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Alpine Linux 3.12 is out now as a new stable release of this security-oriented, independent and lightweight GNU/Linux distribution based on musl and BusyBox.
While not a major milestone, Alpine Linux 3.12 is here to introduce initial support for the MIPS64 (Big Endian) architecture. This means that you can now install the distribution on this platform.
On top of that, this new stable release also introduces initial support for the D programming language, also known as Dlang.
“We now have GDC, the D compiler frontend using GCC, available on all arches but ppc64le and LDC, a D compiler using the LLVM backend, on x86, x86_64 and aarch64,” noted the developers.
Among other changes, the py3-setuptools package now uses system-wide python3 modules instead of the vendor dependencies, python2 no longer provides python and python-devel, and python3 no longer provides pip3 as users are urged to use py3-pip instead.
Moreover, BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) JIT has been enabled by default, the OpenRC init system now uses a sane order of directories when loading and configuring kernel parameters, and enchant2 is now preferred over enchant for packages that use it.
Those using the GNOME Software graphical package manager will now be able to install apps with apk, the Alpine Package Keeper. Also, it’s now possible to use and manage YubiKeys two-factor authentication security keys.
Under the hood, Alpine Linux 3.12 is powered by the latest Linux 5.4.43 LTS kernel and includes major package updates like GCC 9.3.0, LLVM 10.0.0, Git 2.24.3, Node.js 12.16.3, Nextcloud 18.0.3, PostgreSQL 12.3, QEMU 5.0.0, and Zabbix 5.0.0.
Of course, the new ISO images include numerous other updated components so you’ll have the most recent GNU/Linux technologies and Open Source software when using Alpine Linux.
Alpine Linux 3.12 is available for download right now from the official website, where you’ll find various image flavors for physical and virtual machines supporting several hardware architectures, including 64-bit, 32-bit, AArch64, x390x, PPC64el, ARMv7, and ARMhf.
Of course, existing users will be able to upgrade their installations using the built-in package manager. However, after upgrading the OpenSSH package to version 8.2_p1 or higher you should restart the server is it won’t accept new connections.
Last updated 4 years ago
