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docs: update Alpine size descriptions #2496

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Expand Up @@ -173,14 +173,15 @@ need to install, thus reducing the overall size of all images on your system.

### `node:alpine`

This image is based on the popular
[Alpine Linux project](https://alpinelinux.org), available in
[the `alpine` official image](https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine). Alpine Linux is
much smaller than most distribution base images (~5MB), and thus leads to much
slimmer images in general.

This variant is highly recommended when final image size being as small as
possible is desired. The main caveat to note is that it does use
This image is based on
[Alpine Linux](https://alpinelinux.org). Because base
[alpine](https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine) images are smaller
than corresponding base
[debian](https://hub.docker.com/_/debian) images, the resulting
`node:alpine` Docker images are around 25% smaller than the
Debian-based `node:slim` images.

The main caveat to note is that it does use
[musl libc](https://musl.libc.org/) instead of
[glibc and friends](https://www.etalabs.net/compare_libcs.html), so certain
software might run into issues depending on the depth of their libc
Expand All @@ -197,13 +198,14 @@ One common issue that may arise is a missing shared library required for use of
[`gcompat`](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/package/v3.19/main/x86/gcompat) package
to add the missing shared libraries: `apk add --no-cache gcompat`

To minimize image size, it's uncommon for additional related tools
(such as `git` or `bash`) to be included in Alpine-based images. Using this
image as a base, add the things you need in your own Dockerfile
(see the [`alpine` image description](https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine/) for
examples of how to install packages if you are unfamiliar).
Tools such as `git` or `bash` are not included in `node:alpine*` based images. The
[Alpine documentation](https://docs.alpinelinux.org/) describes how to find and
install additional packages using `apk` (Alpine Package Keeper).

To make the image size even smaller, you can [bundle without npm/yarn](./docs/BestPractices.md#smaller-images-without-npmyarn).
The
[Best Practices document](./docs/BestPractices.md), in the section
[Smaller images without npm/yarn](./docs/BestPractices.md#smaller-images-without-npmyarn),
shows how to produce a custom image by removing package managers in a multi-stage build.

### `node:bullseye`

Expand Down