10 Alpine Linux apk Command Examples

I am new Alpine Linux system admin user. How do I use apk command line utility for the package management on Apline Linux server running in cloud or a Linux container? How can I use the apk command for the package management?





cat /etc/apk/repositories

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Purpose

Use apk for installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing apps/programs for an Alpine Linux operating system in a consistent manner.

Syntax

Alpine Linux is a free and open source Linux-based distro. It uses musl and busybox. It is designed with security in mind and targeted at power users who wants secure distro out of the box. It uses PaX and grsecurity for Linux kernel protection. All binaries are compiled with stack smashing protection. APK stands for Alpine Linux package manager. You use the apk command to delete, install, upgrade, or list software on a running Alpine Linux based system. Like most modern Linux distro all software packages for Alpine Linux are digitally signed to avoid security problems. You can install packages from local disk (such as CDROM or a USB stick) or the internet archive location (repositories) such as http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.5/main. The list of repositories is stored in /etc/apk/repositories configuration file. Use the cat command to view /etc/apk/repositories file i.e. type. Alpine Linux package often has the .apk extension and called as “a-packs”. The apk command is equivalent to apt command apt-get command on Debian/Ubuntu on yum command on CentOS Linux.

The basic syntax is as follows:

apk [options] command

apk [options] command pkgName

apk [options] command pkgName1 pkgName2

Alpine Linux apk command examples

Let us see how to use the apk command to install security updates or new set of packages on an Alpine Linux server.

How to update the package list

To update your package list, enter:

# apk update

Sample outputs:



How to search for package(s)

The syntax is:

# apk search pkgName

For example, search a package named htop, run:

# apk search htop

Sample outputs:

htop-doc-2.0.2-r0 htop-2.0.2-r0

To search and display description:

# apk search -v -d 'htop'

Sample outputs:

htop-doc-2.0.2-r0 - An interactive process viewer (documentation) htop-2.0.2-r0 - An interactive process viewer

To list all packages available, along with their descriptions

# apk search -v

Sample outputs:

gettext-0.19.8.1-r0 - GNU locale utilities gst-plugins-base0.10-dev-0.10.36-r3 - GStreamer Multimedia Framework Base Plugins (development files) xcb-util-keysyms-dev-0.4.0-r0 - Utility libraries for XC Binding - keysyms (development files) openlibm-0.5.4-r0 - High quality system independent, portable, open source libm implementation imapsync-doc-1.727-r1 - IMAP synchronisation, sync, copy or migration tool (documentation) evince-lang-3.22.1-r0 - Languages for package evince jack-1.9.10-r2 - The Jack Audio Connection Kit php7-intl-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: intl php5-5.6.30-r0 - The PHP language runtime engine samba-libs-4.5.7-r0 - Samba core libraries gst-plugins-bad1-1.8.3-r0 - GStreamer bad plugins docker-bash-completion-1.12.6-r0 - Bash completion for Docker mesa-gl-12.0.3-r0 - Mesa libGL runtime libraries nagios-plugins-mrtg-2.1.4-r2 - Nagios plugin check_mrtg ..... .. .... nrpe-2.15-r4 - NRPE allows you to remotely execute Nagios plugins on other Linux/Unix machines. py2-psycopg2-2.6.2-r1 - A Python-PostgreSQL Database Adapter (for python2) perl-mime-types-2.13-r0 - Definition of MIME types perl-net-http-doc-6.09-r0 - Net::HTTP perl module (documentation) shared-mime-info-lang-1.8-r0 - Languages for package shared-mime-info altermime-0.3.11-r0 - alterMIME - MIME encoded email pack alteration tool at-3.1.20-r0 - AT and batch delayed command scheduling utility and daemon fbida-2.12-r0 - Few applications to display and elementary edit images

How do I search package by wildcards?

