Installing And Uninstalling Software - Raspberry Pi User Manual

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Installing and Uninstalling Software

The default software installed with the Debian distribution is enough to get you started, but
chances are you're going to want to customise your Pi according to your own requirements .
Installing new software onto the Pi is simple . The Debian distribution includes a tool called
apt
or a collection of different pieces of software designed to work together .
Although
easy to learn . There are GUIs for
they often struggle to run on the Pi due to the lack of memory . As a result, we recommend
that software be installed at the terminal .
Other Distributions
Debian, and distributions based on Debian, typically use apt as the package manager. It's
not the only tool out there, and other distributions make different choices. Fedora Remix,
for example, uses the pacman tool.
Pacman is no more difficult to use than apt, but its syntax (the way it expects you to phrase
instructions to install new software or remove existing software) is different. For instructions
on how to use pacman instead of apt, type man pacman at the Fedora Remix terminal.
Other distributions may use the yum package manager. If you're trying a distribution that
uses yum, simply type man yum at the terminal for instructions.
A package manager's job is to keep track of all the software installed on the system . It doesn't
just install new software—it also keeps tabs on what is currently installed, allows old soft-
ware to be removed and installs updates as they become available .
Package management is one of the areas where Linux differs greatly from operating systems
like Windows or OS X . Although it's possible to manually download new software to install,
it's far more common to use the built-in package management tools instead .
Before trying to install new software or upgrade existing software, you need to make sure
TIP
the apt cache is up to date. To do this, simply type the command sudo apt-get update.
R A S P B E R R Y P I
, which is a powerful package manager . Packages are what Linux calls a piece of software,
is designed to be operated from the command line, it's very user-friendly and
apt
U S E R G U I D E
, such as the popular Synaptic Package Manager, but
apt