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A software distribution is a bundle of a specific software (or a collection of multiple, even an entire operating system), already compiled and configured. It is generally the closest thing to a turnkey form of a usually GPL or open source source code for a software. It usually takes the form of either rpm, deb, tgz, msi, exe etc. installer and is downloadable from the Internet. Examples range from whole operating system distributions to server and interpreter distributions (for example WAMP installers). They can be either official distributions by the makers of the software, or 3rd party distributions. Notable is the fact that one using such 3rd party distributions will have to turn to the distribution maker for support, the developers of the actual software being distributed usually do not provide support for 3rd party distributions of their software. Vendors of such software distributions systems include:
Open Source Distribution Tools Autotools are widely used for distributions comprised of source files written in C++ and the C programming language, but are not limited to these. The Python programming language offers a distribution utility called distutils, which requires the creation of a setup.py configuration file. Distribution Tools for Mobile Devices Distribution of software to small mobile devices such as phones, PDAs and other hand-held terminals is a particular challenge due to their ad-hoc connectivity. Some tools that cater to this category of devices are: Standard Files Open source projects typically contain a few standard files that live in the root of the distribution extraction. These files are most commonly named: Some less frequently used names that you might also see: See also ---- Software distribution can also refer to commercial distribution methods such as Careware and Donateware. | ||||||||
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