A package manager is a program that you can use to install, remove and upgrade software. Software for Ubuntu is provided in the form of packages, which are automatically downloaded by the package manager.
There are three main package management programs you can use in Ubuntu:
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Add/Remove Applications - Quickly installs and removes popular programs, as well as providing ratings.
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Synaptic - Allows more advanced management, such as installing server applications and choosing different versions of the same package.
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Apt - Allows package management from the command line.
![[Warning]](../../libs/admon/warning.png)
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You can only use one package manager at a time. If you start another package manager while one is already open, you will receive an error message. |
You will require administrative access to install and remove software. This is because packages sometimes need to change important system files. See Administrative Tasks for more information on administrative access.
If you are unfamiliar with Ubuntu's package management system, you may like to take a look at some of the following definitions.
Packages are files which contain a program and all of the files required to run it on your computer. When you install a package, a file is downloaded from a repository and installed by a package manager.
Dependencies are packages which must be installed before certain other packages can be installed. Dependency packages usually contain some files and programs needed by the other packages - for example, a word-processing package may depend on a printing package being installed in order to be able to print documents.
