Alpine Linux, a lightweight Linux distribution, has secured support from multiple cloud providers following the impending closure of Equinix Metal. The project, which relied on donated services from the platform, appealed for help earlier this year and now benefits from enhanced, diversified infrastructure. This move ensures the continuation of its operations for users in embedded systems and containers.
In November 2024, Equinix announced the shutdown of its bare-metal infrastructure-as-a-service platform, Equinix Metal, scheduled for June 2026. This decision left open-source projects like Alpine Linux, which had depended on pro bono hosting for over a decade, facing significant challenges. Alpine, a security-focused distribution often used in containers and embedded devices, utilized these services for maintaining T1 mirrors, building, and testing packages.
The 20-year-old project issued a public appeal in February, highlighting the need for colocation space, bare-metal servers, and virtual machines. "To continue providing Alpine Linux as a reliable, secure, and efficient operating system, we need your help," the organization stated on its website, urging users and companies to contribute hosting resources or funds.
The response was swift and positive. In a recent announcement, Alpine revealed partnerships with several regional cloud and hosting providers, transforming a potential crisis into an upgrade. "In the weeks following our announcement, numerous organisations contacted us with offers of help from high-bandwidth servers, to colocation space, to fully managed compute resources," the project noted, expressing gratitude for the support that underscores Alpine's importance in the open-source ecosystem.
Sponsors are divided into Tier-1 Mirror Sponsors and CI/Infrastructure Resource Sponsors. Among the mirror sponsors are Osso B.V. from the Netherlands, providing server capacity near the core team; NETMOUNTAINS Group GmbH in Germany, offering bandwidth from European data centers; Cherry Servers in Lithuania, supplying bare-metal servers for high-volume traffic; and HorizonIQ, delivering managed hardware across multiple regions.
For continuous integration and development, partners include i3D.net, a low-latency network owned by Ubisoft, to boost workflow performance; Cloudon, a Canadian multicloud manager; and Scaleway, a French provider supporting RISC-V workloads.
Migration to these new infrastructures is already in progress, with Alpine expecting to emerge stronger. "What began as a major risk to the project has become an opportunity to build a more redundant and future-proof infrastructure," the team said. This diversification reduces reliance on a single provider, ensuring Alpine remains fast and dependable for millions of users.
