The Zero Install system aims to provide a better way of installing software than traditional systems (tarballs, apt-get, bundles, setup.exe, etc). Here are some of our goals:
 |
Anyone can install softwareYou don't have to be the administrator (root) just to install a word-processor [ more ] |
 |
Anyone can distribute softwareYou don't need to be blessed by a distribution (or anyone else) to be part of Zero Install; |
 |
It doesn't matter whether software is installed or notYou just run it. Zero Install handles the rest (downloading and caching as needed) [ more ] |
 |
SecurityIf one user downloads a malicious program, other users aren't affected; |
Zero Install introduction
(screencast with audio commentary)
News
- Jul 2008
- 0export can be used to create a self-extracting "setup.sh" installer, for distribution on CD, etc.
- Jun 2008
- GNOME and KDE integration is now much improved, with a new interface for managing applications you've added to the menu. See this screenshot at the top of the policy tutorial.
- May 2008
- The new deb2zero utility can publish a Debian package in a Zero Install feed.
- Apr 2008
- 0launch can now fallback to using a mirror automatically. The second part of the video tutorial is now up.
- Mar 2008
- Zero Install interview on netbsd.org.
- Feb 2008
- Zero Install 0.32 has been released, with some large-scale refactoring of the Python API and improvements to the GUI. I've also added some tutorial videos to the site.
