how do i convince Alpine Linux that it doesn't have IPv4 connectivity? when i run e.g. "ping bbc.co.uk", it picks the IPv4 address first, even though it doesn't have a default route.

i can't disable IPv4 because i need it for Wireguard.

i can't use /etc/gai.conf because musl libc doesn't support that.

this makes e.g. apk very slow because it waits for IPv4 to time out before it tries IPv6. i don't understand why it doesn't immediately get "no route to host" over IPv4...

any ideas?

#ipv6 #alpinelinux

A tool that doesn't get enough love is the KDE "ISO Image Writer".

Sure there's dd and there's tools like Rufus, Etcher, and whatnot, but if it's effectively a tool meant for your platform then why not?

[ Currently writing Alpine v3.23 to a stick to wipe/replace my garage 'droid from Debian to Alpine after work ]

#KDE #KDEPlasma #Plasma #AlpineLinux #iso #iso9660 #USBStick

https://apps.kde.org/isoimagewriter/

Poked #AlpineLinux a bit more yesterday. One #ipv6 nit I'm trying to chase down: The installer environment does not appear to have any means of acquiring DNS information via RDNSS. busybox has a dhcpv6 client, but I'm not running DHCPv6 on most of my main networks.

Does busybox have this functionality and I'm not yet aware of it, or is this something that needs to be added? Or is there some other way to go about this?

I was able to manually configure DNS for the install then apk add rdnssd in the installed environment, but this is sub-optimal.

I just pushed python 3.14 to alpine linux edge. It will keep the builders busy for a while to rebuild the 1900+ packages. There will probably be some inconsistency between main and community (we upload main before starting to build community). Hopefully it will not cause too much pain.

Thanks for your patience!

#AlpineLinux #Python

Sometime around 2017 (IIRC) I got nostalgic for a little "netbook" type computer and decided, for some reason, that an HP Stream 14 would scratch that itch.

These are really low spec machines, even for 2016-2017. It came with Windows 10 and the first Windows Update basically filled the disk and effectively bricked the device. LOL!

I installed Linux on it after that (ofc) but didn't really use it much. So slow....

I was digging around in my service manuals library this evening and stumbled over it in a drawer of files... for some unknown reason it was in the drawer.

I started it up thinking it was still running Arch from back before Covid and might be entertaining to try to get it to update to the present.

Hmm, Alpine 3.21 boots console but sway is installed. Weird, no recollection of doing anything with this machine 12-18 months ago. "I'm not saying it's aliens..."

Ok, Alpine updates to 3.23 without issues. I'm not much of a tiling window manager person so I installed Plasma. Bad idea! With 4GB of ram and an afterthought of a CPU and storage it doesn't run very well at all.

Installed LXQt with labwc and it runs great! Tweaking and themeing to come. (Hi @Tionisla 👋 )

Not sure what I'm going to do with this machine but currently it is pretty usable for simple stuff. Screen and keyboard sucks, pretty close to e-waste. Lesson: ~$200 (retail) laptop is about as good as you would expect a $200 laptop to be. Ha.

#Linux #AlpineLinux #LXQt #netbook #labwc #windows #Windows10

Alt...

Fastfetch output: chris@blue ---------- OS: Alpine Linux v3.23 x86_64 Host: HP Stream Laptop 14-ax0XX Kernel: Linux 6.18.19-0-lts Uptime: 49 seconds Packages: 1157 (apk), 7 (flatpak) Shell: sh Display (LGD0508): 1366x768 in 14", 60 Hz [Built-in] Theme: Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3] Icons: Reversal-dark [GTK2/3/4] Font: Sans (9pt) [GTK2/3], Noto Sans (10pt) [GTK4] Cursor: breeze (24px) Terminal: /dev/pts/0 CPU: Intel(R) Celeron(R) N3060 (2) @ 2.48 GHz GPU: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Int] Memory: 611.66 MiB / 3.74 GiB (16%) Swap: 0 B / 4.00 GiB (0%) Disk (/): 7.05 GiB / 24.06 GiB (29%) - ext4 Local IP (wlan0): 192.168.86.16/24 Battery (Primary): 100% [AC Connected] Locale: en_CA.UTF-8

Wanted to try something fun with a super cheap NAT VPS:

https://natvps.btxx.org

I'll go through a detailed write up for those looking to do something similar. Just ~$3/year!

