Understanding Package Management

Before you configure a custom package management solution in your environment, understand the concepts of package management tools and package repositories.

Package Management Tools

Packages (rpm or deb files) help ensure that installations complete successfully by satisfying package dependencies. When you install a particular package, all other required packages are installed at the same time. For example, hadoop-0.20-hive depends on hadoop-0.20.

Package management tools, such as yum (RHEL),are tools that can find and install required packages. For example, on a RHEL compatible system, you might run the command yum install hadoop-0.20-hive. The yum utility informs you that the Hive package requires hadoop-0.20 and offers to install it for you.

Package Repositories

Package management tools rely on package repositories to install software and resolve any dependency requirements. For information on creating an internal repository, see Configuring a Local Package Repository.