Summary
This chapter discussed how to work with a Package Management Systems (PMS) to install, update, or remove software from the command line. Although most of the Linux distributions use fancy GUI tools for software package management, you can also perform package management from the command line.
The Debian-based Linux distributions use the dpkg
utility to interface with the PMS from the command line. A front-end to the dpkg
utility is aptitude
. It provides simple command line options for working with software packages in the dpkg format.
The Red Hat–based Linux distributions are based on the rpm
utility but use different front-end tools at the command line. Red Hat and Fedora use yum
for installing and managing software packages. The openSUSE distribution uses zypper
for managing software, while the Mandriva distribution uses urpm
.
The chapter closed with a discussion on how to install software packages that are only distributed in source code tarballs. The tar
command allows...