Linux package managers comparison
| Manager |
Distro |
Format |
Backend |
Dep solver |
Atomic updates |
Rollback |
Delta RPM |
| apt |
Debian, Ubuntu |
.deb |
dpkg |
apt-get / aptitude |
No |
No |
No |
| dnf |
Fedora, RHEL 8+ |
.rpm |
RPM |
libsolv |
No |
No |
Yes (drpm) |
| pacman |
Arch Linux |
.pkg.tar.zst |
None (native) |
Topological sort |
No |
No |
No |
| zypper |
openSUSE, SUSE |
.rpm |
RPM |
libzypp / SAT |
No |
Yes (snapper) |
Yes |
| emerge |
Gentoo |
Source (ebuild) |
Portage |
USE flags / deps |
No |
No |
N/A |
| apk |
Alpine Linux |
.apk |
None (native) |
Simple greedy |
No |
No |
No |
| nix |
NixOS, any |
.drv (store) |
Nix |
Pure functional |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| flatpak |
Universal |
.flatpakref |
OSTree + bubblewrap |
Flatpak |
Yes (per-app) |
Yes |
No |
| snap |
Universal (Ubuntu) |
.snap |
squashfs + snapd |
snapd |
Yes (per-snap) |
Yes |
No |
Key Differences
Dependency Resolution
- apt – uses APT solver (apt-get) or aptitude’s SAT solver. Handles conflicts via pinning.
- dnf – uses libsolv (SAT), supports weak deps (Recommends, Supplements).
- pacman – no SAT; simple topological sort. Relies on PKGBUILD maintainer for correct deps. No automatic conflict resolution.
- zypper – SAT solver (libzypp). Supports package locks, vendor changes.
- emerge – full SAT via Portage’s depgraph; USE flags modify deps.
- apk – greedy, no backtracking. Fast but may produce suboptimal solutions.
- nix – pure functional; deterministic builds. Every package has a unique hash; no dependency hell.
Atomicity & Rollback
- dnf – no built-in rollback. Transaction history can revert via
dnf history undo but not atomic.
- zypper – integrates with snapper (Btrfs snapshots) for full system rollback.
- nix – atomic by design; new generation does not touch active one. Rollback to previous generation.
- flatpak/snap – per-application atomic updates; snap keeps revisions for rollback.
- All others (apt, pacman, emerge, apk) – no atomicity; failure during install leaves inconsistent state.
Package Formats & Sources
- apt – .deb, repositories defined in sources.list.
- dnf/zypper – .rpm, repos in .repo files.
- pacman – .pkg.tar.zst, repos in pacman.conf.
- emerge – source-based; ebuilds fetched from Portage tree or overlays.
- apk – .apk, repositories in /etc/apk/repositories.
- nix – Nix expression language, binary cache (cache.nixos.org) or local build.
- flatpak – .flatpakref from remotes (Flathub).
- snap – .snap from Snap Store.
Performance
- apk – fastest, minimal overhead.
- pacman – fast, no SAT solving.
- dnf – slower due to libsolv, but more reliable.
- apt – moderate; SAT solving only in aptitude.
- zypper – similar to dnf.
- emerge – slow (source compilation), but highly configurable.
- nix – build time can be slow, but binary cache mitigates.
- flatpak/snap – runtime overhead due to sandboxing.
Use Cases
- apt – general purpose, Debian/Ubuntu ecosystem.
- dnf – enterprise (RHEL), Fedora.
- pacman – rolling release, Arch.
- zypper – enterprise (SUSE), Btrfs rollback.
- emerge – source-based, maximum customisation.
- apk – embedded, containers (Alpine).
- nix – reproducible environments, CI, declarative config.
- flatpak/snap – sandboxed desktop apps, cross-distro.