distributionprovided

distributionprovided is a term used in software packaging and deployment to indicate that a given library, runtime, or dependency is supplied by the operating system distribution or the target environment rather than being shipped with the application. It marks the dependency as satisfiable by the environment, so the build or package manager will not include the artifact in the produced distribution and will not install it as a separate package.

In practice, a manifest or build script may include a flag or annotation named distributionProvided, distribution_provided, or distributionprovided. When set for a dependency, tools may resolve the dependency from the system or system-packaged libraries and may exclude the included copy to avoid duplications and reduce image size. The concept is related to, but distinct from, the traditional "provided" scope in some build systems (e.g., Maven's provided) which indicates the runtime container will supply the library.

Use cases include operating system package managers (apt, rpm) where a library is guaranteed to be present; container images that rely on base images to supply common libraries; and applications deployed on managed hosting where the distribution includes core dependencies.

Caveats: relying on distributionProvided can lead to portability issues if target environments do not provide the expected dependency or provide incompatible versions. It can also complicate compatibility testing and licensing.

Because the term is not universally standardized, readers should consult the specific tooling or packaging documentation to see how distributionProvided is supported and interpreted in that context.