* /tmp directory is wiped
* Networking is started
* Chronyd is started
* Hostname is set
* Busybox kernel logging is started
* Busybox system logging is started
* Busybox cron is started
* Keymap is set
* Sshd is started
* Swap devices are activated
* And finally the random number generator is initialized

== References ==

# Alpine Linux Homepage. Retrieved 2011, Dec. 15 http://alpinelinux.org/
# About Alpine Linux. Retrieved 2011, Dec. 15 http://alpinelinux.org/about
# Download Alpine Linux. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://alpinelinux.org/downloads
# Download Alpine Linux Edge. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://nl.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/releases/x86/
# VoIP information. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP
# PaX information. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PaX
# SSP information. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack-smashing_protection#GCC_Stack-Smashing_Protector_.28ProPolice.29
# Tutorials for Alpine Linux. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Tutorials_and_Howtos
# Tutorials for Alpine Linux - Cherokee. Retrieved 2011, Dec 15 http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Cherokee

Mevans:

COMP 3000 2011 Report: Alpine

2011-10-18T23:56:15Z

Mevans: Created page with "Background [http://http://alpinelinux.org Alpine Linux] is a free, small, and easy to install Linux distribution that began as a fork of the LEAF project (Linux Embedded Applia…"

Background

[http://http://alpinelinux.org Alpine Linux] is a free, small, and easy to install Linux distribution that began as a fork of the LEAF project (Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall). The main focus of this distribution is security, with features such as Pax and SSP, it prevents security hole exploitation.

COMP 3000 Distribution Sign-up 2011

2011-10-18T23:40:52Z

Mevans:

Sign up for the distribution you want to report on here. Note that others are also editing page so verify that the page hasn't been mangled after you make your changes. To help with this, try to only edit the section for the appropriate alphabet range (e.g., Ubuntu should go under T-V).

Note that no more than two people may sign up for each distribution. If two people sign up for a distribution, you two '''should be working together''' on a joint report. If you are not working together, then note that the person who picked the distribution gets a 10% bonus: that person, after all, did the work to find the distribution.

Please sign up with your wiki name (which, generally, should be the same as your connect username). See [http://www.distrowatch.com Distrowatch] to see what distributions are out there. Also, search for types of operating system distributions.

Please '''do not''' sign up for a major distribution. This includes but is not limited to the major distributions listed by Distrowatch. Pick out something specialized and obscure! If in doubt, please email the instructors and TAs.

If you are submitting your report on the wiki, please add a link to it as shown in the example. Please title the page using the name of your distribution, not your name.

Further information on the report is [[COMP 3000 Distribution Report Specifications 2011|here]].

Example entry:

* [http://www.ubuntu.com Ubuntu]: asomayaj, snetimar ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Ubuntu|Report]])

==Distributions A-D==
[http://alpinelinux.org/ Alpine Linux]: mevans ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Alpine|Report]])

[http://www.apodio.org/ APODIO]: mbrowna ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: APODIO|Report]])

[http://www.arklinux.org/ Ark Linux]: jaze ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Ark Linux|Report]])

[http://www.artistx.org/site3/ ArtistX]: adangel2 ([[Comp 3000 ArtistX Report|Report]])

BackTrack: dcarson

[http://www.bodhilinux.com/ Bodhi Linux]: jboucha2 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Bodhi|Report]])

[http://Caine-Live.net/ CAINE Linux]: nyoung2 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: CAINE|Report]])

Chromium OS(Chrome OS): baathari

[http://crunchbanglinux.org/ CrunchBang]: drewmartin ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: CrunchBang|Report]])

[http://crux.nu/ CRUX]: ttian1

Damn Small Linux: MartyV

Damn Vulnerable Linux: amurphy7 , vsanthir ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Damn Vulnerable Linux|Report]])

[http://www.doudoulinux.org/ DoudouLinux]:fmcyamwe,tchopel([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: DoudouLinux|Report]])

==Distributions E-H==

[http://www.edubuntu.org/ Edubuntu]: smaqsood

[http://www.funtoo.org/ Funtoo Linux]: porter.nicolas ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Funtoo Linux|Report]])

[http://www.gentoo.org/ Gentoo]: Bobbybobbets

[http://www.gobolinux.org/ GoboLinux]: NameGoesHere

[http://haiku-os.org/ Haiku]: nhoda, thildebr

[http://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/Site/Home.html Hannah Montana Linux]:ttian1

==Distributions I-M==
Incognito Live System: bwernik

[http://www.inquisitor.ru/ Inquisitor]: atchekan ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report - Part 1 of 3: Inquisitor|Report]])

