Package Format
A package format (AKA Package) is a type of archive containing computer programs and additional metadata needed by package managers.
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.
Software Development Lifecycle
Packages are important artifacts produced during the implementation phase of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) . They are the products of the implementation phase, used during Customer Acceptance Testing and Service phases to determine if the software is viable to be put into service.
Package artifacts provide a reproducible configuration, allowing for quality (customer) acceptance teams to validate a software component as ready for service to customers.
Software Supply Chain and Security
Packages are an important component in managing the security and integrity of the software supply chain. Packages containing executables & configuration can be digitally signed (see Code signing) to establish the integrity of running software and protect against tampering.
Package formats that support Code signing include .deb (Debian), .msi (Microsoft Windows), .apk (Android) and .ipa (IOS, IPadOS)
Common formats
Specialized formats
| Format | Consumed by |
|---|---|
| AAB | Android |
| AIR | Adobe AIR |
| APK (Alpine) | Alpine Linux |
| APK (Android) | Android |
| AppImage | Linux distribution-agnostic. |
| APPX and APPXBundle | Windows 8 and later, Windows Phone |
| Bottle | Homebrew |
| Deb | Debian and its derivatives, such as Raspberry Pi OS, Kali Linux, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint |
| ebuild | Gentoo Linux |
| eopkg | Solus |
| .ipa | IOS, IPadOS |
| nixpkg | Nix, NixOS, Home Manager |
| Portage | Gentoo Linux, ChromeOS |
| Ports (BSD) | OpenBSD |
| Flatpak | Linux distribution-agnostic. |
| .app, .hap | HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony, Oniro OS and 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, 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 and Slackware use Tar archives with generic naming but specific internal structures.
References
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Package format, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.