Difference between adb "install" command and "pm install" command?

android adb android-package-managers
hackjutsu picture hackjutsu · Feb 24, 2015 · Viewed 30.2k times · Source

What's the difference between installing an app using the install command and using the package manager's pm install command? Do they do the exact same job? Does one command actually call the other in the back?

adb install -r APK_FILE
adb shell pm install APK_FILE

Answer

Chris Stratton picture Chris Stratton · Feb 24, 2015

adb install is a command to run from a development host, which uploads a package somewhere temporary and then installs it.

pm install is a command to run locally on the device.

adb does indeed utilize the pm program on the device - see the source code at

https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core/+/kitkat-mr2.2-release/adb/commandline.c

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