What are the best Linux package managers?

Each month, over 1.7 million people use Slant to find the best products and share their knowledge. Pick the tags you’re passionate about to get a personalized feed and begin contributing your knowledge.

score 135 · Answer 1

Pacman

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Fast

Pacman is objectively one of the fastest package managers around. This is because it's very minimalistic and it installs only prebuilt packages.

Top Pro

Packaging signing keyring and mirror list

Both are also provided through packages which keeps them up to date.

Top Pro

Xz compression

Uses XZ compression for fast downloads & updates.

Top Pro

Synchronizes package lists with the master server

It allows the system to always be up to date.

Top Pro

A lot of available packages in Arch User Repository

The Arch User Repository (AUR) provides more packages for Pacman than any single repository for any other distribution. No more clumsy manual installations!

Top Pro

Advanced when you want it

Pacman does not overwrite modified configuration files. Instead, it saves a .pacnew file for it which you can later merge at your leasure

Top Pro

Simple syntax

Pacman has a relatively simple syntax which is easy to get used to. For example: pacman -Syu to update, pacman -S foo to install etc... Commands are not long and there are not many different commands to learn by heart.

Top Pro

Manages dependencies reliably

Top Pro

Can be made to use any downloader

Allows to change its downloader from internal to any other like wget or aira2.

Top Con

Doesn't always clean up after itself

Pacman's simplicity isn't for the typical windows-level computer user because it leaves new configuration versions around and generally doesn't handle file conflicts smoothly.

Top Con

No parallelization

Neither downloads nor processing can be set to run in parallel.

Top Con

Connecting to the AUR is a pain

For example, some AUR packages, used "git://" protocol to fetch code, may get blocked under restricted network such as behind a proxy, then you need to fix its build script by yourself.

See 6 more Pros See 10 more Pros & Cons

score 22 · Answer 2

Nix

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Can use multiple versions of the same package

Because of the functional approach it takes, Nix makes it easy for systems to use multiple versions of the same package simultaneously, and ensure that updating or removing a package can't break other packages.

Top Pro

No side effects when building packages

Nix is a purely functional package management system. This means that the act of building a package does not have side effects, such as destructively updating or deleting files that may be used by other packages.

Top Con

Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different versions

While the functional approach that Nix takes is great for sandboxing binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions. Especially in Debia...

Top Con

Does not work well for services on non-NixOS systems

When using Nix with anything other than NixOS you can run into difficulties with trying to start up services. For example, you can install docker with Nix, but it won't integrate with the host system's systemd leaving you to handcraft awkward workarounds in order to start the background ser...

See 2 more Pros & Cons See 2 more Pros & Cons

score 75 · Answer 3

DPKG family (apt, aptitude, synaptic)

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

De facto package manager

One of the biggest pluses of APT is the vast majority of software applications available for it. It's often referred as the 'de facto package manager' because most websites that offer software automatically package them in Deb format.

Top Pro

Supports searching for packages

If you are not sure about the name of the package you are looking to install, you can easily search for it using the search function provided by the apt tools: apt-cache search $search_term

Top Pro

Tab-completion of package names

By pressing <Tab> when writing a package name, for example sudo apt-get install ge<Tab> it will be autocompleted by apt: sudo apt-get install gedit. Though it's worth noting that to activate this feature in Ubuntu you need to edit the /etc/bash.bashrc file and remove the comments...

Top Pro

Synaptic finds all dependencies reliably

It's search is as simple or as detailed as you like, adding "Fixing" "Broken" "Upgradeable" the list goes on. Also manages PPA's on other software sources smartly.

Top Con

Suboptimal dependency resolution

Apt has only a rather simple heuristic based resolver that can result in users getting package blockages when putting individual packages on hold.

Top Con

Heavy for single-package repositories first install

Trusted source repositories are great (designed) for distributing large batches of interconnected software and updates. But, Trusted repositories are often used as the preferred way to distribute single 3rd party packages (and future updates), with the mandatory step of updating the entire software...

Top Con

Counterintuitive CLI

For installing and removing you have "apt-get", for searching "apt-cache", for listing "dpkg". "dpkg" uses only switches whereas "apt-*" also commands, ... At least there is this "aptitude" frontend, but that's not a standard tool.

