PackageKit allows performing simple software management tasks over a DBus interface e.g. refreshing the cache, updating, installing and removing software packages or searching for multimedia codecs and file handlers.

The work is done by backends which make use of the package manager shipped by the corresponding distribution. PackageKit is not meant to replace advanced tools like Synaptic.

The main benefits are: - unified interface on several distributions - fine grained privileges by using PolicyKit - independency from a running desktop session during the processing