Listaller is a free computer software installation system (similar to a

package management system A package manager or package management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals wi ...

) aimed at making it simple to create a package that can be installed on all

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

s as well as providing tools and API to make software management on Linux more user-friendly.

History

Listaller was started in December 2007 by

freedesktop.org freedesktop.org (fd.o), formerly X Desktop Group (XDG), is a project to work on interoperability and shared base technology for free-software desktop environments for the X Window System (X11) and Wayland on Linux and other Unix-like operatin ...

developer Matthias Klumpp as an experimental project to explore the possibility of writing a universal user interface to manage all kinds of Linux software, no matter how it was installed. Therefore, Listaller had backends to manage Autopackage, LOKI
Mojo
and native distribution packages. The original project provided one user interface to manage all kinds of installed software. Interaction with the native distribution package management was done via an own abstraction layer, which was later replaced by

PackageKit 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 fi ...

. Listaller also provided a cross-distribution software installation format which should have made it easier to create packages which run on multiple distributions. The installer part of Listaller was also able to assist in installing Autopackage packages. The very first versions were written in

Object Pascal Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal (programming language), Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as Class (computer programming), classes and Method (computer programming), methods. T ...

. Although the project started as an experiment, it soon evolved to a competitor for Autopackage and Mojo. Until 2011, Listaller never made any stable release. With the announcement of

AppStream AppStream is an agreement between major Linux vendors (i.e. Red Hat, Canonical, SUSE, Debian, Mandriva, etc.) to create an infrastructure for application installers on Linux and sharing of metadata. The initiative was started as early as 19-21 ...

a lot of the original Listaller goals would be achieved, so the author decided to change Listaller away from a full software manager to a software installer only and joined forces with the

project. Because Pascal was not considered as ideal language to collaborate with other projects and the project already had spent much time in developing Pascal bindings to third-party libraries, Listaller was rewritten in Vala with a subset of the original features and the main goal to provide seamless integration with AppStream and PackageKit. Therefore the universal software manager part was removed and the project now focuses on creating a cross-distro format for distribution of binary Linux software. As of Nov 10, 2014 Matthias announced the Limba project. Limba is supposed to be Listaller's next version.

Methodology

Listaller is intended to be used for installing binary, or pre-compiled, versions of non-core applications such as

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

s, and

personal computer game A personal computer game, or abbreviated PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term ''PC game'' has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on "Wintel" (Micr ...

s, rather than core

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and applications such as

operating system shell An operating system shell is a computer program that provides relatively broad and direct access to the system on which it runs. The term ''shell'' refers to how it is a relatively thin layer around an operating system. A shell is generally a ...

s. Listaller is not intended to provide support for installing system libraries for security reasons. Listaller is using an own package format, so-called IPK packages (short for Installation package), which are LZMA-compressed signed tarballs. IPK packages contain only small configuration files to modify the setup process. They do not provide their own logic or scripts which are run during install time. All parts of a setup process are handled by Listaller's built-in routines, which make it possible for distributors to modify the setup process of 3rd-party applications to comply to their own policy, if necessary. The key value of Listaller is integration into desktop environments, existing package management tools and distributions. Therefore, the project provides several integration components by default, which make it possible to manage Listaller-installed 3rd-party applications from any software manager which supports

and/or

. At time it is discussed to run all installed 3rd-party tools in a

Sandbox A sandbox is a sandpit, a wide, shallow playground construction to hold sand, often made of wood or plastic. Sandbox or sand box may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Sandbox (band), a Canadian rock music group * Sandbox (Gu ...

by default. Programs that use Listaller must also be relocatable, meaning they must be installable to varying directories with a single binary. This makes it possible for Listaller to install software for non-root users into their home directory, although this method has to be enabled explicitly and its use is not encouraged. The Listaller Developer Tools provide tools and documentation for application developers to make their software relocatable.

Listaller and Autopackage

In August 2010 both projects announced they will merge. As consequence of the merge, Autopackage abandoned its own package binary package format and all user interfaces to install Autopackage packages. Autopackage tools like BinReloc to create relocatable applications or APBuild are now developed as part of the Listaller project. Reason for merging Autopackage into Listaller was mainly a great lack of developers in both projects so they decided to join forces.

Integration

KDE KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that enable collaborative work on its projects. Its products include the KDE Plasma gra ...

provides support for Listaller through

Apper 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 ...

, although distributors need to explicitly enable it using a compile-time switch. Support for

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

is currently being developed as part of the GNOME-PackageKit suite. In theory, any distribution which can run PackageKit >= 0.8.6 should be able to provide Listaller support too.

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

announced that they will not use Listaller as 3rd-party installer for their Ubuntu Phone, but develop an own, Ubuntu-specific solution instead.Ubuntu dev proposes new package format for mobile apps
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References

External links