 |
A delta update is a software update that requires the user to download only those parts of the software's code that are new, or have been changed from their previous state, in contrast to having to download the entire program. The use of delta updates can save significant amounts of time and computing bandwidth. The name "delta" derives from the mathematical science use of the Greek letter delta, Δ or δ to denote change. [1]
Fedora Linux has supported binary delta updates by default using the yum presto plugin since June 2009. This is based on RPM Package Manager's deltarpm system (2004), which was in turn based on bsdiff. [2] This functionality has been inherited by Fedora-derived operating systems, including RedHat Enterprise Linux and its variant, CentOS. OpenSUSE also uses deltarpms with its zypper manager. A more primitive system, the SUSE patchrpm, worked by replacing changed files. [3]
A similar system for the dpkg-APT package manager system of Debian is debdelta (2006); despite an apparent halt on the homepage, its package repository as well as the source code remains actively maintained. [4] Debdelta is not installed by default and not many mirrors have been set up for it. A member of the developer team has proposed yet another format that integrates directly into the currently mirrored main repositories called patch debs in 2018. It is intended to have more integrity checks. [5]
A descendant of Debian, Ubuntu developers have tried many times to implement delta updates for their system. During 2006 they tried to create one, but were confronted with too many options and dropped the efforts. [6] In 2011 they tried to just set up debdelta, but once again dropped the efforts in May of the same year. [7]
The Arch Linux package manager pacman used to support a form of delta updating using VCDIFF (xdelta). It was scrapped due to an arbitrary command execution vulnerability (CVE - 2019-18183) due to a lack of string escaping.[ citation needed ]
Windows Update has supported delta updates since Windows XP which are called express installation files. On redistributing updates, Windows Server Update Services has supported delta updates since Windows Server 2003. [8]
FreeBSD has supported delta updates using portsnap [9] since November 2005. [10] Given FreeBSD's traditional stance of focusing on source code updates, no method of delta binary updates currently exists.
Google refers to delta updates as "smart updates." This has been implemented in Google's Android operating system devices that run on Android 2.3 or above. Google engineers have estimated that smart updates would be only about one third the size of a full update on average.[ citation needed ]
Google's open source project Chromium requires frequent updates to narrow the window of vulnerability. [11] It uses a disassembly-based diffing algorithm called "courgette" to reduce diff size of two binary executable files, which reduces the diff patch from 6.7% (bsdiff) to 0.76% (bsdiff + courgette) for one version update. [12] The technology helped Chrome to push its updates to 100% of users in less than 10 days.
App APK updates in Android's Play Store use bsdiff since 2016, a new efficient delta update algorithm introduced in 2003. [13]
Apple's iOS is also capable of delta updates for operating system[ citation needed ] and application updates to reduce bandwidth usage. [14]
Over-the-air (OTA) software updates have been used widely across many mobile devices; Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Phone 8, and BlackBerry 10.[ citation needed ]
Debian, also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of Debian (0.01) was released on September 15, 1993, and its first stable version (1.1) was released on June 17, 1996. The Debian Stable branch is the most popular edition for personal computers and servers. Debian is also the basis for many other distributions, most notably Ubuntu.
A Linux distribution is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel, and often a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices and personal computers to powerful supercomputers.
Advanced package tool, or APT, is a free-software user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on Debian, and Debian-based Linux distributions. APT simplifies the process of managing software on Unix-like computer systems by automating the retrieval, configuration and installation of software packages, either from precompiled files or by compiling source code.
dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free operating system Debian and its numerous derivatives. dpkg is used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages.
Delta encoding is a way of storing or transmitting data in the form of differences (deltas) between sequential data rather than complete files; more generally this is known as data differencing. Delta encoding is sometimes called delta compression, particularly where archival histories of changes are required.
deb is the format, as well as filename extension of the software package format for the Debian Linux distribution and its derivatives.
phpLDAPadmin is a web app for administering Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers. It's written in the PHP programming language, and is licensed under the GNU General Public License. The application is available in 14 languages and supports UTF-8 encoded directory strings.
Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.
CPython is the reference implementation of the Python programming language. Written in C and Python, CPython is the default and most widely used implementation of the Python language.
BioLinux is a term used in a variety of projects involved in making access to bioinformatics software on a Linux platform easier using one or more of the following methods:
OpenJDK is a free and open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition. It is the result of an effort Sun Microsystems began in 2006. The implementation is licensed under the GPL-2.0-only with a linking exception. Were it not for the GPL linking exception, components that linked to the Java Class Library would be subject to the terms of the GPL license. OpenJDK is the official reference implementation of Java SE since version 7.
The Ångström distribution is a defunct Linux distribution for a variety of embedded devices. The distribution is the result of work by developers from the OpenZaurus, OpenEmbedded, and OpenSIMpad projects. The graphical user interfaces (GUIs) available are OPIE and GPE among other options.
RPM Package Manager (RPM) is a free and open-source package management system. The name RPM refers to the .rpm file format and the package manager program itself. RPM was intended primarily for Linux distributions; the file format is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard Base.
The Skia Graphics Engine or Skia is an open-source 2D graphics library written in C++. Skia abstracts away platform-specific graphics API. Skia Inc. originally developed the library; Google acquired it in 2005, and then released the software as open source licensed under the New BSD free software license in 2008.
KVIrc is a graphical IRC client for Linux, Unix, Mac OS and Windows. The name is an acronym of K Visual IRC in which the K stands for a dependency to KDE, which became optional from version 2.0.0. The software is based on the Qt framework and its code is released under a modified GNU General Public License.
Zim is a graphical text editor designed to maintain a collection of locally stored wiki-pages, a personal wiki. Each wiki-page can contain things like text with simple formatting, links to other pages, attachments, and images. Additional plugins, such as an equation editor and spell-checker, are also available. The wiki-pages are stored in a folder structure in plain text files with wiki formatting. Zim can be used with the Getting Things Done method.
Borg is deduplicating backup software for various Unix-like operating systems.
fwupd is an open-source daemon for managing the installation of firmware updates on Linux-based systems, developed by GNOME maintainer Richard Hughes. It is designed primarily for servicing the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware on supported devices via EFI System Resource Table (ESRT) and UEFI Capsule, which is supported in Linux kernel 4.2 and later. Previously, the initiation of UEFI firmware updates within an operating system could, on most systems, only be performed using Microsoft Windows or DOS-specific software. ESRT allows the firmware to expose updatable components to the operating system, which can pass a UEFI capsule with updated firmware for processing and installation on the next boot. Updates can be exposed via a command line tool, or within graphical package managers via a D-Bus interface.
delta...means 'change' or 'the change in' in mathematics
 | This installation software article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |