If you are a Linux user, then you must already familiar with the term “software repository”. But, did you really know what it actually is?

A software repository, or also shorted as “repo” is actually a collection of servers where software packages are hosted. When you are installing certain applications on your Linux computer using package managers like APT or Synaptic Package Manager, the needed files of the applications you are installing are retrieved from the server of software repositories.

Typically, a party that provides software repositories also provides a package management tool to search and install software packages from the repositories. For examples, Linux distros provide a default package management tool to install new applications. In Debian-based distros, there is APT as the default package management tool, while in RedHat-based distros there is yum.

So, simply put, when you are installing new applications on Linux using default package management tool of your distro, you are actually downloading those applications from software repositories.