List of software package management systems

This is a list of notable software package management systems, categorized first by package format (binary, source code, hybrid) and then by operating system family.

Binary packages

The following package management systems distribute apps in binary package form; i.e., all apps are compiled and ready to be installed and use.

Unix-like

Linux

* dpkg: Originally used by Debian and now by Ubuntu. Uses the .deb format and was the first to have a widely known dependency resolution tool, APT. The ncurses-based front-end for APT, aptitude, is also a popular package manager for Debian-based systems;
* Entropy: Used by and created for Sabayon Linux. It works with binary packages that are bzip2-compressed tar archives (file extension: .tbz2), that are created using Entropy itself, from tbz2 binaries produced by Portage: From ebuilds, a type of specialized shell script;
* Flatpak: A containerized/sandboxed packaging format previously known as xdg-app;
* GNU Guix: Used by the GNU System. It is based on the Nix package manager with Guile Scheme APIs and specializes in providing exclusively free software;
* Homebrew: a port of the MacOS package manager of the same name (see below), formerly referred to as 'Linuxbrew';
* ipkg: A dpkg-inspired, very lightweight system targeted at storage-constrained Linux systems such as embedded devices and handheld computers. Used on HP's webOS;
* netpkg: The package manager used by Zenwalk. Compatible with Slackware package management tools;
*Nix Package Manager: Nix is a powerful package manager for Linux and other Unix systems that makes package management reliable and reproducible. It provides atomic upgrades and rollbacks, side-by-side installation of multiple versions of a package, multi-user package management and easy setup of build environments;
* OpenPKG: Cross-platform package management system based on RPM Package Manager;
* opkg: Fork of ipkg lightweight package management intended for use on embedded Linux devices;
* Pacman: Used in Arch Linux, Frugalware and DeLi Linux. Its binary package format is a zstd-compressed tar archive (file extension: .pkg.tar.zst) built using the makepkg utility (which comes bundled with pacman) and a specialized type of shell script called a PKGBUILD;
* PETget: Used by Puppy Linux;
* PISI: Pisi stands for "Packages Installed Successfully as Intended". Pisi package manager is used by Pisi Linux. Pardus used to use Pisi, but migrated to APT in 2013;
* pkgsrc: A cross-platform package manager, with binary packages provided for Enterprise Linux, macOS and SmartOS by Joyent and other vendors;
* RPM Package Manager: Created by Red Hat. RPM is the Linux Standard Base packaging format and the base of a number of additional tools, including apt4rpm, Red Hat's up2date, Mageia's urpmi, openSUSE's ZYpp (zypper), PLD Linux's poldek, Fedora's DNF, and YUM, which is used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Yellow Dog Linux;
* slackpkg;
* slapt-get: Which is used by Slackware and works with a binary package format that is essentially a xz-compressed tar archive with the file extension .txz;
* Smart Package Manager: Used by CCux Linux;
* Snap: Cross-distribution package manager, non-free on the server-side, originally developed for Ubuntu;
* Swaret;
*Zero Install (0install): Cross-platform packaging and distributions software. It is available for Arch Linux, Debian, Knoppix, Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, Red Hat and Slackware;
* xbps (X Binary Package System): Used by Void Linux;
* apk-tools: Used by Alpine Linux. Originally a collection of shell scripts, but has been since rewritten in C;

Android

* Amazon Appstore: Alternative app store for Android devices;
* Aptoide: application for installing mobile applications which runs on the Android operating system. In Aptoide there is not a unique and centralized store; instead, each user manages their own store.
* Cafe Bazaar: Alternative app store for Android.
* F-Droid: An app store used in Replicant, which aims to replace the proprietary