Alpine Linux
Lightweight, security-oriented Linux distribution built on musl libc and BusyBox.
HN commenters like Alpine for being tiny, fast and simple123, and run it on servers, homelabs and daily-driven laptops.45678 The most common caveat is musl: some software such as Steam, glibc-dependent apps or GPU setups needs Flatpak, a glibc sandbox or extra work.9101112
Why people recommend it
Minimal and simple · 3
Commenters value its small size and old-school minimal, clean feel.
“I use alpine because each one is tiny”
“The only modern Linux distro that feels to me like Linux used to feel in the 20th century -- minimal, fast, simple, clean -- is Alpine Linux.”
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“I prefer things like alpine/void”
Servers and homelab · 3
Used as a simple, solid base for servers, firewalls, NAS and homelab machines.
“Alpine is really good for servers.”
“running firewalls, NAS and servers on Alpine is about as simple as it gets.”
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“Alpine is my go-to nowadays for everything in my homelab”
Desktop daily driver · 3
Several commenters daily-drive it on laptops and desktops, including with ZFS.
“it's a general purpose distro and I've had a good time daily-driving it on laptops”
“I've been using Alpine as a desktop distro wth ZFS for years now”
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“it runs Alpine very well indeed and could be a daily driver”
Speed · 2
Described as very fast without a GUI or many background programs.
“was blown away by just how fast it was without running a GUI or loading up a bunch of background programs”
“The only modern Linux distro that feels to me like Linux used to feel in the 20th century -- minimal, fast, simple, clean -- is Alpine Linux.”
Old hardware · 2
Runs well on old ThinkPads and 32-bit netbooks after other distros dropped support.
“it runs Alpine very well indeed and could be a daily driver”
“I went with Alpine after Arch dropped support for 32 bit”
Packaging and toolchain · 3
Easy to set up custom repositories, and its work makes llvm/musl viable for others.
“I used alpine linux and it looks pretty easy to setup your own repository, including build scripts for packages.”
“very thankful for their work, and alpine making llvm/musl a viable option for us”
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“Alpine is a good system for the boot/main rootfs because it's rock solid and has the most recent kernel.”
Caveats and dissent
musl compatibility · 3
Some apps like Steam or non-Firefox browsers need Flatpak or a glibc environment.
“it's a general purpose distro and I've had a good time daily-driving it on laptops”
Show 1 more
“Alpine is a good system for the boot/main rootfs because it's rock solid and has the most recent kernel.”
GPU setup · 1
One commenter avoids it on the desktop because GPU setup with musl is messy.
“Alpine is my go-to nowadays for everything in my homelab”
Hardware support · 2
It lacks MIPS support, and getting it running on some devices takes know-how.
“Alpine can often also answer that call, but it lacks MIPS support”
“my yearning to use Alpine on it”
Often compared with
1 moved from Void Linux to Alpine Linux
1 moved from Alpine Linux to OpenBSD
1 moved from Arch Linux to Alpine Linux
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Replacing Systemd with OpenRC in Debian 2 mentions
- Alpine Linux 3.24.0 Released 2 mentions
- Show HN: NSL – WSL for Linux 1 mention
- Google ending ChromeOS support two years early 1 mention
- "When I Created Raspbian for the Raspberry Pi..." 1 mention
- Omacom Foundation Launches with $8M 1 mention
Data: alpine-linux.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 22
“I use alpine because each one is tiny”
“it runs Alpine very well indeed and could be a daily driver”
“The only modern Linux distro that feels to me like Linux used to feel in the 20th century -- minimal, fast, simple, clean -- is Alpine Linux.”
“for servers, I mostly use debian/ubuntu or alpine”
“I used alpine linux and it looks pretty easy to setup your own repository, including build scripts for packages.”
“very thankful for their work, and alpine making llvm/musl a viable option for us”
“Alpine can often also answer that call, but it lacks MIPS support”
“I went with Alpine after Arch dropped support for 32 bit”
“it's a general purpose distro and I've had a good time daily-driving it on laptops”
“Alpine or Devuan are right there if you need them.”
“The Alpine Linux Unbound package is compiled with libnghttp2”
“Alpine is a good system for the boot/main rootfs because it's rock solid and has the most recent kernel.”
“Alpine is my go-to nowadays for everything in my homelab”
“I love using Alpine”
“was blown away by just how fast it was without running a GUI or loading up a bunch of background programs”
“my yearning to use Alpine on it”
“I've been using Alpine as a desktop distro wth ZFS for years now”
“running firewalls, NAS and servers on Alpine is about as simple as it gets.”
“Alpine is really good for servers.”
“I use alpine for this [1] reason”
“And there's also Alpine too.”
“I prefer things like alpine/void”