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We use alpine based images extensively where possible. Most popular language ecosystems and tools have an alpine option. Alpine as a base image is nice because

We use alpine based images extensively where possible. Most popular language ecosystems and tools have an alpine option. Alpine as a base image is nice because it's nearly blank, but easy to customize unlike distroless. Recently one tool did drop Alpine, most based on it's reduced performance, and that was envoyproxy.

pid-1 5y ago
That used to be huge a few years ago. But with both Ubuntu and Debian shipping much smaller images, I almost always find the hassle of using Alpine not worth it.
- Tenoke 5y ago
  Same currently. Unless I'm just modifying a simple trusted image (which does happen often enough) I just start from Ubuntu during development and only attempt to move the image to Alpine if I'm really trying to improve resource usage down the line.
- andai 5y ago
  TIL there is a 29MB Minimal Ubuntu! https://ubuntu.com/blog/minimal-ubuntu-released https://ubuntu.com/blog/minimal-ubuntu-released
  - ethanpil 5y ago
    Wow, wish there was a Debian version!. I miss JeOS!
    - selcuka 5y ago
      There is a ~29MB Debian Docker image: https://hub.docker.com/layers/debian/library/debian/stable-slim/images/sha256-1a5fbe1deccdbb32d623df74c4e26caada0be08f20a514a01c04372552a569ee?context=explore https://hub.docker.com/layers/debian/library/debian/stable-s...
    - wrycoder 5y ago
      Wow, I wish there was a Devuan version!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- yukinon 5y ago
  I've used Alpine pretty heavily but did not run into any hassle aside from "oh yeah forgot to install this package". Could you go into more detail about the challenges one could encounter when using Alpine?
  - mindwok 5y ago
    Alpine uses a different C standard library called musl compared to most well known distros that use glibc. You can run into issues if the application makes use of functions in glibc that musl has not implemented. Usually you run into them in applications that are written in C, such as in some Python modules that utilise C under the hood or in databases etc.
  - pid-1 5y ago
    "I can't find $SOFTWARE in $PACKAGE_MANAGER now I have to compile it from source and my life sucks" has happened with me way more times with Alpine than Debian.

pid-1 5y ago

That used to be huge a few years ago. But with both Ubuntu and Debian shipping much smaller images, I almost always find the hassle of using Alpine not worth it.

Tenoke 5y ago
Same currently. Unless I'm just modifying a simple trusted image (which does happen often enough) I just start from Ubuntu during development and only attempt to move the image to Alpine if I'm really trying to improve resource usage down the line.
andai 5y ago
TIL there is a 29MB Minimal Ubuntu! https://ubuntu.com/blog/minimal-ubuntu-released https://ubuntu.com/blog/minimal-ubuntu-released
- ethanpil 5y ago
  Wow, wish there was a Debian version!. I miss JeOS!
  - selcuka 5y ago
    There is a ~29MB Debian Docker image: https://hub.docker.com/layers/debian/library/debian/stable-slim/images/sha256-1a5fbe1deccdbb32d623df74c4e26caada0be08f20a514a01c04372552a569ee?context=explore https://hub.docker.com/layers/debian/library/debian/stable-s...
  - wrycoder 5y ago
    Wow, I wish there was a Devuan version!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
yukinon 5y ago
I've used Alpine pretty heavily but did not run into any hassle aside from "oh yeah forgot to install this package". Could you go into more detail about the challenges one could encounter when using Alpine?
- mindwok 5y ago
  Alpine uses a different C standard library called musl compared to most well known distros that use glibc. You can run into issues if the application makes use of functions in glibc that musl has not implemented. Usually you run into them in applications that are written in C, such as in some Python modules that utilise C under the hood or in databases etc.
- pid-1 5y ago
  "I can't find $SOFTWARE in $PACKAGE_MANAGER now I have to compile it from source and my life sucks" has happened with me way more times with Alpine than Debian.