Smart Package Manager

Infobox Software
name = Smart Package Manager



caption = Smart Package Manager on Ubuntu
collapsible =
author =
developer =
released =
latest release version = 1.1 [http://lists.labix.org/pipermail/smart-labix.org/2008-September/003751.html]
latest release date = release date|2008|09|08
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
frequently updated =
programming language =
operating system = Linux
platform =
size =
language =
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genre = Package Manager
license = GNU General Public License
website = http://labix.org/smart

Smart is a free software project aiming to create a package manager for Linux with "notable advantages over native tools currently in use", (e.g. APT and YUM). It claims to do a better job of resolving conflicting dependencies than existing tools.

Although formally in beta testing, Smart has long been available for download for use with many Linux distributions and Mac OS X.

Restrictions

From the Smart FAQ page:

[http://labix.org/smart/faq#head-15e431ff69330db0ad3f078e2139c58ba7b00a4b Does Smart's wide support for packaging systems mean I can install .rpm packages on my Debian system? Or .deb packages on my RPM-based system?]

Short answer: No.
Long answer: No, unless you have the non-native package system installed in the same machine. Even then, that doesn't mean it would be a good idea.

Smart is not meant as a universal wrapper around different package formats. It does support RPM, DEB and Slackware packages on a single system, but won't permit relationships among different package managers. While cross-packaging system dependencies could be enabled easily, the packaging policies simply do not exist today.

This is not at all different from what you can already do. In fact, Debian has been shipping the RPM package manager for a few years now. "Possible" does not equal "good idea", and everybody should stick to their native package format.

References

See also

*PackageKit

External links

* [http://labix.org/smart Homepage at Labix.org]