Gain insights into creating Alpine Linux packages. Delve into APKBUILDs, packaging basics, and repository management. Discover quality assurance and enhance your Alpine Linux and DevOps skills.

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In this course, you will learn how packaging software works in Alpine Linux, the most popular Docker Linux distribution.

You’ll first learn the basics: what is Alpine Linux and what are its advantages over other distributions, especially in a Docker environment? Next, you’ll cover the basics of packaging software: what are apk and APKBUILD, where should files be installed, and how can we create basic APKBUILDs and submit them for inclusion in Alpine Linux official repositories? You’ll also learn what makes an Alpine Linux package low or high quality. Finally, you’ll explore APKBUILDs for different programming languages and finish by creating your own private Alpine Linux repository with complex subpackages. 

By the end of the course, you will be able to create APKBUILDs which easily pass Alpine’s quality assurance. Overall, this course will increase your understanding of Alpine Linux and Linux in general and help you improve your DevOps skills.

Creating Alpine Linux Packages

# Preface

Alpine Linux has several repositories available for its users. All of them have different purposes. It's important to understand these when creating our packages to make sure they work on the version of Alpine Linux we want to use.


# The `main` repository

The `main` repository contains the core components of Alpine Linux, like `musl`, `busybox`, and `openrc`. As such, the `main` repository is enabled by default on all Alpine Linux installations. Packages in this repository are supported for two years (meaning through four stable releases of Alpine). During this time, they receive security bug fixes. In total, the `main` repository contains over 1,500 packages.

# The `community` repository

This repository contains most of the other packages of Alpine Linux, clocking in at about 4,500 packages. Packages in `community` are only supported for six months, so they should only be used in the most recent release of Alpine Linux.

# The `testing` repository

The `testing` repository is only meant to be used with the rolling release flavor of Alpine Linux, which is called `edge`. As the names `testing` and `edge` suggest, these aren't meant for production and may be broken at times. However, they're good to test new packages before they're included in a stable release. If we're creating a new package and want to add it to Alpine Linux, it'll probably start its journey here. Since there are no stable releases to support, packages in the `testing` repository usually contain the latest version of a package.

# Interaction of different repositories

Alpine Linux's repositories extend each other. As such, all packages can use dependencies from the `main` repositories, packages from `community` can use dependencies from `main` and `community`, and only `testing` packages can use dependencies from all three repositories.


Learn the difference between the various repositories in Alpine Linux.

Introduction

Using abuild

Alpine's FHS

Creating Your First APKBUILD

Creating More Complex APKBUILDs

Hosting Our Own APK Repository

Additional APKBUILD Examples

Conclusion

Different Repositories in Alpine Linux

Preface

The `main` repository

The `community` repository

Different Repositories in Alpine Linux

Preface

The main repository

The community repository

The `main` repository

The `community` repository