steps

• choose a release https://alpinelinux.org/releases/ -> 3.23.3

• download iso and checksum from https://alpinelinux.org/downloads/

  wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.23/releases/x86_64/alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso
  wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.23/releases/x86_64/alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso.sha256
  

• verify checksum (or do the gpg thing)

  sha256sum alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso
  # 966d6bf4d4c79958d43abde84a3e5bbeb4f8c757c164a49d3ec8432be6d36f16  alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso
  cat alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso.sha256 
  # 966d6bf4d4c79958d43abde84a3e5bbeb4f8c757c164a49d3ec8432be6d36f16  alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso
  

• make file to store installation (here only 1GB chosen, adjust if needed)

  qemu-img create -f qcow2 alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.qcow2 1G
  

• create shell script for starting alpine (there is likely some unneeded stuff, prune):

#! /bin/sh

# create file by:
#
#   qemu-img create -f qcow2 alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.qcow2 1G

qemu-system-x86_64 \
-enable-kvm                                                    \
-m 2048                                                        \
-drive file=alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.qcow2,if=virtio      \
-boot d                                                        \
-cdrom alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.iso                       \
-netdev user,id=net0,net=192.168.0.0/24,dhcpstart=192.168.0.9  \
-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0                             \
-vga std

• start system via script above

• log in as root (no password)

• partition disk

  fdisk /dev/vda
  

  use n to add a new primary partition and choose default values, then chose w to write the table and exit.

• prepare filesystem, mount, and start setup:

  mkdosfs /dev/vda1
  mkdir -p /media/vda1
  echo "/dev/vda1 /media/vda1 vfat rw 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
  mount -a
  setup-alpine  # (select vda1 for saving configs)
  

• continue through setup, answered (mostly defaults):

  * Keymap [none]
  * Hostname [localhost]
  * Interface [eth0]
  * Ip address for eth0? [dhcp]
  * Do you want to do any manual network configuration? (y/n) [n]
  * Root Password <something-appropriate>
  * Timezone [UTC]
  * Proxy [none]
  * APK Mirror
    * Enter mirror number or URL: [1]
  * User [no]
  * Which ssh server? [none]
  * Disk & Install
    * Which disk(s) would you like to use? [none]
    * Enter where to store configs [vda1]
    * Enter apk cache directory [/media/vda1/cache]
  

• update apk repository indexes

  apk update
  

• install some packages

  apk add gcc make git musl-dev
  

• tweak PATH things:

  mkdir -p $HOME/.local/bin
  export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH
  

• fetch janet source:

  mkdir src
  cd src
  git clone https://github.com/janet-lang/janet
  cd janet
  

• edit Makefile for static build, find CFLAGS lines and append -static appropriately

• build janet:

  make clean && PREFIX=$HOME/.local make
  

• copy build/janet to /media/vda1/cache

  cp buid/janet /media/vda1/
  

• might be able to keep packages and such via lbu commit -- not sure

• shut down

  sync
  halt
  

• use nbd to get at static janet from qcow2

  sudo modprobe nbd max_part=8
  sudo qemu-nbd --connect=/dev/nbd0 alpine-standard-3.23.3-x86_64.qcow2
  sudo mount /dev/nbd0p1 /mnt
  cp /mnt/janet /tmp/
  sudo umount /mnt
  sudo qemu-nbd --disconnect /dev/nbd0
  

references

• https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Running_Alpine_in_Live_mode_in_QEMU
• https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/devices/net.html
• https://www.baeldung.com/linux/mount-qcow2-image - nbd
• https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_local_backup - lbu

future

• https://docs.alpinelinux.org/user-handbook/0.1a/Installing/manual.html - semi-automatic installation