For some, package management under Linux is an absolute knock-out compared with Windows. For newcomers, however, despite all the undeniable benefits of a consistent package database, the unfamiliar concept of software installation on Linux is often an insurmountable obstacle.

With at least three incompatible package formats or package management systems and the ability to build software from sources that can also have diverse archive formats, installing software can be formidable. Therefore, for years efforts have been made to spare beginners the details of the individual package formats and implement a kind of meta-package format along with a corresponding tool that would work under all distributions.

A History of Installers

Some familiar current and former representatives of the software installation category are Autopackage, MojoSetup, and Zero Install. In this context, the PackageKit package management interface is also important and provides an interface for different package systems (see the "PackageKit" box).

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