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26 changes: 9 additions & 17 deletions README.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -179,23 +179,15 @@ This image is based on the popular
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
[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
requirements. However, most software doesn't have an issue with this, so this
variant is usually a very safe choice. See
[this Hacker News comment thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10782897)
for more discussion of the issues that might arise and some pro/con comparisons
of using Alpine-based images.

One common issue that may arise is a missing shared library required for use of
`process.dlopen`. To add the missing shared libraries to your image:

- Starting from Alpine v3.19, you can use the
[`gcompat`](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/package/v3.19/main/x86/gcompat) package
to add the missing shared libraries: `apk add --no-cache gcompat`
Alpine images use the C library
[musl libc](https://musl.libc.org/), not the GNU C library
[glibc](https://sourceware.org/glibc/) used by Debian.

Generally, applications written for Debian (`glibc`) will not run under Alpine (`musl`).
Some compatibility issues may be resolvable by installing the Alpine
[`gcompat`](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/package/v3.23/main/x86/gcompat)
GNU C Library compatibility layer for musl package.
Use `apk add --no-cache gcompat` to install.

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
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