So, what's the deal with Package Managers?

[TrainTrackHack]

If I've understood this correctly, Package Manager is what handles all software/whatnot installations in Linux. There also are different package managers (Debian, RPM and whatnot)... does this mean that some linux programs are incompatible with some other distros, or is it possible to install additioinal package managers... or what to do if a program doesn't come in the package manager format I should have for my current distro? Someone lighten things up for me, please... TY beforehand!

 

[patrickv]

If I've understood this correctly, Package Manager is what handles all software/whatnot installations in Linux. There also are different package managers (Debian, RPM and whatnot)... does this mean that some linux programs are incompatible with some other distros, o

not that they are not compatible, it's that linux has different platforms, some as derived from debian making them DEBS and some are from red-hat, making them RPM (red-hat package manager).

or is it possible to install additioinal package managers

yes you sure can, take suse, suse uses smart, yast or even zen

what to do if a program doesn't come in the package manager format I should have for my current distro? Someone lighten things up for me, please... TY beforehand!

nah, not that, programs vary according to your desktop. be it Gnome or KDE or XFCE. gnome has its own set of programs and so does KDE,but they work side by side.
like Amarok, amarok is for KDE, but you can install it on Gnome, see there's no format needed.

cheers hope it helps

 

[TrainTrackHack]

Okay, now the package manager question got cleared up. And now I'm all lost in this other stuff... like what's the actual difference between programs made for different platforms? And how does this "programs vary according to your desktop" thing work... I don't need any special tricks to run ... "GNOME programs" on, ay, ubuntu, Do I? And there's no compatibility issues or whatnot is there?

(yes I'm a hopeless Linux-noob...)

 

[patrickv]

Okay, now the package manager question got cleared up. And now I'm all lost in this other stuff... like what's the actual difference between programs made for different platforms? And how does this "programs vary according to your desktop" thing work... I don't need any special tricks to run ... "GNOME programs" on, ay, ubuntu, Do I? And there's no compatibility issues or whatnot is there?

(yes I'm a hopeless Linux-noob...)

nah you're fine, they will work, often when it doesn't the program will even tell you what is missing to make it work (those are dependencies) but they are resolve automatically

 

[TrainTrackHack]

*sigh of relief*
Ok, thanks.

 

[jw214]

www.northernjourney.com/opensource/newbies/ - if this link doesnt work,type it in your browser. i am a linux newbie as well and i found this page helpful. it was referred to me off this forum. so far from the stuff i have read it seems to me that you just have to start somewhere and venture forward.

 

[tlarkin]

If there is not a prebuilt package for your distro of Linux you can always download the source and compile one yourself.

Ubuntu uses APT and DEBS to download and install. APT being more robust since it will automatically resolve any needed repositories.

It only takes one command to do it as well. You may need to add URLs to your repository list though. All of this can be found on the ubuntu forums with detailed instructions.