View Source: PackageManagementTool - Waikato Linux Users Group

Edit PageHistory Diff Info LikePages
Most PackageManagementTool~s revolve around binary distributions of [Packages | Package]. That is, they consult a repository of pre-compiled packages and install the package best suited to your system architecture. They may also offer source packages, allowing you to build the [Package] locally with whatever patches and optimization or configuration options you may have chosen. Other PackageManagementTool~s are source based - they may not even provide binary [Package]s at all, but at least try really hard to avoid them. These download the sources for a [Package], apply any vendor-provided patches, then compile on the local machine. This process takes considerably longer, but some people swear it gives them much better performance. It does have the advantage that you can tailor the system very closely to your desires, but is not much fun on slow machines, particularly for the desktop where such mammoths as [GNOME], [KDE], [Mozilla], and [OpenOffice] are waiting to occupy your machine for hours on end.

There are several main 'flavours' of PackageManagementTool in use in various LinuxDistribution. These include:

<tt>rpm</tt>:
     RedHat [Package] Manager, used not only by RedHat but also a number of others. Its [RPM] format for [Package]s has become a sort of standard because it was the first one used in any LinuxDistribution that had any form of dependency management.
<tt>dpkg</tt>:
     This is [Debian]'s [Package] manager. KnoppixLinux, [Progeny] and other LinuxDistribution~s are "Debian-based" and thus use this as well. FileFormat is [Deb].
<tt>.tgz</tt>:
     [Slackware] uses nearly plain TarBall~s that include a description and a postinstall script.
<tt>ports</tt>:
     This is the source based PackageManagementTool that [BSD] uses. Several LinuxDistribution~s use a similar idea.
<tt>portage</tt>:
     [Gentoo]'s version of source based PackageManagement, driven by a tool called <tt>emerge</tt>.
<tt>spell</tt>:
     Sorceror Linux has a 'spell book' approach to source based PackageManagement.

Frontends to these tools include:

__Up2date__:
     A front-end to rpm provided by RedHat for RedHat and FedoraCore. You get to use it on one machine per user free, and can pay for the right to use it on more machines.
[Yum]:
    FedoraCore's conconction. The vendor-recommended way to install software on that distribution.
[APT]:
     One of the best tools around. It traditionally wraps <tt>dpkg</tt>, but there is an AptForRpm variant now (and rapidly gaining popularity). It was the first front-end to nicely handle dependencies: <tt>apt-get install foo</tt> will automatically download and install not only <tt>foo</tt>, but also any unfulfilled dependencies <tt>foo</tt> may have. There are lots of supplemental utilities surrounding  -- see DebianPackageTools.
[urpmi]:
    [Mandriva]'s PackageManagementTool based on [RPM].
8 pages link to PackageManagementTool:
Last edited on Monday, July 11, 2005 6:23:51 am by AristotlePagaltzis
Edit PageHistory Diff Info LikePages