In this article, I will be addressing what package management is and what problem it solves. First, what is package management?
Package management is a method of installing, updating, removing, and keeping track of software updates from specific repositories in the Linux system. - RedHat
What problem do package managers solve? The best way to answer this is to define what a package is.
A package can be said to be a compressed archive that contains all the files that are required for the software to run. Traditionally, using packages made software installation fast and easy but the emergence of other Linux distributions became a problem. Every Linux distribution is built differently and as such require different sets of dependencies to allow their programs to run smoothly. So to install a program you need to install the dependencies along with it to make it run smoothly. With package management, programs were installed, updated, and configured along with their dependencies.
Functions of package managers
Some of the functions of package management include:
Managing dependencies - package management helps manage dependencies needed to run applications smoothly. It makes sure the dependencies are up to date and are available when they are needed.
Simplified package management - they provide querying options making it possible to lookup packages, installing or updating programs from a software repository.
Types of package managers
Linux distributions are generally grouped by their respective package managers and I will be talking about the two common ones. There are Debian-based distributions and red hat-based distributions.
Debian-based distributions - in this part I will be talking about two Debian-based distributions which are dpkg and apt.
Dpkg ( Debian package management system) This is the base package management system for the Debian-based distributions it allows you to install, remove and provide information about the .deb packages. It is limited to installing packages but not with their dependencies.
Apt ( Advanced Packaging Tool ) This is the front end for the Debian package management system (Dpkg). It also allows you to install, remove, update and manage programs along with their dependencies, unlike dpkg.
Red Hat-based distributions - in this part I will be talking about two Red Hat-based distributions which are Rpm and yum.
Rpm ( Red Hat Package Manager ) This is the base package management system for red hat-based distributions. Just like the dpkg it is used to install packages but not with their dependencies. It is used to install .rpm packages
Yum( Yellowdog Updater, Modified ) Yum is the front end for rpm, it allows you to install, update, remove packages along with their dependencies.
In conclusion, package management prevents something called dependency hell which can be a nightmare for developers by performing dependency resolution when installing, updating, and removing software packages.
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