5 Factors When Considering FreeBSD vs. Linux: Packages
A package manager helps with finding, downloading, installing, configuring, updating, and removing third-party applications in a Unix system. This is not too different when looking at Linux vs. FreeBSD packages.
A typical invocation starts with the package manager’s name (for example, apt or pkg), followed by a subcommand detailing the action to perform. Package managers typically maintain a local cache of available packages and their current versions, which they periodically synchronize with the package repository.
This allows the user to find and install new software, perform simple version upgrades of existing packages, and maintain compatibility with operating system libraries and other dependencies for a specific version of the OS.