Like delta RPMs [0]? Software updates are distributed as diffs and applied to the existing package, so only the differences in the new packages need to be sent

Like delta RPMs [0]? Software updates are distributed as diffs and applied to the existing package, so only the differences in the new packages need to be sent each time. This is computationally ineffficient (calculating and applying the delta RPM) but bandwidth efficient (smaller transfers). It depends on what you mean by efficient. [0] http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~mueller/docs/suse10.2/html/opensuse-manual_en/manual/sec.rpm.delta.html http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~mueller/docs/suse10.2/html... First reference I found on Google