A Primer on Linux Package Management

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 23:43:47 +0800

Simply put, the Linux package management system refers to a tool for installing, removing, or updating software on a Linux system. Different Linux distributions package application software in different formats. For example: Debian-based Linux uses *.deb; CentOS uses *.rpm; openSUSE also uses *.rpm. Because of the differences in package formats across Linux distributions, the package management tools also differ.

A Detailed Look at Where deb Packages Are Installed

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:13:58 +0800

As everyone knows, when you install software on Windows, most of the files of that package are usually kept in the installation directory. But when you first install a package on Linux, you often wonder: where exactly are the package’s files stored?

Actually, when you install a package on Linux, the system copies different types of files from the package to different directories. If you’re using a Debian-based Linux system, you can find out which directories the different types of files of a package go to with the following command. For example, to see the distribution of all of nodejs’s files:

# dpkg -L nodejs

The output is as follows:

Linux on Code Log

A Primer on Linux Package Management

A Detailed Look at Where deb Packages Are Installed