Do you know why Ubuntu Linux needs so much less hard disk space and yet can be more complete than Windows?
Let's show why managing Linux software packages Ubuntu is smarter than Windows
I was talking a few days with a friend about Ubuntu package management (APT-GET) and comparing a little with Windows, talking about installing programs, he asked me why most Ubuntu software was much smaller in size. than most Windows software, an example of this:
VLC Media Player for Windows – 23 MB
VLC Media Player for Ubuntu – 3.6 MB
Both with exactly the same functionality, so I decided to write this article to explain a little about how package management works for Ubuntu (and virtually any distro) and compare it to what we know about Windows.
Windows and the DLL Hell
Dynamic-link library or simply DLL is a system developed by Microsoft for sharing libraries between software in Windows, an example of this is the DirectX DLLs that are accessed by any program that requires them, without theoretically DirectX must be installed with each program.
I say theoretically because if you have ever tried to install any game or software that requires Windows graphics performance you should have DirectX installed along with it because it was the software itself, and this is not limited to DX, virtually any software needs specific DLLs to run. and since the software developer doesn't know which windows the software will run on safer include the DLLs that the program needs directly in the program installation, thus increasing its size, after all Photoshop has no explanation to weigh more than 1 GB when fully installed and the GIMP weigh 76 MB with pretty much the same features.
Problems start to occur when you start installing many programs, they often need a very specific version of a DLL and may have the same name as another one that is already installed (but not the same!) And then this old DLL will be replaced by the new one, making one program work and impairing the performance of another, when you uninstall the program the DLLs of the same are usually inside the System32 folder even if the program is no longer on the computer, accumulating garbage on the system and in turn leaving it The slower thing is, the strange thing is that DLLs are theoretically "inbredable" files so you can't tell what's inside them.
S.O. (Shared Objects)
A Linux system like Ubuntu uses a smarter software management system, in this case APT, and there are no DLLs in the system, there are Libs, which would be something equivalent, and OS (System Objects) or KO (Kernel Objects). ), the system itself brings a wide collection of libraries and has a better sharing of libraries between software.
When you are installing a program like VLC, regardless of whether you install via terminal or Program Center, apt-get checks a list of dependencies for the VLC package, it looks at what Libs VLC needs to run, then it checks to see if these libs are already installed, if it is simply not being downloaded again, if apt-get is not in charge of downloading it, and so on until it supplies all program dependencies and finally install the program itself, as a result we have a faster installation, taking up less space on HD and without spending a lot of RAM, you computer literate must also have realized the absurdity that Windows ask for 20 GB of HD to install the system and come without most of the necessary programs and Ubuntu with everything up and running barely occupies 10 GB, this already including a Sute Office, browser, video codecs, etc., this clearly shows a better use of shared libraries. ie, several programs use the same files to work.
The apt-get system also keeps track of how many applications need a release so that if you remove VLC (following our example), it will not remove such a lib unless no program is using it if it does. be dismissed she leaves with the program and does not clutter the system, giving you as the only cleanup job removing the application cache and a log here and there.
Did you like the information? Share =)
Want to stay on top of everything that happens here? So enjoy our page on FACEBOOK, follow the blog at TWITTER – Also follow our writers
