Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:12:54 +0200
From: Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org>
To: Gilbert <gnuplus@atomicmail.io>
Cc: "~alpine/users@lists.alpinelinux.org"
 <~alpine/users@lists.alpinelinux.org>
Subject: Re: Alpine 'virt' iso offline and VM choice
Message-ID: <20260817131254.6fe66138@ncopa-desktop>
In-Reply-To: <ee23749d-9975-f9f7-fccb-4969a8f044c0@atomicmail.io>
References: <ee23749d-9975-f9f7-fccb-4969a8f044c0@atomicmail.io>
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On Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:26:31 +0000
Gilbert <gnuplus@atomicmail.io> wrote:

> I want to install Alpine in a VM for a local server.
> 
> I noticed that the 'virt' iso can't be installed on disk without downloading
> some packages from the internet. That's annoying. What's the rationale behind
> that?

The reasoning is that in most cases you would need to get *something*
from internet anyway, so then we can keep the alpine-virt release image
minimal by requiring that everything is downloaded from internet.
 
> If I used the 'extended' iso instead, would I be missing something
> compared to 'virt'?
> It says the 'virt' iso is "optimized for virtual systems", so I
> wonder if it has an advantage in terms of performance or resource
> usage.

You get a bigger kernel with support for a lot more, that you probably
don need in a VM. (sound drivers, wifi drivers, drivers for bare-metal
etc...)

Another option could be to use the cloud images, where you get a
pre-installed disk image.

-nc