The syntax is as follows to search all php7 packages or php5 packages:

# apk search -v 'php5*'

### OR ###

# apk search -v 'php7*'

Sample outputs:

php7-intl-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: intl php7-openssl-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: openssl php7-dba-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: dba php7-sqlite3-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: sqlite3 php7-pear-7.0.16-r0 - PHP Extension and Application Repository php7-phpdbg-7.0.16-r0 - Interactive PHP debugger php7-litespeed-7.0.16-r0 - PHP LiteSpeed SAPI php7-gmp-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: gmp php7-pdo_mysql-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: pdo_mysql php7-pcntl-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: pcntl php7-common-7.0.16-r0 - The PHP language runtime engine - 7th branch (common config) php7-xsl-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: xsl php7-fpm-7.0.16-r0 - PHP FastCGI Process Manager php7-mysqlnd-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: mysqlnd php7-enchant-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: enchant php7-pspell-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: pspell php7-snmp-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: snmp .... .. ... php7-sockets-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: sockets php7-soap-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: soap php7-apcu-5.1.8-r0 - PHP extension APC User Cache php7-sysvmsg-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: sysvmsg php7-zlib-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: zlib php7-ftp-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: ftp php7-sysvsem-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: sysvsem php7-pdo-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: pdo php7-bz2-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: bz2 php7-mysqli-7.0.16-r0 - PHP7 extension: mysqli

How to install a package(s) by name

The syntax is:

# apk add pkgName

# apk add pkgName1 pkgName2

To install a htop package, run:

# apk add htop

Sample outputs:

(1/1) Installing htop (2.0.2-r0) Executing busybox-1.25.1-r0.trigger OK: 39 MiB in 28 packages

To install Apache2 along with PHP7 and modules, run:

# apk add apache2 php7-apache2 php7-gd php7-mysqli

Sample outputs:

(1/28) Installing libuuid (2.28.2-r1) (2/28) Installing apr (1.5.2-r1) (3/28) Installing expat (2.2.0-r0) (4/28) Installing apr-util (1.5.4-r2) (5/28) Installing pcre (8.39-r0) (6/28) Installing apache2 (2.4.25-r0) Executing apache2-2.4.25-r0.pre-install (7/28) Installing php7-common (7.0.16-r0) (8/28) Installing libedit (20150325.3.1-r3) (9/28) Installing libxml2 (2.9.4-r2) (10/28) Installing php7-apache2 (7.0.16-r0) (11/28) Installing libxau (1.0.8-r1) (12/28) Installing libxdmcp (1.1.2-r2) (13/28) Installing libxcb (1.12-r0) (14/28) Installing libx11 (1.6.4-r0) (15/28) Installing libxext (1.3.3-r1) (16/28) Installing libice (1.0.9-r1) (17/28) Installing libsm (1.2.2-r0) (18/28) Installing libxt (1.1.5-r0) (19/28) Installing libxpm (3.5.12-r0) (20/28) Installing libbz2 (1.0.6-r5) (21/28) Installing libpng (1.6.25-r0) (22/28) Installing freetype (2.7-r1) (23/28) Installing libjpeg-turbo (1.5.1-r0) (24/28) Installing libwebp (0.5.2-r0) (25/28) Installing php7-gd (7.0.16-r0) (26/28) Installing mariadb-common (10.1.22-r0) (27/28) Installing mariadb-client-libs (10.1.22-r0) (28/28) Installing php7-mysqli (7.0.16-r0) Executing busybox-1.25.1-r0.trigger OK: 64 MiB in 56 packages

How to hold a specific package back and not upgrade it

If you want to upgrade Alpine Linux system, but keep or hold a specific package add version number. For instance, to hold the bash package to the version 5.0.0-r0 level or lower, run:

# apk add bash=5.0.0-r0

One can do regex based version matching to hold the version to a major/minor release. For example:

# apk add bash=~5.0

Now, upgrade the system. However, apk will upgrade the entire system, keeping the bash package at the 5.0.0-r0 or lower level:

# apk upgrade

It is possible to remove holding. For example, make sure upgrade bash to the current lastest version, run:

# apk add bash>5.0.0-r0



How do install a local .apk file package?

The syntax is as follows to add a local package named foo.apk:

# apk add --allow-untrusted /path/to/foo.apk

apk add --allow-untrusted pkg1.apk pkg2.apk

How to remove or delete a package(s) by name

The syntax is:

# apk del pkgName

# apk del pkgName1 pkgName2

To delete a htop package run:

# apk del htop

Sample outputs:

(1/1) Purging htop (2.0.2-r0) Executing busybox-1.25.1-r0.trigger OK: 39 MiB in 27 packages

How do I delete old packages caches on Alpine Linux?

