Guide into free package management systems

We try to list here the main Free Software package management systems.

The programs should natively compile/run on at least one distribution considered as Distributions enough free. The program should be Free Software and Open Source software (FOSS).

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Gentoo Portage: (see http://www.gentoo-portage.com/ for example)
- It installs from source, the components are named "ebuilds" and there are also "packages"
- It is mature.
- It was first implemented in Gentoo GNU/Linux
- The main distribution today is Gentoo GNU/Linux

Advanced Packaging Tool, APT
- It is used with .deb packages.
- It is mature.
- It was first implemented in Debian GNU/Linux
- The main distribution today is Debian GNU/Linux
APT4RPM (port of Advanced Packaging Tool to .rpm)
- It is used with .rpm packages.
- It is mature.
- It was first implemented in Conecitva Linux (today Mandriva, old Mandrake)
- The main distribution today is Mandrive Linux (old Mandrake)
URPMI
- Used with .rpm packages
- It is stable.
- First implemented in Mandriva (old Mandrake)
- Currently the only major distribution using urpmi is Mandriva.

autopackage
- Based on .package files
- There is a 1.0, and the system is stable and working. Still work needs to be done.
- Works with any Linux distribution, even without root password.
0install Zero Install
- It downloads applications directly from the internet the first time they are used, there is no package or file.
- It is stable and full functional.
- Works with any Linux distribution as long as you compile your kernel with a patch, even without root password if you have the kernel patch.
checkinstall
- When make install is done, CheckInstall will create a Slackware, RPM or Debian compatible package and install it. You can call it (un)install from source.
- Works with RPM-based, Deb-based, and Slackware distributions.