This builds an up-to-date Vagrant Alpine Linux Base Box.

Currently this targets Alpine Linux 3.9.

Usage

Install Packer, Vagrant and VirtualBox.

Install the vagrant-alpine vagrant plugin:

vagrant plugin install vagrant-alpine

If you are on a Debian/Ubuntu host, you should also install and configure the NFS server. E.g.:

# install the nfs server.
sudo apt-get install -y nfs-kernel-server

# enable password-less configuration of the nfs server exports.
sudo bash -c 'cat >/etc/sudoers.d/vagrant-synced-folders' <<'EOF'
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_CHOWN = /bin/chown 0\:0 /tmp/*
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_MV = /bin/mv -f /tmp/* /etc/exports
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK = /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server status
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_START = /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY = /usr/sbin/exportfs -ar
%sudo ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: VAGRANT_EXPORTS_CHOWN, VAGRANT_EXPORTS_MV, VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK, VAGRANT_NFSD_START, VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY
EOF

For more information see the Vagrant NFS documentation.

qemu-kvm usage

Install qemu-kvm:

apt-get install -y qemu-kvm
apt-get install -y sysfsutils
apt-get install -y rng-tools
systool -m kvm_intel -v

Type make build-libvirt and follow the instructions.

Try the example guest:

cd example
apt-get install -y virt-manager libvirt-dev
vagrant plugin install vagrant-libvirt
vagrant up --provider=libvirt
vagrant ssh
exit
vagrant destroy -f

VirtualBox usage

Install VirtuaBox.

Type make build-virtualbox and follow the instructions.

Try the example guest:

cd example
vagrant up --provider=virtualbox
vagrant ssh
exit
vagrant destroy -f

Packer boot_command

The following table describes the steps used to install Alpine Linux.

NB This Packer boot_command method of installation is quite brittle, if you are having trouble installing, try increasing the install wait timeout, or changing the Alpine mirror in the answers file to one near you.

step	boot_command
login as root	root<enter>
bring up the network	ifconfig eth0 up && udhcpc -i eth0<enter><wait5>
download the setup answers	wget -q http://{{.HTTPIP}}:{{.HTTPPort}}/answers<enter><wait>
run the setup	setup-alpine -f $PWD/answers<enter><wait5>
type the root password	vagrant<enter>
re-type the root password	vagrant<enter>
wait for the services to start	<wait10><wait10><wait10>
confirm that we want to erase sda	y<enter>
wait 1m for the installation to finish	<wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10>
mount the root partition	mount /dev/sda3 /mnt<enter>
configure sshd to allow root login	sed -i -E 's,#?(PermitRootLogin\s+).+,\1yes,' /mnt/etc/ssh/sshd_config<enter>
reboot to the installed system	reboot<enter>

Reference

• Alpine setup scripts