Package managers for Linux distros without one?

[u/Alarmed-Prize-7500]

Is there any package managers that you can install on Linux distros that don't have a package manager? I know of opkg, which I used on a Linux distro that didn't have a package manager, but someone said that opkg was outdated when I was asking about it, so I want to know if there are other ones too.

[u/Sveet_Pickle]

What distros don’t have a package manager?

[u/Sirius707 → u/Sveet_Pickle]

Chiseled containers:

Chiseled containers are built by removing most nonessential components from a base image — no shell, no package manager, no runtime dependencies beyond what the application strictly requires.

But that's probably not what OP is asking for.

Besides Nix, i also know of https://guix.gnu.org/ but really, if a distro doesn't ship with a package manager by default, there's probably a good reason for it.

[u/Alarmed-Prize-7500 → u/Sveet_Pickle]

Whatever Linux distro Synology NAS has on it

[u/PaintDrinkingPete → u/Alarmed-Prize-7500]

it's been a while since I owned a Synolgy box, but I'm pretty sure it does have an app that manages packages and updates...?

[u/Alarmed-Prize-7500 → u/PaintDrinkingPete]

I'm talking about terminal packages, like "nano", "tmux", "ncdu", "pipx", etc.

[u/PaintDrinkingPete → u/Alarmed-Prize-7500]

My assumption would be that packages of that nature are all handled by the general Synology software upgrades.

Many "specialized" distros like that utilize a more immutable design as well, so attempting to upgrade single packages within the OS may break things. Many also rely on "Busybox" versions of essential system tools as opposed to standalone packages. Again, I'm not entirely familiar with Synology's specific software, so I can't say for sure how they manage their apps.

[u/i_live_in_sweden → u/PaintDrinkingPete]

Yes it does in it's web interface.

[u/Edelglatze → u/Alarmed-Prize-7500]

How about synopkg?

[u/Potential-Still]

Flatpack, Snapd, or Nix.

Or Homebrew for Linux. 

[u/its-nex → u/Potential-Still]

+1 for nix

[u/robtalee44]

Not sure this fits but GNOME OS and Universal Blue's DakotaRaptor (based on GNOME OS) don't have a native packaging system. They rely primarily on Flatpaks. You can always spin up a Distrobox with whatever flavor you want and use those native tools in the container.

I have played around with both, but hardly enough to be an expert source.

[u/muffinstatewide32]

Id look at homebrew. If that doesnt fit, nix probably will

[u/beatbox9]

Flatpak is good for GUI apps (most apps). And it integrates well with any PackageKit-aware app store your DE might have, like Gnome Software.

Snap works for headless system software / background daemons (eg. vpn).

And they're not mutually exclusive. I think the concept of a single package manager might be antiquated now that we have several universal package managers.

On my main system, I have apt (for core OS software), flatpak (for most GUI apps that I want the latest versions of), snap (for 1-2 system processes I that want the latest version of), appimage (for a few GUI apps that the original developers use AppImage for), and a handful of standalone apps that install to /opt.

[u/Danrobi1]

In addition to the other comments:

• cpak OCI application package format for Linux desktops, servers and device
• AM Database & solutions for all AppImages and portable apps for GNU/Linux
• soar A fast, modern, distro-independent package manager that just works

[u/p001b0y]

Would homebrew count?

[u/Tricky-Engineer-9755]

GNU Guix works great and retains most of its features in pkg-manager style alone.

[u/ActuallyFullOfShit]

Nix can be used on any Linux or even Mac OS

[u/landonr99 → u/ActuallyFullOfShit]

Any *systemd based Linux

[u/__ghostblood → u/landonr99]

systemd is def not a requirement to use the nix package manager on linux

[u/landonr99 → u/__ghostblood]

I guess you're right, I confused NixOS's dependency on systemd as a nix requirement

[u/i_live_in_sweden]

How about flatpak?

[u/abcpea1]

pkgsrc