Purpose
This is a guide to migrate Debian's apt package management commands to Alpine's apk commands.
Software packages for Alpine Linux are digitally signed tar.gz archives that can contain binaries, configuration files and dependency metadata. Packages, sometimes called "a-packs" use the extension .apk.
How to use this guide
Use this guide to translate Debian apt-get commands to Alpine apk commands used within a Dockerfile.
Because this guide focuses on Dockerfiles, this guide only covers a selected subset of all apk commands. Readers interested in learning more about apk should read Alpine's package management guide.
The following table contains the mapping from apt commands to apk commands.
| Action | apt command | apk command |
|---|---|---|
Update package database | apt-get update | apk update |
Install packages | apt-get install package1 package2 | apk add package1 package2 |
Remove packages | apt-get remove package1 package2 | apk del package1 package2 |
Download packages | apt-get install --download-only package1 package2 | apk fetch package1 package2 |
Clean up downloaded packages | apt-get clean | Alpine cleans up packages automatically. |
Related articles