Package managers: APT vs DNF

 

Here we are looking at the package managers 'apt' and 'dnf'. Both are modern and powerful tools for searching, installing, and managing the applications and packages installed in their respective Linux derivatives. Both share a lot of common commands as well, so it is very familiar to work with either. 

Not mentioned in the video, but a wonderful feature of open source software, is both work in most distributions and are not 100% relegated to those specific distros that ship with each respectively. That said, the package manager is a powerful component of a distribution, and I feel it is worth trying to learn the default tooling for each distribution one really wants to spend time with.  

This effort is part of a series I have rolling around in my noggin around package managers and their importance to the adoption of Linux by most people. I strongly feel that while they predate, and perhaps even inspired the concepts of App stores or Google Play used by mobile devices, not a lot of credit is really given to them. What makes package managers and the relevant repositories even more powerful than app stores is, because they run as commands, they can be scripted. Scripting allows more ease in management by sysadmins and others who need to work with a large fleet of devices. 

Before App stores, Linux was always safer then Windows primarily because software was curated for the distribution of choice. Installed packages, so long as they were coming from the package manager and the associated, known-good repos, had, and continue to have, way less risk than just going to websites and downloading software to run on a Windows PC. Package managers are faster, more reliable, and safer than what many people use to install and manage software on their computing devices, making learning them very important. 

Hopefully with just a few simple commands like 'apt update', 'apt upgrade', 'dnf update', 'apt install <whatever package you want in the repo>', and 'apt remove <installed package you do not want>', etc. new users can better take advantage of Linux and open source tools. 

More reference:

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/dnf-vs-apt/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APT_(software)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNF_(software)