Top Con

Very complicated and redundant packaging process

Filling out all requirements for .deb creation is such a pain that a lot of developers resort to packaging .deb files manually, because official packaging tools are too strict.

Top Con

Lack of sanity checks.

One thing that apt appears to lack is transaction tests and post-install verification. Coupled with the aforementioned poor dependency resolver, this can lead to deep headaches.

Top Con

Slow

Compared to many package managers, Apt is a very slow experience. From fetching packages, to caching them, to actually installing them, (and all the steps between).

See 8 more Pros & Cons See 8 more Pros & Cons

score 20 · Answer 4

Portage

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Decide which dependencies to install

WIth portage you can decide and customize which dependencies to install through some thing called USE flags. These are keywords that when defined, will tell Portage that you want support for the chosen keyword.

Top Pro

Sandboxes build process

Portage uses a sandbox as a safety measure during build processes. This is done to ensure that no packages accidentally write outside a 'safe' location.

Top Pro

You can view a list of programs that can be installed

With portage you can view a list of all the programs that you can install by going to /usr/portage and running ls.

Top Pro

Can install multiple versions of the same package simultaneously

Slotting is a feature which allows users to install multiple versions of a software simultaneously. This is especially useful for libraries which have changed interfaces between versions.

Top Pro

Respects customized config files

By default, portage doesn't delete or move any customized config files, thus enabling competent users to modify any config file however they want.

Top Pro

Allows both binary and source installation

With portage you can either compile packages from source or you can download and install their binary versions.

Top Pro

Simple overlay management

Adding supplemental repositories, aka overlays, is easy with layman.

Top Pro

Implements a standard with alternate implementations

If you need faster resolution, you can run pkgcore for search and portage for installing, and they work well together.

Top Con

Very slow

Dependency resolution is very slow and single-threaded, so usually you will see one of your cores running like crazy for over a minute

Top Con

High memory usage

Usually takes between 400-800MB of RSS (no problem to get over 1GB), so it's nothing for an old hardware.

See 8 more Pros & Cons See 8 more Pros & Cons

score 8 · Answer 5

DNF

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Delta RPMs

Binary diffs for smaller downloads

Top Pro

Download multiple packages simultaneously for faster downloads

DNF can download packages concurrently for faster downloads.

Top Pro

Fast dependency resolution

DNF uses a SAT solver for dependency resolution. This brings even more speed and avoids dependency hell.

Top Con

Not yet at feature parity with YUM

As DNF is the successor to YUM, it still has a lot of features that are in YUM but that are missing here. Things like skipping broken package during install, debug, verbose output, enable repo or exclude packages during install have little to no support in DNF.

See 2 more Pros See 2 more Pros

score 13 · Answer 6

Zypper

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Great dependency solver

Zypper's dependency solver is built on top of SAT solver which is one of the best package dependency solvers available for Linux.

Top Pro

Fast

Zypper uses a SAT solver for dependency solving issues and this helps with increasing Zypper's speed considerably.

Top Pro

Clean and logical

Top Con

Not the default package manager for many systems

Zypper is still relatively new. As such, it's not available as the default package manager in many systems.

See 2 more Pros See 2 more Pros

score 9 · Answer 7

Synaptic Package Manager

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Great and complete search

On other options it can be difficult to find the addons or dependencies . You will always find them in Synaptic.

Top Pro

Most functional package manager out there

Over the years Synaptic has survived while others try to be as good. The trend is towards simpler tools, but whenever you need functionality, synaptic usually trumps other options.

Top Pro

Full featured and easy to use

Top Con

Slightly difficult old fashioned interface

While it is true that Synaptic is feature packed, it just so happens that a lot of the features are not inclusive of each other and using it often feels like herding cats. You'll note the endless number of categories, universe vs multiverse, custom filters and so on. It's great if you'...

See 2 more Pros See 2 more Pros

score 20 · Answer 8

RPM Family (yum)

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Avoids dependency hell

All the metadata for installed software is stored into a XML file. This is used to avoid conflicting dependencies among packages. What's more, YUM also automatically syncs remote metadata to the local client in order to avoid failures if a command is not run at the correct interval.

