# About the Distro Packagers category

**URL:** <https://racket.discourse.group/t/about-the-distro-packagers-category/2482>\
**Category:** Distro Packagers\
**Created:** [November 9, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/about-the-distro-packagers-category/2482 "2023-11-09T15:27:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LiberalArtist](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/liberalartist/32/151_2.png) [@LiberalArtist](https://racket.discourse.group/u/LiberalArtist)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/about-the-distro-packagers-category/2482/1 "2023-11-09T15:27:30Z")

</div>

The Distro Packages category is intended for people who package the Racket implementation for GNU/Linux distributions, the BSDs, Homebrew, Flatpak, and other downstream package managers.

These are package managers you could use to install Racket itself, in contrast to Racket packages in the sense of `raco pkg`.

This category is primarily intended for people who _develop_ distro packages: without setting an absolute rule, questions from people who use Racket via a distro package are probably a better fit for [Questions & Answers - Racket Discourse](https://racket.discourse.group/c/questions/6) (where hopefully there will be a larger pool of people who can help you!).

The Distro Packagers category should be useful for discussing issues common to many distros, such as building Racket with system libraries from the distro, configuration for less common architectures the distro supports, and bootstrapping Racket from source. It may also be useful as a way for Racket leadership to communicate with distro packagers about potential changes, as in:

> [@Racket distro packagers: please try building from a snapshot](https://racket.discourse.group/t/racket-distro-packagers-please-try-building-from-a-snapshot/1063):
>
> This request is for anyone who packages the Racket implementation for installation by an OS package manager (as opposed to people who manage Racket packages in the sense of raco pkg). The upcoming v8.6 release will include an overhaul of the Racket build scripts. The intent is that configure and make work just as before, and we've tested on many platforms and configurations, but there's a good chance that there are still some problems. It would be better to discover lingering problems before th…