[http://www.jolicloud.com/ Joli OS (Jolicloud)]: nkathrad tsukasa19([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Joli OS|Report]])

[http://www.dee.su/liberte/ Liberté Linux]: Murals

[http://www.spi.dod.mil/lipose.htm Lightweight Portable Security]: jeckhard ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: LPS|Report]])

[http://linhes.org/bugs/ LinHes]:jmarcha1 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: LinHES|Report]])

[http://live.linux-gamers.net/ linuX-Gamers Live]: dlpkelly

Linux Mangaka One: AsoCchahal ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: AsoCchahal|Report]])

[http://lubuntu.net/ Lubuntu]: falaskar

[http://www.menuetos.net/ MenuetOS]: Caesar, Vangelis ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: MenuetOS|Report]])

[http://puppylinux.org/wikka/LegacyOS/ Legacy OS]:rnyssanb, zzhou6

[http://macpup.org/ Macpup]: kbyrd, rcarrot1 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Macpup|Report]])

==Distributions N-P==

[http://partedmagic.com/doku.php Parted Magic]: erhodes

[http://perllinux.sourceforge.net/ Perl/Linux]:

Privatix Live-System: gbooth, sbrett ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Privatix|Report]])

[http://puppylinux.org/ Puppy Linux]: mwooff, jnrahme ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: PuppyLinux|Report]])

[http://www.pinguyos.com/ PinguyOS]: ssivara, uramazan (pdawod)

[http://www.en.poseidonlinux.org/ Poseidon Linux]: 36chambers

PC-BSD : todetoyi, qliu1 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: qliu|Report]])

[http://www.parsix.org/ Parsix GNU/Linux]: tzhang1, jzhang

[http://www.pardus.org.tr/en/ Pardus]: ksubedi

[http://www.puredyne.org/ Puredyne]: Carlton

==Distributions Q-S==
[http://www.qimo4kids.com Qimo]: rwolfe ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Qimo|Report]])

[http://qubes-os.org/Home.html Qubes]: dneray ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Qubes beta 2|Report]])

[http://bkhome.org/quirky/ Quirky]: Qingming_no_lisca

[http://www.swiftlinux.org/ Swift Linux]: mabadeer, Yliu11([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Swift Linux|Report]])

[http://www.salineos.com/ SalineOS]: drhill ([[COMP 3000 2011 Drhill's Report: SalineOS 1.4|Report]])

[http://www.scientificlinux.org/ Scientific Linux]: kfourni1

[http://www.slackware.com/ Slackware]: sturnbu5 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Slackware 13.37|Report]])

[http://www.slax.org/ SLAX]: Andre Song

[http://www.slitaz.org/en/ SliTaz]: Bobbybobbets

[http://www.stresslinux.org/sl/ StressLinux]: achaddad

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/suicide-linux/ Suicide-Linux]:

[http://www.sabayon.org/ Sabayon Linux]: mabdirah, selmoafi

==Distributions T-W==
[http://tails.boum.org/index.en.html/ TAILS]: Khorrus

[http://bellard.org/tcc/tccboot.html TCCBOOT: TinyCC Boot Loader]:

[http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/welcome.html/ Tiny Core Linux ]: aadegbem ([[Comp 3000 2011 Report: Tiny Core Linux|Report]])

[http://www.minimalinux.org/ttylinux/ ttylinux]: kmacmart

Vector: judethedude,Lkuate ([[ VectorLinux|Report]])

[http://www.planetwatt.com/ wattOS]: JPAL

[http://ubuntustudio.org/ Ubuntu Studio]: Chashem and Jbyford ([[Editing COMP 3000 2011 Report: Ubuntu Studio|Report]])

==Distributions X-Z==
[http://www.zentyal.com/ Zentyal]: cyu3 ([[COMP 3000 2011 Report: Zentyal|Report]])

[http://www.zenwalk.org/ Zenwalk]: mgizbert ([[Editing COMP 3000 2011 Report: Zenwalk|Report]])

[http://http://www.zeroshell.net/ ZeroShell]: bvardal ([[Editing COMP 3000 2011 Report: ZeroShell|Report]])

[http://www.zorin-os.com/ Zorin]: awillman

[http://www.xbmc.org/ XBMC]: awallac1, ketsiagb

[http://www.xubuntu.org/ Xubuntu]: ernibek, Komarova

COMP 3000 Distribution Sign-up 2011

2011-10-12T23:12:18Z

Mevans: /* Distributions A-D */