computer science

List of software package management systems

List of software package management systems is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of software package management systems rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of notable software package manager systems, categorized first by package format (binary, source code, hybrid) and then by operating system family. Binary packages The following package manager systems distribute software in binary package form; i.e., all executables are compiled and ready to install and use.

Key takeaways

List of software package management systems belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of software package management systems to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of software package management systems from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of notable software package manager systems, categorized first by package format (binary, source code, hybrid) and then by operating system family.

Binary packages The following package manager systems distribute software in binary package form; i.e., all executables are compiled and ready to install and use.

Unix-like

Linux dpkg: Originally used by Debian and now by Ubuntu and derivatives. Uses the .deb format and was the first to have a widely known dependency resolution tool, APT. The ncurses-based front-end for APT, aptitude, is also a popular package manager for Debian-based systems; Flatpak: A containerized/sandboxed packaging format formerly named xdg-app; Snap: Cross-distribution containerized package manager, non-free on the server-side, originally developed for Ubuntu; Nix: Aims to make package management reliable and reproducible. It provides atomic upgrades and rollbacks, side-by-side installation of multiple versions of a package, multi-user package management, and easy setup of build environments; GNU Guix: Used by the GNU Guix System. It is based on Nix, with Guile Scheme APIs. The default channel in the GNU Guix System omits proprietary software, but users can add third party channels without this restriction; Pacman: Used in Arch Linux, Frugalware and DeLi Linux. Its binary package format is a compressed tar archive (default file extension: .pkg.tar.zst) built using the makepkg utility (which comes bundled with pacman) and a specialized type of shell script called a PKGBUILD. Pacman is often used indirectly via wrappers with AUR support such as aura, pakku, paru, pikaur, trizen, and yay. Pamac: A frontend to pacman with both a CLI and a GUI, built and maintained by Manjaro; Portage: A package management system invoked by the emerge command, originally created for and used by Gentoo Linux; Entropy: Used by and created for Sabayon Linux. It works with binary packages that are bzip2-compressed tar archives (file extension: .tbz2), that are created using Entropy, from tbz2 binaries produced by Portage from ebuilds, a type of specialized shell script; RPM Package Manager: Created by Red Hat. RPM is the Linux Standard Base packaging format and the base of a number of additional tools: APT-RPM: an APT-like frontend to RPM; openSUSE's ZYpp (zypper); Fedora's DNF and YUM, also used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Yellow Dog Linux; slackpkg; netpkg: The package manager used by Zenwalk. Compatible with Slackware package management tools; slapt-get: An APT-like package manager for Slackware; XBPS (X Binary Package System): Used by Void Linux. apk-tools: Used by Alpine Linux. Originally a collection of shell scripts, but has been since rewritten in C.

Linux (discontinued) OpenPKG: Cross-platform package management system based on RPM Package Manager; PISI: Stands for "Packages Installed Successfully as Intended"; used by Pisi Linux. Pardus used to use Pisi, but migrated to APT in 2013. Red Hat's up2date, an out-of-date/discontinued predecessor to YUM.

Android Accrescent Amazon Appstore: Alternative app store for Android devices; Aptoide: application for installing mobile applications which runs on the Android operating system. In Aptoide there is no centralized store; instead, each user manages their own store. F-Droid: Alternative app store for Android, whose official repository contains only free software; Samsung Galaxy Store: An app store developed by Samsung for Android, Tizen, Windows Mobile and Bada devices. GetJar: An independent mobile phone app store founded in Lithuania in 2004; Google Play: Online app store developed by Google for Android devices that license the proprietary Google Application set; Huawei AppGallery: An app store developed by Huawei for Android devices and HarmonyOS devices; SlideME: Alternative app store for Android.

BSD FreeBSD pkg – FreeBSD binary packages are built on top of source based FreeBSD Ports and managed with the pkg tool; OpenBSD ports: The infrastructure behind the binary packages on OpenBSD; pkgsrc: A cross-platform package manager, with regular binary packages provided for NetBSD, Linux and macOS by multiple vendors; dpkg: Used as part of Debian GNU/kFreeBSD; OpenPKG: Cross-platform package management system based on rpm; PC-BSD: Up to and including version 8.2 uses files with the .pbi (Push Button Installer) filename extension which, when double-clicked, bring up an installation wizard program. Each PBI is self-contained and uses de-duplicated private dependencies to avoid version conflicts. An autobuild system tracks the FreeBSD ports collection and generates new PBIs daily. PC-BSD also uses the FreeBSD pkg binary package system; new packages are built approximately every two weeks from both a stable and rolling release branch of the FreeBSD ports tree.

macOS (OS X) Mac App Store: Official digital distribution platform for OS X apps. Part of OS X 10.7 and available as an update for OS X 10.6; Fink: A port of dpkg, it is one of the earliest package managers for macOS; Homebrew: Command-Line Interface-based package manager, known for its ease-of-use and extensibility. MacPorts: Formerly named DarwinPorts, based on FreeBSD Ports (as is macOS); Joyent: Provides a repository of 10,000+ binary packages for macOS based on pkgsrc;

Solaris, illumos Image Packaging System (IPS, also known as "pkg(5)"): Used by Solaris, OpenSolaris, and Illumos distributions like OpenIndiana and OmniOS; pkgsrc: SmartOS, OS distribution of Illumos from Joyent. Uses pkgsrc, can be bootstrapped to use on OpenIndiana; OpenCSW: Community supported collection of packages in SysV format for SunOS 5.8-5.11 (Solaris 8-11); OpenPKG: Cross-platform package management system based on RPM Package Manager.

iOS App Store: Official app store for iOS apps; Cydia: Frontend to a port of APT. Maintained by the jailbreak community.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of software package management systems

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of software package management systems claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of software package management systems before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of software package management systems ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of software package management systems

In research: List of software package management systems appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of software package management systems in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of software package management systems is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computing-related lists, Package management systems, Software distribution, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of software package management systems outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of software package management systems in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of software package management systems means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is List of software package management systems in simple terms?

This is a list of notable software package manager systems, categorized first by package format (binary, source code, hybrid) and then by operating system family. Binary packages The following package manager systems distribute software in binary package form; i.e., all executables are compiled and…

Why does List of software package management systems matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of software package management systems?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of software package management systems.