Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
When I first started using Linux in the late 90s, there was really only one way to install an application. You would download the app, unpack the archive, run the ./configure command, build the app with make, and then install it with make install. Inevitably, when you ran through that course, you would stumble because of dependencies and have to locate the dependency, run through the same process as you just did (only with the new software), and then find out the new dependency had dependencies of its own.
That was always a fun time.
Also: 6 reasons why I've stuck with Ubuntu-based Linux distros for the last 20 years
Modern Linux distributions don't require users to install applications from source, which is a good thing. Imagine if users still had to jump through those same hoops to get software installed. If that were the case, Linux wouldn't have finally broken the 5% market share barrier recently. Thankfully, Linux distributions now ship with their own built-in package managers that handle the complicated process of installing software. For instance, apt and dnf are very good at checking for dependencies and then installing them for you.
Although simplicity is a very good reason to use the built-in package managers, there are other reasons for doing so, and those reasons are more important than you might know.
1. Keeping it all in check
If there's one reason why you should use the built-in package manager to install all of your software, it's this. When you use the distribution's package manager to install an app, the package manager is then aware of the application it installed. Because of that, any time the app has an available update, the package manager does its thing by downloading the updated software (and any required dependency), and then upgrades the app.
Your distribution's package manager is very good at keeping tabs on what's installed on your system, what version of the app is on your system, and when or if there are available updates.
If you were to compile and install that app from source, there would be no automatic updates. Instead, you'd have to download the latest version and go through the same process. Even worse is the fact that you'd have to manually check to see if there's a new version by going to the site for the app, locating the latest version, finding the version you have installed, and then compiling and installing the latest.
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