Alpine Linux is an independent, non-commercial, general purpose Linuxdistribution designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicityand resource efficiency.
Small
Alpine Linux is built around musl libc and busybox. This makes it smalland very resource efficient. A container requires no more than 8 MB anda minimal installation to disk requires around 130 MB of storage. Not only doyou get a fully-fledged Linux environment but a large selection of packagesfrom the repository.
Binary packages are thinned out and split, giving you even more controlover what you install, which in turn keeps your environment as small andefficient as possible.
Simple
Alpine Linux is a very simple distribution that will try to stay out ofyour way. It uses its own package manager called apk, the OpenRC initsystem, script driven set-ups and that’s it! This provides you with asimple, crystal-clear Linux environment without all the noise. You canthen add on top of that just the packages you need for your project, sowhether it’s building a home PVR, or an iSCSI storage controller, awafer-thin mail server container, or a rock-solid embedded switch, nothingelse will get in the way.
Secure
Alpine Linux was designed with security in mind. All userland binaries arecompiled as Position Independent Executables (PIE) with stack smashingprotection. These proactive security features prevent exploitation of entireclasses of zero-day and other vulnerabilities.
