COMP 3000 2012 Week 4 Notes

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Package Management

  • Two popular ones
  1. dpkg ---> debian
  2. rpm ---> redhat
  3. portage --> gentoo. Compile packages from source
  • Historically, packages distrobuted via compressed archives (filename.tar.gz)
    • Tar --> archives uncompressed
    • .gz, .bz2 --> compression
  • This method does not take into consideration dependencies, -pre&post install scripts

Package management's true innovation was that it handled all this.

Yum, apt-get, aptitude are wrappers built around rpm and dpkg. These also maintain lists of repos and do alot of other things. "They have alot of smarts." Basic functionality is done by dpkg/rpm, though. Use yum and apt-get for system upgrades.


Package management empowers you to know all the dependencies and files needed for a a binary. It allows you absolute control over the binaries in your system.

  • you can strip down linux to the base essentials
  • helps you debug programs not that don't start

Dpkg files are basically tar balls (archives). The same format dating back from the 70's. They contain all the scripts and binaries needed to install the system.

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