Top Pro

Clean and easy to understand

Top Pro

Binary delta for faster transfer times

Yum supports delta-rpms which allow transmitting only the parts of the package that have changed.

Top Pro

Provides pre and post install sanity checks.

What might be thought of a standard feature, isn't. Thankfully RPM provides both a transaction test and a post install verification to make sure everything installs neatly.

Top Pro

Supports multiple compression methods

Supports gzip, bzip2, lzma, or xz compression.

Top Pro

Allows for complex dependency definitions

Alongside allowing dependency on a certain package, it allows depending on a library, versioned symbol, or a GAC'd Mono assembly.

Top Pro

Supports multiple verification methods

Supports verification with GPG and MD5.

Top Con

Can be very slow to download headers if not on broadband

Yum can be much slower than other package managers if the internet speed is not at least average to high.

See 6 more Pros See 6 more Pros

score 3 · Answer 9

Flatpak

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Cross-distribution

You can install flatpak packages on any distro you want.

Top Pro

Application sandboxing

All applications are limited to a set of predefined permissions, enhancing privacy and security.

Top Pro

A well-written documentation

Top Pro

Flexible runtime management

You can install a lot of runtimes for different apps, making applications a lot more compatible while still allowing some applications to share their runtimes.

Top Con

Bloated

Due to the way Flatpack handles packaging, this can lead to a large cache being created which quickly inflates to unreasonable sizes. Not only this, but using flatpack requires a large chunk of space to be reserved for it's own file hierarchy.

See 3 more Pros See 3 more Pros

score 4 · Answer 10

XBPS

Add Video or Image

Add a Pro

Know any positive aspects of this option?

Top Con

Complicated syntaxis

score 4 · Answer 11

GNOME Software

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

Software supports Flatpak repositories and packages.

Top Pro

One click installation

To install a new application, hit search, type in its name or what it does, and click Install. It's just that easy.

Top Pro

Shows application screenshots

Lets you see what an app looks like before installing it.

Top Pro

Cross-platform, yet a native GNOME application

Looks great and works intuitively, regardless of which distribution you use.

Top Con

Does not show how much time it will take to install an application

Doesn't show download size, package installed size, package/library installation. If your installing a KDE app will it require several hundred mb of dependencies, how long will the install take, are you maxing out a metered connection?

Top Con

Doesn't show old vs new versions

See 4 more Pros & Cons See 4 more Pros & Cons

score 5 · Answer 12

Entropy - the Sabayon package manager

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Very fast and high QA

You can tweak command linea to enable and set the multifetch of packages. Support deltas and since hereditate mostly the packages of Portage, with along all the QA test results in a high QA

Add a Con

Know any negative aspects of this option?

score 1 · Answer 13

Conda

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Support for multiple environments

Top Pro

Multi-platform

Top Pro

Large comunity of package maintainers at conda-forge

https://conda-forge.github.io/

Add a Con

Know any negative aspects of this option?

See 2 more Pros See 2 more Pros

score 2 · Answer 14

Docker

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Total isolation

Applications run in their own separate virtualized operating systems

Top Pro

Manage application data in separate volumes

Any state that applications need to maintain is put in a volume, which can be mounted on the local filesystem or managed by Docker.

Top Pro

Composability

Applications can be combined by linking ports on a virtual network.

Top Pro

Reproducable enviroments

Because of the high level of isolation and the image-based build system, you can move Docker containers between machines effortlessly. With fleetctl and CoreOS you can even do this automatically.

Top Con

Heavy

Images that aren't optimized to have a small base (like Alpine) can often be 100MB/+ and for running lightweight utilities the startup time of a Docker image may not make sense.

See 3 more Pros See 3 more Pros

score 4 · Answer 15

GNU Guix

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

Can setup a shell which has exactly the defined libraries available

A method which works across languages and provides a reproducible programming environment.

Top Pro

No side effects when building packages

Guix is a purely functional package management system. This means that the act of building a package does not have side effects, such as destructively updating or deleting files that may be used by other packages.

Top Pro

Can create independent packages

Guix pack creates packages which do not need Guix to be run

Top Con

Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different versions

While the functional approach that Guix takes is great for sandboxing binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions.

See 2 more Pros See 2 more Pros