Zero Install

Anyone can install software

You don't have to be the administrator just to install a word-processor more ]

Anyone can distribute software

You don't need to be blessed by a distribution (or anyone else) to be part of Zero Install;
The system is completely decentralised more ]

Automatic updates

When updates are available, Zero Install will notify youmore ]

Security

If one user downloads a malicious program, other users aren't affected;
Users can share downloads without having to trust each other;
Installation does not execute any of the downloaded code;
Digital signatures are always checked before new software is run more ]

Get Zero Install
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Zero Install introduction
(screencast with audio commentary)

News

Oct 2009
Lots of interesting discussion between Sugar Labs (One Laptop per Child) and Zero Install developers about using Zero Install to distribute Sugar Activities. The project has also offered us hosting to set up a repository for third-party packages (i.e. those where the upstream project isn't interested in providing packages of their own). Meanwhile, the grid.dk project has written up some instructions for using Zero Install to deploy Grid applications. deb2zero has been merged with rpm2zero to form pkg2zero.
Sep 2009
0launch 0.42 released. The new version has better internationalisation support, and is able to look up GPG key information from a server. The default service informs you if the feed is signed by a member of the Debian project, in addition to showing information from the old database. We hope to add other trust sources in the future. Distribution integration now also works with multi-arch RPMs. libglade is no longer a dependency. The experimental Windows branch is now able to run Seamonkey.
Jul 2009
No release this month, but work includes much improved internationalisation support, support for key information servers, and support for GtkBuilder.
Jun 2009
An experimental Firefox extension for Zero Install is now available.
0compile 0.18 adds a GUI to the "autocompile" feature and introduces more support for compiling legacy source code.
May 2009
0release 0.10 automatically creates binary packages along with the source releases.
Added IdeaTorrent to track popular ideas - open for voting now!
Apr 2009
0launch 0.40 released (fixes FTP support with Python 2.6).
The new 0compile autocompile feature will download source code and build and register the binary in one go, along with any dependencies.
Mar 2009
0launch 0.39 released, with support for translations, improved background updates and better support for the RPM and Fink package managers.
Jan 2009
0launch 0.38 released, with better support for sudo, and a new "0store audit" command to check the whole cache.
The 0export command is now much improved, with a simple GUI.
Dec 2008
Peer-to-peer downloads are now supported (experimental feature).
Nov 2008
0test released; this tool can test combinations of various versions of a program and its dependencies.
Sep 2008
0launch 0.36 released, fixing some performance problems and other bugs.
Jul 2008
0export can be used to create a self-extracting "setup.sh" installer, for distribution on CD, etc.
Jun 2008
GNOME and KDE integration is now much improved, with a new interface for managing applications you've added to the menu. See this screenshot at the top of the policy tutorial.
May 2008
The new deb2zero utility can publish a Debian package in a Zero Install feed.
Apr 2008
0launch can now fallback to using a mirror automatically. The second part of the video tutorial is now up.
Mar 2008
Zero Install interview on netbsd.org.

For more information see the mailing list archives or the release notes on gnomefiles.org.