Software management may be acheived as we have seen wtih sepcific tools such as zypper, underlying though on most Linux distibutions is the RPM system, Red Hat Package Manager. In may ways MSI files and msiexec in Windows is based upon this tool that essentially maintains a database of all software on the machine.

To install software : rpm -i "name of rpm"
To install with progress : rpm -ih "name of rpm"
To remove software : rpm -e "name of package"
To list files in package : rpm -ql "name of package"
To see owning package to file : rpm -qf "name of file"
The RPM commands give you the most felxibility in software management and also will make their way into LPI exams as is their importance