2023-12-20 13:04:23 -07:00
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Alpine Toolbox
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==============
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This is a little Alpine container I run to provide SSH logins with a bunch of tools.
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Persistence
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----------
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If `/mnt/toolbox` exists,
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toolbox will persist installed packages and system changes
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by using methods that already exist in arch.
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* [Alpine Local Backup](https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_local_backup)
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is pre-configured to use `/mnt/toolbox/lbu`.
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* [Local APK cache](https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Local_APK_cache)
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is pre-configured to use `/mnt/toolbox/apk`.
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It's important to `lbu` that your machine have a hostname.
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If you change hostnames,
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you will need to rename files in `/mnt/toolbox/lbu`.
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```
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podman run \
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--hostname toolbox \
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--volume /path/to/toolbox:/mnt/toolbox \
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git.woozle.org/neale/toolbox
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```
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First Run
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---------
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You may want to `podman exec` into the container,
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in order to edit `/etc/doas.conf`
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set up user accounts,
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and/or install ssh `authorized_keys`.
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Once set up,
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you should be able to ssh in for most of your needs.
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2023-12-20 14:24:48 -07:00
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Startup scripts
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---------------
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The system uses [runit](http://smarden.org/runit/).
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If you drop an executable in `/etc/service/*/run`,
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runit will run it.
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Be sure to `lbu commit` if you're making startup scripts.
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2023-12-20 13:07:37 -07:00
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Podman vs Docker
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----------------
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On my diskless Raspberry Pi,
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Podman takes half as much space on the RAM disk as Docker.
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So I use Podman.
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You do you.
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2023-12-20 13:08:21 -07:00
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If you like docker better, just type `docker` instead of `podman`.
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2023-12-20 13:07:37 -07:00
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2023-12-20 13:04:23 -07:00
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Why This Exists
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---------------
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2023-12-20 13:09:53 -07:00
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I run my home server in Alpine's "diskless mode".
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2023-12-20 13:04:23 -07:00
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The Raspberry Pi uses a MicroSD card,
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which will "wear out" after many writes.
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This means my system runs entirely in RAM.
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2023-12-20 13:09:53 -07:00
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Once my home server is up,
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it mounts a 12TB btrfs array.
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So I run a bunch of containers backed by the disk.
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2023-12-20 13:04:23 -07:00
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Running a more robust installation in a container
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allows me to use my magnetic storage for the larger system,
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and install and remove packages when I like,
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without worrying about wearing out the MicroSD card.
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Shout Out
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---------
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Alpine Linux is cool.
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It provides all the difficult parts of this,
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I just had to set up some config files.
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The really cool part is that my container works the same way as the host it runs on!
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