0install: Overview

Imagine a world where ...

... anyone can distribute software

If you have a web-site, you can distribute your software;
Create one package that works everywhere;
With dependency handling and automatic updates;
There is no central point of control

... security is central

Users don't need administrator access just to install a word-processor;
Digital signatures are always checked before new software is run;
Users share libraries without having to trust each other;
Use of sandboxes and virtualisation is routine

... you control your own computer

You don't have to guess what happens during installation;
Mix and match stable and experimental programs on a single system

Zero Install is a decentralised cross-distribution software installation system. Other features include full support for shared libraries, sharing between users, and integration with native platform package managers. It supports both binary and source packages, and works on Linux, Mac OS X, Unix and Windows systems. It is fully Open Source.

Developers

FAQ Get Zero Install

0install introduction
(screencast with audio commentary)

Get involved!

If you'd like to join us, please introduce yourself on our friendly mailing list! You might also like to read the list of suggested ways to get involved.

News

Dec 2011: Notable releases this month include the Windows Publishing Tools (alpha), 0install 1.4.3 for Windows, and 0install 1.5.
Nov 2011: 0install 1.4 for Windows released! As well as bringing the new features from 1.4 to Windows users, this also adds better Windows integration: a "My applications" list, desktop integration with start menu, file types, etc, command-line aliases (0alias), and synchronization between multiple machines (0install sync). We also created some demo packages showing how 0install can be used to manage Drupal plugins and compile Ceylon programs. If anyone is interested in taking these forward, get in touch!
Oct 2011: The Sugar project announced Sweets Zero Install based Package Management System (Sugar is a desktop environment designed for children, originally developed for the One Laptop per Child XO-1 netbook). 0install 1.4 was released, adding support for MacPorts dependencies. It also fixes a number of bugs.
Sep 2011: 0install 1.3 released: downloading now uses threads, rather than sub-processes, for greater efficiency; NetworkManager 0.9 is now supported; command-specific bindings are now supported; the HTTPS connection to the key information service is now properly authenticated; and a German translation was added.
Aug 2011: There's a new guide to Using Zero Install as a plugin manager for your application, 0install 1.1.2 for Windows was released, 0compile 0.25 was released, adding support for <command> and <runner> (to specify the compile command), and a there is a new fork of 0publish with a new API.

For more information see the news page, the mailing list archives and the roadmap.