PackageKit

PackageKit is a free and open-source suite of software applications designed to provide a consistent and high-level abstraction layer for a number of different package management systems. PackageKit was created by Richard Hughes in 2007, and first embedded in an operating system as a default application in May 2008, with the release of Fedora 9. The suite is cross-platform, though it is primarily targeted at Linux distributions which follow the interoperability standards set out by the freedesktop.org group. It uses the software libraries provided by the D-Bus and Polkit projects to handle inter-process communication and privilege negotiation respectively. PackageKit seeks to introduce automatic updates without having to authenticate as root, fast-user-switching, warnings translated into the correct locale, common upstream GNOME and KDE tools and one software over multiple Linux distributions.

PackageKit is a free and open-source suite of software applications designed to provide a consistent and high-level abstraction layer for a number of different package management systems. PackageKit was created by Richard Hughes in 2007, and first embedded in an operating system as a default application in May 2008, with the release of Fedora 9. The suite is cross-platform, though it is primarily targeted at Linux distributions which follow the interoperability standards set out by the freedesktop.org group. It uses the software libraries provided by the D-Bus and Polkit projects to handle inter-process communication and privilege negotiation respectively. PackageKit seeks to introduce automatic updates without having to authenticate as root, fast-user-switching, warnings translated into the correct locale, common upstream GNOME and KDE tools and one software over multiple Linux distributions. ==Software architecture== PackageKit runs as a system-activated daemon, named packagekitd , which abstracts out differences between the different systems. A library called libpackagekit allows other programs to interact with PackageKit. Features include: installing local files, ServicePack media and packages from remote sources authorization using Polkit the use of existing packaging tools multi-user system awareness – it will not allow shutdown in critical parts of the transaction a system-activated daemon which exits when not in use ===Front-ends=== pkgcli is the official front-end of PackageKit, it operates from the command line. pkcon the older command-line interface of PackageKit. GTK-based: gnome-packagekit is an official GNOME front-end for PackageKit. Unlike GNOME Software, gnome-packagekit can handle all packages, not just applications, and has advanced features that are missing in GNOME Software as of June 2020. GNOME Software is a utility for installing the applications and updates on Linux. It is part of the GNOME Core Applications and was introduced in GNOME 3.10. Qt-based: File:Kpackagekit.png|Apper File:Plasma-discover.png|Discover ===Back-ends=== A number of different package management systems (known as back-ends) support different abstract methods and signals used by the front-end tools. Supported back-ends include: Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) Conary libdnf & librepo, the libraries upon which DNF, (the successor to YUM) builds Entropy Opkg pacman PiSi Portage Smart Package Manager urpmi YUM ZYpp ==See also== AppStream Listaller Polkit Red Carpet Software Updater List of Linux package management systems ==References== ==External links==

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