Alpine Linux, according to their main site, is a general purpose Linux distribution that aims to be "small," "simple," and "secure." It achieves this by using only the most basic and necessary binaries as well as tools to get started, compiled as Position Independent Executables (PIEs) in order to ensure the installed system is centered around one or a few simple tasks without any unnecessary components. Instead of systemd, it uses OpenRC, and instead of glibc, it uses musl libc in pursuit of greater efficiency.