APT HOWTO
Chapter 1 - Introduction

In the beginning there was the .tar.gz. Users had to compile each program that they wanted to use on their GNU/Linux systems. When Debian was created, it was deemed necessary that the system include a method of managing the packages installed on the machine. The name dpkg was given to this system. Thus the famous `package' first came into being on GNU/Linux, a while before Red Hat decided to create their own `rpm' system.

A new dilemma quickly took hold of the minds of the makers of GNU/Linux. They needed a rapid, practical, and efficient way to install packages that would manage dependencies automatically and take care of their configuration files while upgrading. Here again, Debian led the way and gave birth to APT, the Advanced Packaging Tool, which has since been ported by Conectiva for use with rpm and has been adopted by some other distributions.

This manual makes no attempt to address apt-rpm, as the Conectiva port of APT is known, but "patches" to this document which do so would be welcome.

This manual is based on the next Debian release, Sarge.