Alpine apk¶

ID: apk
Links: Documentation · Repository · Wikipedia
Upstream stars: ⭐ 42
Last commit: 2026-08-31
Version requirement: >= 2.10
Platforms: 🐧 Linux
Operations: installed · outdated · search · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync · cleanup
purl types: pkg:apk/
CLI name: apk
Every call: apk --no-progress <command>
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: apk
Source: apk.py

Alpine Package Keeper (apk) used by Alpine Linux.

What `mpm` adds to `apk`¶

Through mpm, apk gains --exact search, to narrow results to exact names.

Bigger still, mpm reaches across every manager at once: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover apk alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Your `apk` commands, in `mpm`¶

You already know apk: each operation maps one-to-one onto mpm, in an interface shared by every manager.

To…	With `apk`	With `mpm`
List what’s installed	`apk query --installed --fields name,version --format json '*'`	`mpm --apk installed`
List outdated packages	`apk list --upgradable`	`mpm --apk outdated`
Search for a package	`apk search --verbose firefox`	`mpm --apk search firefox`
Install a package	`sudo apk add firefox`	`mpm install pkg:apk/firefox`
Upgrade one package	`sudo apk upgrade firefox`	`mpm --apk upgrade firefox`
Upgrade everything	`sudo apk upgrade`	`mpm --apk upgrade --all`
Remove a package	`sudo apk del firefox`	`mpm remove pkg:apk/firefox`
Clear caches	`sudo apk cache clean`	`mpm --apk cleanup --cache`

Prefix any command above with --dry-run to simulate the underlying manager calls without touching the system: the safe way to watch what mpm would do before trusting it.

Operations¶

Operation	Supported	Notes
`installed`	✅
`outdated`	✅	The listing reads the local repository cache rather than the remote, so run `sync` first for an accurate upgrade list.
`orphans`	❌	The `--orphaned` selector names packages no repository provides any more, not packages nothing requires, so mapping it would delete a working system whose mirrors are unreachable.
`search`	✅	Exact search backfilled by `mpm`.
`install`	✅
`upgrade`	✅
`upgrade_all`	✅
`remove`	✅
`sync`	✅
`cleanup`	✅
`doctor`

Configuration¶

Ignore apk on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-apk option.
Ignore it for every run in your configuration:
```
[mpm]
apk = false
```
Raise the timeout of all apk calls:
```
[mpm.overrides.apk]
timeout = 900
```

Run mpm config-template apk to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

[mpm.overrides.apk]
cli_names = [
    "apk",
]
cli_search_path = []
dry_run = false
ignore_auto_updates = true
plan = false
post_args = []
pre_args = [
    "--no-progress",
]
pre_cmds = []
requirement = ">=2.10.0"
stop_on_error = false
unmaintained = false
version_cli_options = [
    "--version",
]
version_regexes = [
    "apk-tools\\s+(?P<version>[^\\s,]+)",
]

The arguments and environment variables listed in the box atop this page are forced on every apk call, so runs stay quiet, non-interactive and reproducible: the defaults you would set in CI anyway.

Recipes¶

A few jobs you would otherwise script around apk, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --apk dump apk.toml, then mpm restore apk.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --apk sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).

Privilege escalation¶

System-wide manager: mpm wraps its privileged operations in sudo out of the box. Instead of letting the tool prompt mid-run, mpm primes the credential cache up-front, with a single branded password prompt at most. Turn escalation off for rootless setups with --no-sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

Its privileged operations are cleanup, install, remove, sync, upgrade, upgrade_all.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown¶

State of Alpine apk’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

Status: ❌ None

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

Registry: Distro binary archives (pkg:deb, pkg:rpm, pkg:alpm, pkg:apk)
Retraction: Index revert: removal is an archive operation and the mirror is rebuilt without the package. Debian, for one, requires filing an RM: bug against ftp.debian.org (developers-reference)
Publish date: ❌ the version string is the distro maintainer’s build, carrying no upstream publication date

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Reference traces¶

A collection of raw native outputs captured from the manager’s own CLI and recorded in the manager source. If you know Alpine apk well and a transcript below looks wrong, or a newer release changed its output format, report it.

$ apk --no-progress query --installed --fields name,version --format json '*'
[
  {
    "name": "alpine-base",
    "version": "3.24.1-r0"
  }, {
    "name": "apk-tools",
    "version": "3.0.8-r0"
  }, {
    "name": "busybox",
    "version": "1.37.0-r31"
  }
]

$ apk --no-progress list --installed
acl-2.2.53-r0 x86_64 {acl} (LGPL-2.1-or-later AND GPL-2.0-or-later) [installed]
alpine-baselayout-3.4.3-r1 x86_64 {alpine-baselayout} (GPL-2.0-only) [installed]
apk-tools-2.14.0-r5 x86_64 {apk-tools} (GPL-2.0-only) [installed]
busybox-1.36.1-r5 x86_64 {busybox} (GPL-2.0-only) [installed]
python3-3.11.6-r0 x86_64 {python3} (PSF-2.0) [installed]

$ apk --no-progress list --upgradable
acl-2.3.1-r0 x86_64 {acl} (LGPL-2.1-or-later) [upgradable from: acl-2.2.53-r0]
python3-3.11.7-r0 x86_64 {python3} (PSF-2.0) [upgradable from: python3-3.11.6-r0]

Version check¶

The version is probed by running:

$ apk --version
apk-tools 2.14.10, compiled for x86_64.

and extracted with:

r"apk-tools\s+(?P<version>[^\s,]+)"

Upstream project¶

Metrics	`alpine/apk-tools`
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Metadata

Changelog¶

8.0.0 (2026-09-20)
- Read the installed inventory from the structured apk query applet on apk-tools 3, and parse its search output, which appends each package’s description. Every result was dropped on Alpine edge.
6.4.0 (2026-04-27)
- Add Alpine Linux’s apk package manager with installed, outdated, search, install, upgrade, remove, sync, and cleanup support.