diff --git a/contrib/alpine/build.sh b/contrib/alpine/build.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ddf0e31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/alpine/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# helper script to check the build is fine
+docker run -it --rm -v $PWD:/build -w /build/contrib/alpine alpine sh -c 'apk add --upgrade abuild && adduser -D test && addgroup test abuild && su test -c "abuild-keygen && abuild -r"'
\ No newline at end of file