If you’ve hopped between Linux distributions as much as I have, you know that each major family of distros introduces you to a different package manager. At first, it can feel a bit daunting (apt on Debian/Ubuntu, dnf on RHEL/Fedora, pacman on Arch, and zypper on openSUSE), but these tools all serve the same purpose of installing and updating software.
After using Linux for years (across everything from Debian to Arch-based systems), I’ve grown comfortable with all of them. Even niche distros like Slackware, Gentoo, and Void. In this post, I’ll break down the major package managers, how they differ, and what it’s like to use each one. We’ll also touch on the universal package formats (Snap and Flatpak) that aim to work across distributions, and lastly mention a few niche package management systems. Let’s dive in!
I said “most users” in the sense of “nobody has to” and refer to everyone, including you and me. We don’t have to use the commandline to update package managers, if we use a GUI for it. I didn’t mean a specific number of people do or don’t.
Well, that’s interesting. I guess linux really is going more mainstream, if that’s the more common user experience. The users I know are mostly professionals that enjoy tinkering under the hood. Thanks for your perspective, stranger.
They didn’t say that. They said most users don’t have to. That says literally nothing about how many people do or do not use a GUI versus the command line. All that means is every modern distro has a GUI built in.
It’s like you didn’t even read their previous comments.
Can confirm, my parents on Tumbleweed don’t tinker with cli.