How to find out Package system of a distro?
 

Hi

I'm wondering how to find out what package system the distro is using. Usually, I figure it out by just typing dpkg/rpm in the terminal. The one that doesn't get an error is the package system.

Recently I installed Qute: Command Console & Terminal Emulator, and wanted to install vim in it. But couldn't figure it out its package system.

So the question is - for ANY distro, how to find its package system in terminal?

Thanks

I use distrowatch.com for any distro I don't know. Very handy.

EDIT: erk - Android emulator. That ain't a distro in my usage ...

OK, fine it's not a distro - correction. But you have a terminal emulator to work on and you want to install some packages like vim and it's not available in distrowatch.org. Then how figure it out?

The distro's web site should have at least a clue how to find out, maybe a forum, mailing list and/or IRC channel; sourceforge maybe as well.

BTW, dpkg (debian: apt*) and rpm (yum/dnf/zypper/urpmi) are not the only FOSS package management systems. Others I'm aware of include txz, pacman, portage and opkg.

distrowatch.org provides a list of linux/BSD distributions. And for each system gives a list of what software (and their version) is provided by the distro.
But for distrowatch Android is NOT a linux distribution.

To find vim or any other "packages" for Android, you have to look for into apps stores, like Play (Google), Galaxy App (Samsung) or F-Droid (open source apps) or any other out there.

And as Android only use the linux kernel, you will not find every linux "packages" for it. And you will most probably find a vim-like portage for Android, but not the real Vim.

./configure
make
make install

The universal packaging system. Although not really packages, and lots of exceptions to the old ways.

For the most part you just have to "know", which is likely one more click past the one you used to download the iso in the first place. I'm partial to debian based (.deb) distros as apt-file, apt-cache, and friends are quite useful for learning about packages without having to use google. Some alternatives if you "know" the distros system well like pkgfile, pacinfo, and such. But I always find the non-.deb alternatives a bit lacking and cryptic. Some of that is just choice and availability. Like being able to choose dhclient or dhcpcd, not being locked into only ONE of the options.

As far as linux systems go, linux standard base was a good start for figuring out foreign turf. But mostly you just have to "know". But that goes with most operating systems. Knowing how to browse the file system helps if you really don't have a clue.

C:\> dir C:\ /w
$ ls /var/cache/
$ cat /etc/issue
$ uname -r
$ lsb_release -a

Just a note that if you're looking for any alternatives to Qute, Termux (https://termux.com/) is a nice terminal emulator for Android. You can use apt on it (https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Package_Management) and a quick apt list vim on my phone indicates that vim is available for install.

Just did that. Termux is a great terminal emulator in Android phone. I also installed vim in Termux. Works great. I wanted the terminal emulator to access man pages and vim help pages when I don't have access to any Linux box.

Thanks.

My pleasure, ddenial. Good that it hits the mark!