1.2 Using Linux Package Management

1.2.1 Managing and Resolving Package Dependencies

A package is a file that contains software metadata and all the files of the software. You can download the required packages or package updates from a remote repository by using subscriptions, and install them on your Linux devices by using the bundles created from subscriptions.

Packages can also depend on the functionality of other packages. Linux Package Management helps manage and resolve these dependencies automatically. You can use Linux bundles to store package updates and Linux Dependency bundles to provide dependent packages.

For more information on these bundles, see the Section 6.0, Using Bundles for Linux Devices.

1.2.2 Downloading the Delta RPM Packages to your Devices

ZENworks also lets you download delta RPM packages to your devices. Delta RPM packages contain the difference between an old and a new version of an RPM package. Applying a delta RPM on an older version of an RPM results in a new version of the RPM. It is not necessary to have a copy of the old RPM because a delta RPM can also work with an installed RPM. The delta RPM packages are smaller in size compared to the complete RPMs, which is an advantage when downloading package updates.

1.2.3 Setting Up a Subscription to the Repositories and Replicating Content to ZENworks Primary Servers

The Subscriptions feature in ZENworks makes it easy to set up a subscription to the repositories such as Novell Update (NU), Red Carpet Enterprise (RCE), or to other external repositories such as Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM, which is also called RPM-MD), so you can replicate content to the ZENworks Primary Servers. You can create Linux bundles or Linux Dependency bundles from these subscriptions and assign them to devices.