René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Document and implement strategy when musl releases (for Alpine) are missing","articleBody":"## Situation\n\nMissing / delayed `musl` builds from https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/download/release/, required to build Node.js Docker images for Alpine Linux releases, are causing delays in the release of Debian-based Node.js Docker images.\n\nRefs:\nhttps://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/issues/2355\nhttps://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/issues/2343\nhttps://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/issues/2330\n\n## Background\n\nhttps://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/main/BUILDING.md#strategy states:\n\n---\nThere are three support tiers:\n\n* **Tier 1**: These platforms represent the majority of Node.js users. The\n  Node.js Build Working Group maintains infrastructure for full test coverage.\n  Test failures on tier 1 platforms will block releases.\n* **Tier 2**: These platforms represent smaller segments of the Node.js user\n  base. The Node.js Build Working Group maintains infrastructure for full test\n  coverage. Test failures on tier 2 platforms will block releases.\n  Infrastructure issues may delay the release of binaries for these platforms.\n* **Experimental**: May not compile or test suite may not pass. The core team\n  does not create releases for these platforms. Test failures on experimental\n  platforms do not block releases. Contributions to improve support for these\n  platforms are welcome.\n\n---\n\nSince `musl` builds belong to the Experimental category, the statement \"Test failures on experimental platforms do not block releases.\" applies to the corresponding upstream Node.js release.\n\nhttps://github.com/nodejs/unofficial-builds also states:\n\n\u003e This project is experimental: its output is not guaranteed to remain consistent and its existence is not guaranteed into the future.\n\n## Suggestion\n\nBased on the above, the release of Tier 1 Node.js Debian-based Docker images should not depend on the availability of Experimental Node.js `musl` releases.\n\n1. Document the strategy for handling delayed upstream Node.js releases that are missing platforms in the Experimental category:\n\n    For instance, add one of the following statement to the [README](https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/blob/main/README.md):\n\n    \u003e Non-availability of Experimental Node.js `musl` releases does not block the release of Debian-based Node.js Docker images\n\n    or generically:\n\n    \u003e Non-availability of Node.js releases for Experimental platforms defined in the [Node.js platform list](https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/main/BUILDING.md#platform-list) does not block the release of Docker images based on Tier 1 or 2 Node.js Docker platforms.\n\n    This would apply to both security and non-security releases.\n\n2. Implement the strategy\n   The following are PR proposals for handling security releases only:\n   - https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/pull/2348\n   - https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/pull/2353\n","author":{"url":"https://github.com/MikeMcC399","@type":"Person","name":"MikeMcC399"},"datePublished":"2026-01-27T11:08:36.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":17},"url":"https://github.com/2363/docker-node/issues/2363"}