Package management

---

Table of contents

1. What is a package manager?
2. APT (Debian/Ubuntu)
3. YUM/DNF (RedHat/CentOS/Fedora)
4. Snap and Flatpak
5. Compiling from source
6. Hands-on exercises

---

1 - What is a package manager?

Definition

A package manager automates:

• Software installation
• Updates
• Removal
• Dependency management

Without a package manager

# Installation manuelle (complexe)
wget https://example.com/logiciel.tar.gz
tar xzf logiciel.tar.gz
cd logiciel
./configure
make
sudo make install
# + installer chaque dépendance manuellement...

With a package manager

# Installation simple
sudo apt install logiciel
# Tout est géré automatiquement !

Main package managers

Distribution	Manager	Format
Debian/Ubuntu	APT (dpkg)	.deb
RedHat/CentOS/Fedora	YUM/DNF (rpm)	.rpm
Arch Linux	pacman	.pkg.tar.zst
Alpine	apk	.apk
Universal	Snap, Flatpak	-

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

2 - APT (Debian/Ubuntu)

APT = Advanced Package Tool

Essential commands

Command	Description
apt update	Update the package list
apt upgrade	Update the installed packages
apt install	Install a package
apt remove	Remove a package
apt purge	Remove package + configuration
apt search	Search for a package
apt show	Information about a package
apt autoremove	Remove orphaned dependencies

System update

# Mettre à jour la liste des packages disponibles
sudo apt update

# Mettre à jour tous les packages installés
sudo apt upgrade

# Mettre à jour + gérer les nouvelles dépendances
sudo apt full-upgrade

# Tout en une commande
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install packages

# Installer un package
sudo apt install nginx

# Installer plusieurs packages
sudo apt install nginx vim curl git

# Installer sans confirmation
sudo apt install -y nginx

# Installer une version spécifique
sudo apt install nginx=1.18.0-0ubuntu1

# Réinstaller un package
sudo apt reinstall nginx

Remove packages

# Supprimer un package (garde la configuration)
sudo apt remove nginx

# Supprimer package + fichiers de configuration
sudo apt purge nginx

# Supprimer les dépendances inutilisées
sudo apt autoremove

# Nettoyage complet
sudo apt purge nginx && sudo apt autoremove

Search for packages

# Rechercher par nom
apt search nginx

# Rechercher avec description
apt search "web server"

# Informations détaillées
apt show nginx

# Lister les versions disponibles
apt list nginx -a

# Lister les packages installés
apt list --installed

# Lister les packages upgradables
apt list --upgradable

Repository management

Repositories are configured in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

# Ajouter un dépôt PPA (Ubuntu)
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update

# Ajouter un dépôt manuellement
echo "deb https://repo.example.com/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/example.list

# Ajouter une clé GPG
curl -fsSL https://repo.example.com/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

tip

Always run apt update after adding a new repository!

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

3 - YUM/DNF (RedHat/CentOS/Fedora)

DNF is the modern successor to YUM.

Essential commands

APT	DNF/YUM	Description
apt update	dnf check-update	Check for updates
apt upgrade	dnf upgrade	Update
apt install	dnf install	Install
apt remove	dnf remove	Remove
apt search	dnf search	Search
apt autoremove	dnf autoremove	Clean up

DNF examples

# Mettre à jour le système
sudo dnf upgrade

# Installer un package
sudo dnf install nginx

# Supprimer un package
sudo dnf remove nginx

# Rechercher
dnf search httpd

# Informations
dnf info nginx

# Lister les packages installés
dnf list installed

Repository management (DNF)

# Lister les dépôts
dnf repolist

# Activer/désactiver un dépôt
sudo dnf config-manager --enable epel
sudo dnf config-manager --disable epel

# Ajouter le dépôt EPEL
sudo dnf install epel-release

Correspondence table

Action	APT (Debian/Ubuntu)	DNF (Fedora/RHEL)
Update list	apt update	dnf check-update
System update	apt upgrade	dnf upgrade
Install	apt install pkg	dnf install pkg
Remove	apt remove pkg	dnf remove pkg
Search	apt search term	dnf search term
Info	apt show pkg	dnf info pkg
Clean up	apt autoremove	dnf autoremove

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

4 - Snap and Flatpak

Snap (Canonical)

Universal packages with sandboxing.

