1

I have learnt that in Ubuntu we could install programs via the Package Manager (apt-get) and Install Manually. I want to know the difference between them.

kos
  • 35,891
Kanat
  • 399
  • 4
  • 6
  • 17
  • 6
    Installing manually = installing a .deb package via dpkg, compiling from source and installing or what? – kos Dec 14 '15 at 17:39

2 Answers2

3

It is not that difficult to get to know the difference, though you could easily google it:-)

Since you are already here I will try to explain the difference.

The package manager is the easy way to install tools on ubuntu (or any linux distro), easy because when you try to install a tool it most likely (in most of the case) will need some additional libraries/packages (called dependencies) and there the package manager aid you by helping automatically to collect all dependencies and install them along.

The same won't happen with the manual package installation as if the tool has some dependencies, it will likely fail in installation and you will have to provide and install the dependencies 1by1 to satisfy and once you are done you can then install the package you were trying to install.

So when you type say: 

   apt-get install foo

Apt-get will collect all dependencies and ask you if you want to install them all along by telling that "foo" requires "bar" and so on.

Differently, if you have the package foo.deb and by trying to install manually:

   dpkg -i foo.deb

It will fail because it needs also bar.deb (dependency) and so on, so the installation will become complicated.

Or there is a 3rd way which is installing from source, called self-compiling using the source file.

Here is some link to help you understand the concept:

   http://askubuntu.com/questions/309113/what-is-the-difference-between-dpkg-and-aptitude-apt-get
ostendali
  • 1,158
0

their the same as far as i know, the console version is just a faster way for people to tell you how to install it without having you search for and then download(probably the wrong version) a program.

tecksup
  • 13
  • They are not the same, software center, apt-get, dpkg and update manager all have there differences when installing, i.e. Software center can auto install dependencies and dpkg can't, this is a huge difference for alot of users. – Mark Kirby Dec 22 '15 at 21:35