Did you know Docker images of Node.js running on Alpine Linux are "unofficial"?

Juansecu — Tue, 19 May 2026 22:41:50 +0000

What does it mean by Docker images of Node.js running on Alpine Linux are "unofficial"
Why does the Node.js team deliver Alpine Linux images as official without properly testing them?
Since Alpine Linux images are "unofficial", should I stop using them in production environments?
References

Yes, you heard it right!

DOCKER IMAGES OF NODE.JS RUNNING ON ALPINE LINUX ARE "UNOFFICIAL"!

At least, this is how the Node.js team refers to them when it comes to support!

The reason? They don't actively test Alpine Linux builds! At least not in their CI/CD environments! This is because Alpine Linux builds are in experimental status!

At this point, you may be asking: Why does the Node.js team deliver Alpine Linux images as official without properly testing them?

To be honest, I may not have all the answers on this matter, because, though I use Node.js in my day-to-day, I'm not involved in the development of Node.js (not on a deep level, at least). Although I'm here to bring you a bit of information on this matter while trying to answer some questions you may have on the subject.

What does it mean by Docker images of Node.js running on Alpine Linux are "unofficial"?

As I said before, the Node.js team doesn't actively test Node.js builds in Alpine Linux environments (at least not in their CI/CD environments). Therefore, the support they can provide for running Node.js applications on Alpine Linux is highly limited.

Why does the Node.js team deliver Alpine Linux images as "official" without properly testing them?

Apart from the fact that the build and delivery process of Docker images of Node.js running on Alpine Linux is made through the same CI/CD workflows that , I can only guess they do it because Alpine Linux is widely used by applications used in production environments due to its small size and resource usage.

Since Alpine Linux images are "unofficial", should I stop using them in production environments?

Not at all. At least, I don't think so. Especially because the Node.js team is looking for some people from the community to help to solve issues related to running Node.js on Alpine Linux.

If you are interested in helping the Node.js team to actively find and solve issues running Node.js on Alpine Linux, I personally encourage you to get to the issue talking on this matter and show them your interest in helping them!

References

RTMP Server Development with Red5 Server Series: Capturing RTMP Traffic with Wireshark

Juansecu — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 20:53:25 +0000

When you're developing any non-http application, it's necessary to capture traffic (in most cases) with a capture traffic tool like Wireshark, and if you're developing a RTMP server for an old Flash application, then you will find very useful tools of this type.

Understanding how to use Wireshark to capture RTMP traffic

When I started to use Wireshark to record RTMP traffic, I found some useful information to capture RTMP traffic using Wireshark.

First, I found that usually, RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) is based on TCP (Datagram Delivery Protocol) as its transport protocol, which in most cases, uses Ethernet as its transport protocol. This information can be found in the Wireshark's wiki.

Second, when I tried to capture RTMP traffic using the previous information in a Windows 11 device, I got a error message from Npcap like this:

This is when, while trying to find a fix for this error message on Internet, I found this issue in the official Npcap repository, which specifies this error message when using Wireshark in Windows 11 devices.

Moving forward in the issue's conversation, I reached this comment, which describes that this issue is fixed when using Npcap 1.60 instead of lasts versions.

DEV Community: Juansecu

Did you know Docker images of Node.js running on Alpine Linux are "unofficial"?

Table of Contents

What does it mean by Docker images of Node.js running on Alpine Linux are "unofficial"?

Why does the Node.js team deliver Alpine Linux images as "official" without properly testing them?

Since Alpine Linux images are "unofficial", should I stop using them in production environments?

References

RTMP Server Development with Red5 Server Series: Capturing RTMP Traffic with Wireshark

Understanding how to use Wireshark to capture RTMP traffic

References