Chapter 10
Getting and Managing Software
In Linux distributions such as Fedora and Ubuntu, you don't need to know much about how software is packaged and managed to get the software you want. Those distributions have excellent software installation tools that automatically point to huge software repositories. Just a few clicks and you're using the software in little more time than it takes to download it.
The fact that Linux software management is so easy these days is a credit to the Linux community, which has worked diligently to create packaging formats, complex installation tools, and high-quality software packages. Not only is it easy to get the software, but once it's installed, it's easy to manage, query, update, and remove it.
This chapter begins by describing how to install software packages in Fedora using the PackageKit graphical installation tool. If you are just installing a few software packages on your own desktop system, you may not need much more than that and occasional security updates.
To dig deeper into managing Linux software, I next describe what makes up Linux software packages (comparing deb and rpm formatted packaging), underlying software management components, and commands (yum and rpm) for managing software in Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. That's followed by a description ...
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