# Installer snap (si pas présent)
sudo apt install snapd

# Rechercher une application
snap find vscode

# Installer
sudo snap install code --classic
sudo snap install docker

# Mettre à jour
sudo snap refresh

# Supprimer
sudo snap remove code

# Lister les snaps installés
snap list

Flatpak

An alternative to Snap, more desktop-oriented.

# Installer flatpak
sudo apt install flatpak

# Ajouter le dépôt Flathub
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

# Installer une application
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP

# Lancer
flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP

# Mettre à jour
flatpak update

Comparison

Aspect	APT	Snap	Flatpak
Isolation	No	Yes	Yes
Automatic updates	No	Yes	Optional
Size	Small	Large	Large
Usage	System	Desktop apps	Desktop apps
Rollback	No	Yes	Yes

note

For servers, favor APT/DNF. Snap and Flatpak are better suited to desktop applications.

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

5 - Compiling from source

Sometimes you need to compile software from source.

Typical workflow

Prerequisites

# Installer les outils de compilation
sudo apt install build-essential
# Inclut : gcc, g++, make, etc.

# Outils supplémentaires courants
sudo apt install autoconf automake libtool

Complete example

# 1. Télécharger les sources
wget https://example.com/logiciel-1.0.tar.gz

# 2. Extraire
tar xzf logiciel-1.0.tar.gz
cd logiciel-1.0

# 3. Configurer (vérifie les dépendances)
./configure --prefix=/usr/local

# 4. Compiler
make

# 5. Installer
sudo make install

# 6. Vérifier
which logiciel
logiciel --version

Common configure options

# Installer dans un répertoire personnalisé
./configure --prefix=/opt/logiciel

# Activer/désactiver des fonctionnalités
./configure --enable-feature --disable-autre

# Voir toutes les options
./configure --help

checkinstall - Create a .deb package

# Installer checkinstall
sudo apt install checkinstall

# Au lieu de "make install", utilisez :
sudo checkinstall
# Crée un .deb et l'installe
# Permet de désinstaller proprement avec apt

warning

Compiling from source should be a last resort. Use package managers when possible.

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

6 - Hands-on exercises

Exercise 1: Basic management with APT

# 1. Mettez à jour la liste des packages
sudo apt update

# 2. Vérifiez les packages à mettre à jour
apt list --upgradable

# 3. Installez htop (moniteur de processus)
sudo apt install htop

# 4. Vérifiez l'installation
htop --version

# 5. Affichez les informations du package
apt show htop

# 6. Supprimez htop
sudo apt remove htop

# 7. Nettoyez les dépendances orphelines
sudo apt autoremove

Exercise 2: Package search

# 1. Recherchez les packages liés à "json"
apt search json | head -20

# 2. Recherchez les packages "python"
apt search ^python3 | head -20

# 3. Comptez les packages installés
apt list --installed | wc -l

Exercise 3: Repository management

# 1. Listez les sources configurées
cat /etc/apt/sources.list

# 2. Listez les fichiers de sources additionnels
ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

Quiz

Q1. Which command refreshes the list of available packages?

Answer

sudo apt update

Q2. What is the difference between remove and purge?

Answer

remove deletes the package but keeps the configuration files. purge deletes the package AND the configuration files.

Q3. How do you install a package without confirmation?

Answer

sudo apt install -y package

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

Key takeaways

• Always apt update before apt install
• apt upgrade to update the system
• apt remove vs apt purge (keeping configs)
• apt autoremove to clean up
• APT = Debian/Ubuntu, DNF = Fedora/RHEL
• Snap/Flatpak for isolated desktop applications
• Compiling from source = last resort

🔝 Back to table of contents

---

← Previous chapter | Next chapter: Processes and tasks →