This is a list of notable software package management systems, categorized first by package format (binary, source code, hybrid) and then by operating system family.
The following package management systems distribute apps in binary package form; i.e., all apps are compiled and ready to be installed and use.
.tbz2
), that are created using Entropy itself, from tbz2 binaries produced by Portage: From ebuilds, a type of specialized shell script;.pkg.tar.zst
) built using the makepkg utility (which comes bundled with pacman) and a specialized type of shell script called a PKGBUILD;.txz;
The following package management systems distribute the source code of their apps. Either the user must know how to compile the packages, or they come with a script that automates the compilation process. For example, in GoboLinux a recipe file contains information on how to download, unpack, compile and install a package using its Compile tool. In both cases, the user must provide the computing power and time needed to compile the app, and is legally responsible for the consequences of compiling the package.
The following unify package management for several or all Linux and sometimes Unix variants. These, too, are based on the concept of a recipe file.
.package
files.Package management systems geared toward developing and distributing video games.
A wide variety of package management systems are in common use today by proprietary software operating systems, handling the installation of both proprietary and free packages.