Package Manager • Partnership Place Docs

What Is a Package Manager?

A package manager is a program that installs and updates your other programs. Everything is managed in one place, so you don’t have to download installers from websites or update each program one at a time. It’s also safer: the programs come from a trusted list instead of from whatever website a search turns up.

How to Install a Program on Windows

When a page on this site shows a box with a command like winget install ..., here’s what to do with it:

Click the Start menu, type Terminal, and press Enter. A window with a blinking cursor opens.
Copy the command from this site. (Click the Copy button in the box’s top-right corner, or highlight the text and press Ctrl+C.)
Click in the Terminal window and paste the command with Ctrl+V (or right-click). Press Enter.
If it asks you to agree to terms, type Y and press Enter.
Wait until you see the blinking cursor again. The program is now installed and will appear in your Start menu.

If Windows asks whether to let the program make changes to your computer, read what it’s asking for (see Malware). If you’re not sure, ask the sysadmin.

On the office’s Linux computers, you don’t need the Terminal. Open the Bazaar app store, search for the program, and install it from there.

The rest of this page is mostly for the sysadmin.

Officially Supported

winget

winget is preinstalled on Windows 11 as part of Microsoft’s App Installer. If it appears to be missing, update App Installer from the Microsoft Store.

winget is a command-line tool, which means you type (or paste) commands into the Terminal instead of clicking buttons. Open the Terminal from the Start menu.

Common commands:

Upgrade all installed packages:
```
winget upgrade --all
```
Search for a package named foo:
```
winget search foo
```
Install the package with ID Foo.Foo:
```
winget install -e --id Foo.Foo
```

It is highly recommended to install Winget-AutoUpdate, which keeps all of your applications updated automatically:

winget install -e --id Romanitho.Winget-AutoUpdate

Flatpak

Flatpak is the recommended package manager for desktop applications on Linux. It is sandboxed (to a degree), works across distributions, updates automatically, and bundles each application’s dependencies.

Flatpak is preinstalled on tetrataenite, the system the office’s Linux computers run. It’s built into Bazaar, an app store similar to the Microsoft Store or Google Play: open Bazaar, search for the program, and install it from there. No commands needed.

On other distributions, follow the official setup guide.

Exception: do not install your web browser with Flatpak. See Web Browser.