What are linux packages?

[forntc]

Folks,
I am new to linux and I am looking for help on where to find basic info about linux packages such as:
difference between packages and rpms?
how to find out what is included in a linux distro.
how to add / remove packages.

Thanks,

[dkeav]

http://justlinux.com/nhf/Distribution_Specific/Debian_GNULinux/Debian__Using_Apt.html
http://justlinux.com/nhf/Distribution_Specific/Red_Hat_Linux
http://justlinux.com/nhf/Software/Compiling_Software.html
http://justlinux.com/nhf/Software/RPMs__Dependencies.html

[forntc]

Thanks dkeav,
The links are great and they provided very useful info.
I have few more simple questions that I hope you can help answer.
1) Is there a way to find out list of packages included in a distro.?

2) Can packages be loaded dynamically on a running kernel (just like applications)

3) Is the kernel performance affected by # of packages included? I know memory usage will be more.

4) Are packages dependent on Linux distro or Linux version # (2.4, 2.6 etc)?

5) Is there a GUI tool to install/ update packages?

Thanks again.

[dkeav]

about the only thing to linux that is distro dependent is package managment, and no software installed does not affect performance, only software running that is true for all OS's, just because you have more files on your FS doesnt mean you have more processes running and taking up more resources

as far as wanting specific answers, you need to ask a specific question, perhaps you want to know about packagemanagment for your current distro, then we can answer your questions