PackageKit

PackageKit
Original authorRichard Hughes
DevelopersRichard Hughes, Matthias Klumpp, multiple backend maintainers
Release2007; 19 years ago (2007)
Stable release
1.4.0 / 9 September 2026; 43 days ago (9 September 2026)
Written inC, C++, Python
Operating systemLinux
TypePackage management system
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitewww.freedesktop.org/software/PackageKit/
Repository

PackageKit is a free and open-source suite of software applications designed to provide a consistent and high-level abstraction layer for a number of different package management systems. PackageKit was created by Richard Hughes in 2007, and first embedded in an operating system as a default application in May 2008, with the release of Fedora 9.

The suite is cross-platform, though it is primarily targeted at Linux distributions which follow the interoperability standards set out by the freedesktop.org group. It uses the software libraries provided by the D-Bus and Polkit projects to handle inter-process communication and privilege negotiation respectively.

PackageKit seeks to introduce automatic updates without having to authenticate as root, fast-user-switching, warnings translated into the correct locale, common upstream GNOME and KDE tools and one software over multiple Linux distributions.

Software architecture

PackageKit runs as a system-activated daemon, named packagekitd, which abstracts out differences between the different systems. A library called libpackagekit allows other programs to interact with PackageKit.

Features include:

Front-ends

gnome-packagekit 3.32 (released in 2019-03)

GTK-based:

Qt-based:

Back-ends

A number of different package management systems (known as back-ends) support different abstract methods and signals used by the front-end tools. Supported back-ends include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Backend Maintainers". Retrieved 28 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ "Release 1.4.0". 9 September 2026. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  3. ↑ "Installing and Updating Software Blows Goats". Richard Hughes. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Richard Hughes' blog posts about PackageKit". Richard Hughes. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Releases/9/FeatureList". Fedora Project Wiki. Fedora Project. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Introduction to PackageKit, a Package Abstraction Framework" (PDF). Richard Hughes. 2008-02-24. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  7. ↑ "PackageKit Reference Manual". packagekit.org. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "HowTo use pkon".
  9. ↑ "Frequently asked questions". packagekit.org. Archived from the original on 19 March 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  10. ↑ "libdnf on github". GitHub.
  11. ↑ "librepo on github". GitHub.