# Arachne Package Manager

The Arachne Package Manager is a very powerful and easy to use tool for upgrading Arachne. It was designed to prevent the basic Arachne distribution package from growing too large and to allow developers to make installation of plug-ins and DGI components (generally patching Arachne) as easy as possible. Upgrading was never easier than with APMs ! If you are a programmer, check the technical documentation to learn more.

Using Arachne Packages is very simple. You can download them from the Arachne Download Page (but only if you are online). Just click on the package name to install it! Arachne configuration files (MIME.CFG, WWWMAN.CFG, ARACHNE.CFG...) will be updated automagically. You don't have to worry about which APMs you need: when you encounter a new type of URL or document, Arachne will automatically offer to download the appropriate APM package. This allows automatic upgrading of even WebTV-style units, etc.

Once you have downloaded any Arachne Packages from the net, you can store them in a special directory as files with an .APM extension. After installing and configuring a new version of Arachne, you can also easily install all your APMs from previous versions of Arachne. Just open the APM files in Arachne to do this (Desktop -> Utilities -> Install Arachne Package).

Warning: Although the Arachne Package Manager makes all changes very carefully, we recommend that you back up your configuration files (.CFG) before installing any APM package. We are also planning to implement an uninstall feature later.

List of installed packages