1 Stow is a tool for managing the installation of multiple software
2 packages in the same run-time directory tree. One historical
3 difficulty of this task has been the need to administer, upgrade,
4 install and remove files in independent packages without confusing
5 them with other files sharing the same filesystem space.
7 The approach used by Stow is to install each package into its own
8 tree, then use symbolic links to make it appear as though the files
9 are installed in the common tree. Administration can be performed in
10 the package's private tree in isolation from clutter from other
13 Stow was inspired by Carnegie-Mellon's Depot program, but is
14 substantially smaller.