Alpine: Start in single user mode

Publication date: 2021-01-26

Issue: Need to start Alpine Linux in single user mode for troubleshooting purposes

Alpine Linux does not behave like other Linux distributions. Single user mode is not immediately helpful

Solution: Add additional steps for Alpine Linux

Linux can be booted in single user mode by appending "single" to the kernel command line. It can be added by modifying that command line on the bootloader prompt.

Alpine Linux, however, does not mount the root filesystem when doing this. And in the /dev folder the root file system device is not yet populated.

First populate /dev properly:

nlplug-findfs -p /sbin/mdev

Then the root filesystem can be mounted (change /dev/vda based on your machine):

mount -t ext4 /dev/vda /sysroot

Hint towards the solution

Alpine Linux Gitlab bug tracker: <a href="https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues/5332</a>