Redhat Package Manager – now recursive – RPM Package Manager – after being adopted by multiple distros.

Package file naming conventions (NOT A REQUIREMENT):

• packagename-a.b.c-x.arch.rpm
  • Package Name - name of package, like.. samba
  • Version Number - (a.b.c) this is the package version number like 3.6.5 – the programmer assigns this number.
  • Build Number - number following version number (x) represents minor changes (patches, tweaks) made by package container.
  • Architecture - Defines the architecture the package was made to run on. i386 is common. there are further archs like: i586, i686, x86_64, PPC, noarch(scripts)

Operators:

• -i – Install
• -U – Upgrade if already installed
• -q – Query, get info about packages

You can edit sources in /etc/apt/sources.list

deb     http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy         main
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy         main
deb     http://security.debian.org/   wheezy/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/   wheezy/updates main

deb entries specify debian PACKAGES where as deb-src specifies SOURCE PACKAGES, upon which to compile a package/program.

Useful commands:

• apt-get update