To install software on a Linux system, you can either use a package manager or install the software manually. Red Hat distributions (Fedora, CentOS, RHEL) use the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) while Debian-based systems such as Ubuntu use Debian Package Management System (DPMS). the tool provided by Red Hat to use RPM is also called rpm. APT is a widely-used tool to work with DPMS.
RPM simplifies the task of installing, uninstalling, and managing installed software. Its primary functions are:
- querying for software
- installing and uninstalling software
- updating software
- maintaining a database of information concerning RPM packages
- creating RPM packages
Like RPM, DPMS also simplifies the task of installing, uninstalling and managing software. DPMS packages have a .deb extension and these files can be easily manipulated with the dpkg application. APT is a wrapper tool which directly accesses dpkg and provides a powerful library of programming functions such as "apt-get" to its users. APT manages software via repositories in the sources.list configuration file.
Many GUI-based tools are also available if you do not prefer using CLI tools such as RPM or APT. Red Hat distributions provide RPM-based GUI, Debian-based systems provide synaptic, SuSe distributions use YAST (Yet Another Setup Tool) and there are many other tools available freely.
Advanced Packaging Tool - APT
APT allows users to install, uninstall, search and upgrade packages on Debian systems.
To search for a package:
apt-cache search package_name
To install a package
sudo apt-get install package_name
To uninstall a package
sudo apt-get remove package_name
To update your installed packages
sudo apt-get update
When you update, apt finds, downloads, and installs patches and updates for all your installed packages
To upgrade your system
sudo apt-get upgrade
To get help with apt commands:
apt-get help
Synaptic Package Manager
If you prefer a GUI tool instead of command line apt, there is the synaptic package manager, generally referred to as Synaptic. To start Synaptic, go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. You will be asked for the root password. Simply search for your package, choose and mark to select it and click on mark to install it. Click on unmark and apply to uninstall software.