#alpinelinux #vps #darkhttpd

@ariadne

Those are unrealistically optimistic expectations of both the politics and the legislative procedure. This #CaliforniaLaw is nigh-on certain to come into effect as-is, come 2027-01-01.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116267717491590937

And at last count, #AlpineLinux now faces the same laws, with state-specific variations that are bound to introduce complexities, coming up in Colorado, Illinois, and New York. (I haven't directly tracked down the bill in any other states, but I've seen reports of at least one more.)

@RunxiYu
#NewYorkLaw #CaliforniaLaw #ColoradoLaw #IllinoisLaw #AgeVerification

JdeBP » 🌐 2026-03-21
@JdeBP@mastodonapp.uk

@soller

It's good that someone is doing that. IBM seriously dropped the ball when it came to lobbying about this, given how it affects #RedHat. No-one even brought up the implications for #Unix-like operating systems in #California.

You're not the first person to talk about amending the California Bill. It's an Act now, not a Bill, though. It's nigh on impossible to supersede it before 2027-01-01.

The politics, as well as the physical realities of how long it takes to enact legislation, mean that there just isn't the time, even if the will could be drummed up.

The current Act took 8 months to pass, itself, and not only is there no-one in California really lobbying to fix this, there's also the political problem of seeming to want to carve a massive exemption in a law that only months ago passed through every stage in the legislature with zero 'no' votes.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116175882841550437

@neal @feonixrift @dalias @wwahammy @artemis
#CaliforniaLaw #USLaw #FreeSoftware #AgeVerification

I would like to drop armhf (armv6) support in #AlpineLinux. The only current hardware I am aware of that is armv6 is Raspberry Pi Zero series (EOL 2030). I don't think it is worth the extra effort to support both armhf (armv6) and armv7 at this point.

Do you think we should drop armhf to free up some resources?

If you want help with upgrade to python 3.14 for #AlpineLinux

https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues/18025

@ariadne

It concerns #AlpineLinux the same as it concerns every other Linux-based operating system that has a package management utility that talks to a public WWW site.

As I said at https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116156019252249071, and as @RunxiYu has also said, the statute as written covers all such systems. (It's an Act now, by the way, not a Bill.) Alpine Linux has a covered application store.

Here, for example, is what 'publicly available internet website' apk as the 'software application' uses to 'facilitate the download' of the third-party rustc 'application' from the 'store' in Alpine Linux on the aforementioned #mainframes used by the aforementioned naughty 16-year-olds in #California:

https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.23/main/s390x/

Yes, #CaliforniaLaw as written is this expansive. Yes, the legislators did not even consider how the BSDs and Linux-based operating systems work. None of the objectors apparently even mentioned how these work.

#rust #USLaw #AgeVerification #GDPR #FreeSoftware #Unix

in practice i think it does not really concern #AlpineLinux

the intent of this law is clearly to go after operating systems with app stores

a fairly detailed analysis of the california "age assurance bill" by fellow #AlpineLinux contributor @RunxiYu

https://runxiyu.org/comp/ab1043/

For KDE I've recently settled on Alpine Linux. I've been around the block on Plasma and I can assure you it is one of the best out there. Couple that with blazingly fast mirrors, LUKS encryption, flatpaks and setup scripts and you have a winner. Not for beginners, but absolutely worth a go. Recommended!
#alpinelinux #kde

Alt...

Scrot of btop on Alpine Linux, running KDE 6.5.5. Wayland

One slightly weird thing I had is that inbound #ipv6 traffic on both SSH and HTTPS was returning a "connection reset by peer" for a while. It seems to be working now, but if some IPv6 folks can check https://cablespaghetti.dev loads properly over v6 for them now, it would put my mind at rest.

https://cablespaghetti.dev/hosting-a-fediverse-instance-on-an-original-raspberry-pi.html

#snac #snac2 #alpinelinux #linux #raspberrypi

https://cablespaghetti.dev/hosting-a-static-site-on-an-original-raspberry-pi.html

#raspberrypi #alpinelinux #linux

Here's a script to backup to Backblaze B2 with just Jq as an additional dependency (and the included curl, tar, openssl etc.). It works so far...

https://gist.github.com/cablespaghetti/01862b9d8252223719cbe2586145f686