[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for
this link. ]
“In Linux however, everything is integrated and simple
to use. Most of the software you’ll ever want to install is not
only search-able from a single window on your desktop, it’s also
installable with a single click. Not only that, but for the extra
charge of absolutely nothing all future upgrades are taken care of
for you, along with the rest of the system.“The problem is that generally it’s a very distribution specific
thing, because, well that’s what distributions do. Each system is
built with their own version of various system libraries and even
though binaries may work across several distributions, they are
just as often incompatible. While users can download and install
packages themselves, the system is best controlled by a package
manager which keeps track of everything. Installing packages
manually might by-pass the manager, making the system inconsistent.
Therefore, most packages are managed through a repository; a
database of available applications. If an application the user
wants is not available in an official repository, there are
hundreds of extras available on-line. If a user can find an
appropriate binary for their system, package managers can install
it along with any required dependencies automatically – so long as
they are available in the repository.“But why are package managers so important?”