arno/linux-insides
1
0
Fork 0
mirror of https://github.com/0xAX/linux-insides.git synced 2025-01-23 14:11:04 +00:00
Code Issues Releases Wiki Activity

Explaining what are packages and why are they useful

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
gustavofulton 2015-10-13 21:44:31 -04:00
parent 3616c8e78a
commit f8fb699a32
1 changed files with 7 additions and 0 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

7
Packages/concepts.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
What’s a Package?
Unlike on Windows, where applications come in .exe installer files that can do anything they like to the system, Linux uses special package formats. There are a variety of package types – most notably DEB on Debian and Ubuntu and RPM on Fedora, Red Hat, and others. These packages are essentially archives containing a list of files. The package manager opens the archive and installs the files to the location the package specifies. The package manager remains aware of which files belong to which packages – when you uninstall a package, the package manager knows exactly which files on the system belong to it. Windows has no idea what files belong to an installed application – it lets application installers manage installation and uninstallation themselves.
Packages can also contain scripts that run when the package is installed and removed, although these are generally used for system setup and not moving files to arbitrary locations.
Think of a package manager like a mobile app store – except they were around long before app stores. Tell the package manager to install software and it will automatically download the appropriate package from its configured software repositories, install it, and set it up – all without you having to click through wizards or hunt down .exe files on websites. When an update is released, your package manager notices and downloads the appropriate update. Unlike on Windows, where each application must have its own updater to receive automatic updates, the package manager handles updates for all installed software — assuming they were installed from the software repositories.