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| author | Pascal Bellard <pascal.bellard@slitaz.org> |
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| date | Wed Oct 25 11:21:45 2017 +0200 (2017-10-25) |
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1 Zero Install is a decentralised cross-distribution software installation system
2 available under the LGPL. It allows software developers to publish programs
3 directly from their own web-sites, while supporting features familiar from
4 centralised distribution repositories such as shared libraries, automatic
5 updates and digital signatures. It is intended to complement, rather than
6 replace, the operating system's package management. 0install packages never
7 interfere with those provided by the distribution.
9 0install does not define a new packaging format; unmodified tarballs or zip
10 archives can be used. Instead, it defines an XML metadata format to describe
11 these packages and the dependencies between them. A single metadata file can be
12 used on multiple platforms (e.g. Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Mac OS X and
13 Windows), assuming binary or source archives are available that work on those
14 systems.
16 0install also has some interesting features not often found in traditional
17 package managers. For example, while it will share libraries whenever possible,
18 it can always install multiple versions of a package in parallel when there are
19 conflicting requirements. Installation is always side-effect-free (each package
20 is unpacked to its own directory and will not touch shared directories such as
21 /usr/bin), making it ideal for use with sandboxing technologies and
22 virtualisation.
24 The XML file describing the program's requirements can also be included in a
25 source-code repository, allowing full dependency handling for unreleased
26 developer versions. For example, a user can clone a Git repository and build
27 and test the program, automatically downloading newer versions of libraries
28 where necessary, without interfering with the versions of those libraries
29 installed by their distribution, which continue to be used for other software.
31 See [the 0install.net web-site](http://0install.net/) for full details.