I a writing a program which I would like to distribute commercially to Linux users. This question doesn't apply specifically to Ubuntu, but Ubuntu will be one of the Linux systems involved, and Ubuntu is one of the systems on which I have practiced installing. I have sufficient Linux experience to navigate around, write shell scripts, etc., but very little with installation, system administration, etc.

I wish to distribute this application as object files and then complete the linking to libraries on the client's PC. This will involve downloading the compiler, libraries, etc. onto the client's machine. I would like to automate the entire install process with a script. I am initially experimenting with Ubuntu and Fedora, but would like the installation program to work for most types of Linux.

I have written a shell script which does the installation once the compiler and libraries are installed, but know that I must include that in the installation script. It would be preferable to have an installation script that works accross all flavors of Linux, rather than needing a separate script for each type, although I could do the latter if it is the only way this will work.

My question is this: I really don't know how to go about creating an installation system. Should I write a shell script that calls Apt for Ubuntu, Yum for Fedora, etc. to get these libraries? Is there a package manager that works about the same way accross most Linux types? Should I download the compiler and libraries with wget or some other way? Is a shell script even the right way to write an installer, and if there is a better way, where might I learn how to do it? I am simply too inexperienced to know how I should be going at this.

Any advice would be a big help. Thanks.

Brandon