Package format

Short description: Type of computer archive

A package format is a type of archive containing computer programs and additional metadata needed by package managers.[1] While the archive file format itself may be unchanged, package formats bear additional metadata, such as a manifest file or certain directory layouts. Packages may contain either source code or executable files.

Packages may be converted from one type to another with software such as Alien.

## Contents

* 1 Common formats
* 1.1 Specialized formats
* 1.2 Generic formats
* 2 References

## Common formats

### Specialized formats

Format  | Consumed by

|

AAB | Android
AIR | Adobe AIR
APK (Alpine)  | Alpine Linux[2]
APK (Android) | Android
AppImage | Linux distribution-agnostic.
APPX and APPXBundle | Windows 8 and later, Windows Phone[3]
Bottle  | Homebrew
Deb | Debian and its derivatives, such as Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Linux Mint[4]
ebuild | Gentoo Linux[5]
eopkg | Solus[6]
Flatpak | Linux distribution-agnostic.
.app, .hap | HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony and GNU Linux based Unity Operating System
PISI | Pardus
PKG  | macOS, iOS, PlayStation 3, Solaris, SunOS, UNIX System V, Symbian, BeOS, Apple Newton
.pkg.tar.zst | Arch Linux
PUP and PET | Puppy Linux (PUP format is deprecated since version 3.0)
RPM | Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, derivatives such as CentOS,[7] and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, openSUSE
Snap | Linux distribution-agnostic, mainly developed for Ubuntu
Windows Installer package / MSI  | Windows Installer on Microsoft Windows

### Generic formats

Arch Linux's Pacman[8] and Slackware[9] use Tar archives with generic naming but specific internal structures.

## References

1. ↑ Justin Angelo Cappos, Stork: Secure Package Management for VM Environments[yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}], ProQuest, 2008, p. 128 ;
2. ↑ "Alpine package format - Alpine Linux". https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_package_format.
3. ↑ "App packaging". http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/bg182885.aspx.
4. ↑ "InstallingSoftware - Community Ubuntu Documentation". Help.ubuntu.com. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware.
5. ↑ "ebuild". https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Ebuild.
6. ↑ "Basics to Package Management". https://getsol.us/articles/package-management/basics/en/.
7. ↑ "rpm - Trac". http://rpm.org/.
8. ↑ "makepkg.conf(5) Manual Page". https://www.archlinux.org/pacman/makepkg.conf.5.html.
9. ↑ "The Slackware Linux Project: Configuration Help". http://www.slackware.com/config/packages.php.

* v
* t
* e

Linux package management systems

dpkg|

* APT
* KPackage
* Synaptic
* Ubuntu Software Center
* aptitude
* dselect

RPM|

* APT-RPM
* DNF
* up2date
* urpmi
* Rpmdrake
* YUM
* ZYpp

Embedded systems|

* ipkg
* opkg

Distribution-agnostic|

* AppImage
* Flatpak
* GNU Guix
* Nix
* pkgsrc
* Snappy

Others (binary)|

* Conary
* Entropy
* netpkg
* pacman
* PiSi
* PPM
* slackpkg
* slapt-get
* swaret
* upkg

Others (source)|

* Sorcery
* Portage

Front-ends|

* Autopackage
* Listaller
* PackageKit
* Discover
* GNOME Software
* Apper
* Zero Install

Related topics|

* AppData
* AppStream
* Package format

* List
* Category
* Commons
* Italics indicates a discontinued or inactive package management system.

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