system packages

When you use Windows or Mac you use an executable-.exe is Windows specific-but an executable is any program you install with a single click.

But on Linux packages can vary with the first type being system packages.

System packages are any applications that come with your distro by default. Some distros use a GUI for installing them but this is rare so you should expect to use terminal. Usually though you type a one-line command with the name of the package you want and type y for yes if there's any additional packages that the app needs to run properly. These are also known as Dependencies, they're packages that an app needs before they can actually run.

There are lots of problems that sometimes arise as a result so the dependencies page exists to explain possible issues in more detail as well as how they work in a general sense.

If you are installing a Linux distro arguably the most important thing to check before installation aside from Drivers is whether or not they have the software you're after. And it may be worth checking multiple because every distro has it's own repo or set of packages that comes with the distro.

But what if you want something and it's not included in your package manager by default? This is where alternative package managers and package formats come into play.

There's a lot of these to go over but the one most are familiar with and the one with the most varied reception is Flatpaks