Software Distribution

Your system is comprised of many packages such as internet browsers, text editors, media players, etc. These packages are managed via package managers, which install and maintain the software on your system. Not all packages are installed through package managers though, you can commonly install packages directly from their source code (we'll get to that soon). However the majority of the time you will use a package manager to install software, the most common variety of packages are Debian (.deb) and Red Hat (.rpm). Debian style packages are used in distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, LinuxMint, etc. Red Hat style packages are seen in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, CentOS, etc.

What are packages? You may know them as Chrome, Photoshop, etc and they are, but what they really are just lots and lots of files that have been compiled into one. The people (or sometimes a single person) that write this software are known as upstream providers, they compile their code and write up how to get it installed. These upstream providers work on getting out new software and update existing software. When they are ready to release it to the world, they send their package to package maintainers, who handle getting this piece of software in the hands of the users. These package maintainers review, manage and distribute this software in the form of packages.