Frequently Asked Question

What is Alpine Linux and why does it use musl instead of glibc?

Alpine is a tiny security-oriented distribution built around musl libc and BusyBox instead of glibc and GNU coreutils. A base install fits in well under 10 MB, which is why it became a popular base image for Docker containers: small images pull faster, take less storage, and present a smaller attack surface than ubuntu:latest.

musl is a clean reimplementation of the C standard library with goals of size, correctness, and simplicity rather than feature parity with glibc. Most software builds and runs fine against it, but some glibc-only assumptions (locale handling, NSS, certain DNS edge cases, name-mangling in pre-built binaries) bite occasionally. For some teams this is enough to push them back to Debian-slim or distroless base images; for others Alpine's footprint and audit-friendliness win. Outside containers, Alpine is also widely used on routers and other small embedded systems.