To remove out older versions of packages, run the clean command as follows:

# apk cache clean

## or ##

# apk -v cache clean

One can also clean cache and download missing packages in one step:

# apk cache -v sync

How to upgrade running Alpine Linux

The syntax is:

# apk update && apk upgrade

You can create a bash shell alias as follows in ~/.bashrc

# echo "alias update='apk update && apk upgrade'" >> /.bashrc

Run it as follows:

# update

How do I upgrade selected packages only?

The syntax is

# apk add -u pkgName

To upgrade a htop only package:

# apk update

# apk add -u htop

How do I list installed packages?

The syntax is:

# apk info

# apk info -vv | grep 'foo'

# apk info -vv | sort



Find out which package a file belongs to..

to determine which package a file named /etc/passwd or /sbin/apk belongs to:

# apk info --who-owns /etc/passwd

/etc/passwd is owned by alpine-baselayout-3.0.4-r0

# apk info --who-owns /sbin/apk

/sbin/apk is owned by apk-tools-2.6.8-r2

List contents of the PACKAGE

# apk -L info pkgName

# apk -L info htop

Sample outputs:

htop-2.0.2-r0 contains: usr/bin/htop usr/share/applications/htop.desktop usr/share/pixmaps/htop.png

Check if PACKAGE is installed

# apk -e info pkgName

#############################################

### find out if atop PACKAGE is installed ###

#############################################

# apk -e info atop

No output displayed if PACKAGE is NOT installed.

List packages that the PACKAGE depends on

# apk -R info atop

# apk -R info atop

Sample outputs:

atop-2.2_p3-r0 depends on: so:libc.musl-x86_64.so.1 so:libncursesw.so.6 so:libz.so.1

List all packages depending on PACKAGE

# apk info -r pkgName

# apk info -r bash

Sample outputs:

bash-completion-2.4-r0

Show installed size of PACKAGE

# apk info -s pkgName

# apk info -s atop

Sample outputs:

atop-2.2_p3-r0 installed size: 520192

Print description for PACKAGE

# apk info -d pkgName

# apk info -d bash

Sample outputs:

bash-4.3.46-r5 description: The GNU Bourne Again shell

Print all information about PACKAGE

# apk info -a pkgName

# apk info -a bash

Sample outputs:

apk info -a bash bash-4.3.46-r5 description: The GNU Bourne Again shell bash-4.3.46-r5 webpage: http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/bash.html bash-4.3.46-r5 installed size: 700416 bash-4.3.46-r5 depends on: busybox so:libc.musl-x86_64.so.1 so:libncursesw.so.6 so:libreadline.so.6 bash-4.3.46-r5 provides: bash-4.3.46-r5 is required by: bash-completion-2.4-r0 bash-4.3.46-r5 contains: bin/bashbug bin/bash bash-4.3.46-r5 triggers: bash-4.3.46-r5 has auto-install rule: bash-4.3.46-r5 affects auto-installation of: bash-doc-4.3.46-r5 bash-4.3.46-r5 replaces: bash-4.3.46-r5 license: GPL3+

How do I see statistics about repositories and installations?

Run the command:

# apk stats

Sample outputs:

installed: packages: 28 dirs: 163 files: 7097 bytes: 41205760 triggers: 1 available: names: 11710 packages: 7961 atoms: num: 5934 bash-4.3# bash-4.3# apk stats installed: packages: 28 dirs: 163 files: 7097 bytes: 41205760 triggers: 1 available: names: 11710 packages: 7961 atoms: num: 5934

apk command options and examples

Command Usage Example apk update Update the package list apk update apk upgrade Upgrade the system apk update

apt ugrade apk add pkg Add a package apk add apache apk del pkg Delete a package apk del nginx apk search -v Search for packages apk search -v

apk search -v -d ‘nginx*’

apk search -v ‘apache*’ apk info List all installed pacakges apk info apk fix Repair package or upgrade it without modifying main dependencies apk fix apk policy pkg Show repository policy for packages apk policy bash apk stats Show statistics about repositories and installations apk stats

See also

/etc/apk/repositories file.

file. apk man page

Category List of Unix and Linux commands File Management cat Network Utilities dig • host • ip • Package Manager apk • apt Processes Management bg • chroot • disown • fg • jobs • kill • killall • pwdx • time • pidof • pstree Searching whereis • which User Information id • groups • last • lastcomm • logname • users • w • who • whoami • lid/libuser-lid • members