diff --git a/apt.go b/apt.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf8a4fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apt.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package zoopb
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"go.wit.com/log"
+)
+
+// init the installed package list
+func (me *Machine) initPackages() {
+	// Get the list of installed packages for the detected distro
+	newP, err := getPackageList(me.Distro)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("Error:", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Print the installed packages and their versions
+	for pkg, version := range newP {
+		new1 := new(Package)
+		new1.Name = pkg
+		new1.Version = version
+		if me.Packages.Append(new1) {
+			// log.Info("added", new1.Name, "ok")
+		} else {
+			log.Info("added", new1.Name, "failed")
+		}
+	}
+
+	log.Info(me.Hostname, "has distro", me.Distro, "with", me.Packages.Len(), "packages installed.")
+}
+
+func (me *Machine) addNew(name string, version string) bool {
+	new1 := new(Package)
+	new1.Name = name
+	new1.Version = version
+	return me.Packages.Append(new1)
+}
+
+func (me *Machine) updatePackages() string {
+	// Get the list of installed packages for the detected distro
+	newP, err := getPackageList(me.Distro)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("Error:", err)
+		return fmt.Sprintln("getPackageList()", err)
+	}
+
+	var newCounter, changeCounter int
+	// Print the installed packages and their versions
+	for pkg, version := range newP {
+		found := me.Packages.FindByName(pkg)
+		if found == nil {
+			log.Info("adding new", pkg, version)
+			me.addNew(pkg, version)
+			newCounter += 1
+		} else {
+			found.Version = version
+			if me.Packages.Update(found) {
+				changeCounter += 1
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	footer := fmt.Sprintf("%s has distro %s with %d packages installed", me.Hostname, me.Distro, me.Packages.Len())
+	if changeCounter != 0 {
+		footer += fmt.Sprintf(" (%d changed)", changeCounter)
+	}
+	if newCounter != 0 {
+		footer += fmt.Sprintf(" (%d new)", newCounter)
+	}
+	return footer
+}
diff --git a/apt_linux.go b/apt_linux.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e71d1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apt_linux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package zoopb
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
+
+	"go.wit.com/log"
+)
+
+// getPackageList returns the list of installed packages based on the distro
+func getPackageList(distro string) (map[string]string, error) {
+	var cmd *exec.Cmd
+
+	// Run the appropriate command based on the detected distribution
+	switch distro {
+	case "ubuntu", "debian":
+		return dpkgQuery()
+	case "fedora", "centos", "rhel":
+		cmd = exec.Command("rpm", "-qa")
+	case "arch", "manjaro":
+		cmd = exec.Command("pacman", "-Q")
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported distribution: %s", distro)
+	}
+
+	// Capture the command's output
+	output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error running command: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// todo: Split the output into lines and return
+	lines := strings.Split(string(output), "\n")
+	log.Info("output had", len(lines), "lines")
+	return nil, nil
+}
+
+func dpkgQuery() (map[string]string, error) {
+	// Run the dpkg-query command to list installed packages and versions
+	cmd := exec.Command("dpkg-query", "-W", "-f=${Package} ${Version}\n")
+	stdout, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Start the command execution
+	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	defer cmd.Wait()
+
+	// Create a map to store package names and versions
+	installedPackages := make(map[string]string)
+
+	// Use a scanner to read the output of the command line by line
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(stdout)
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := scanner.Text()
+		// Split each line into package name and version
+		parts := strings.SplitN(line, " ", 2)
+		if len(parts) == 2 {
+			packageName := parts[0]
+			version := parts[1]
+			installedPackages[packageName] = version
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Return the map with package names and versions
+	return installedPackages, scanner.Err()
+}
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index affe013..03c81c5 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -24,6 +24,29 @@ func (m *Machines) ConfigSave() error {
 	configWrite(data)
 	return nil
 }
+
+// when running on a single machine, save the file in forge/
+// as <hostname>.pb
+// write to ~/.config/forge/ unless ENV{FORGE_HOME} is set
+func (m *Machine) ConfigSave() error {
+	if os.Getenv("FORGE_HOME") == "" {
+		homeDir, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
+		fullpath := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".config/forge")
+		os.Setenv("FORGE_HOME", fullpath)
+	}
+	data, err := m.Marshal()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Info("proto.Marshal() failed len", len(data), err)
+		return err
+	}
+
+	log.Info("ConfigSave() proto.Marshal() worked len", len(data))
+
+	hostname, _ := os.Hostname()
+	fname := hostname + ".pb"
+	return m.configWrite(fname, data)
+}
+
 func ConfigSaveRaw(data []byte) error {
 	configWrite(data)
 	return nil
@@ -45,6 +68,30 @@ func (m *Machines) ConfigLoad() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (m *Machine) ConfigLoad() error {
+	if m == nil {
+		return errors.New("It's not safe to run ConfigLoad() on a nil ?")
+	}
+	if os.Getenv("FORGE_HOME") == "" {
+		homeDir, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
+		fullpath := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".config/forge")
+		os.Setenv("FORGE_HOME", fullpath)
+	}
+
+	hostname, _ := os.Hostname()
+	fname := hostname + ".pb"
+
+	if data, err := m.loadFile(fname); err == nil {
+		if err = proto.Unmarshal(data, m); err != nil {
+			log.Warn("broken zookeeper.pb config file", fname)
+			return err
+		}
+	} else {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func loadFile(filename string) ([]byte, error) {
 	homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
 	p := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".config/zookeeper")
@@ -57,6 +104,17 @@ func loadFile(filename string) ([]byte, error) {
 	return data, nil
 }
 
+func (m *Machine) loadFile(fname string) ([]byte, error) {
+	fullname := filepath.Join(os.Getenv("FORGE_HOME"), fname)
+
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(fullname)
+	if err != nil {
+		// log.Info("open config file :", err)
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return data, nil
+}
+
 func configWrite(data []byte) error {
 	homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
 	p := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".config/zookeeper")
@@ -70,3 +128,16 @@ func configWrite(data []byte) error {
 	cfgfile.Write(data)
 	return nil
 }
+
+func (m *Machine) configWrite(fname string, data []byte) error {
+	fullname := filepath.Join(os.Getenv("FORGE_HOME"), fname)
+
+	cfgfile, err := os.OpenFile(fullname, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, 0666)
+	defer cfgfile.Close()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Warn("open config file :", err)
+		return err
+	}
+	cfgfile.Write(data)
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/distro.go b/distro.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbbdda3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distro.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+// Copyright 2024 WIT.COM Inc.
+
+package zoopb
+
+// simple stab at making a human readable distro name
+// this is for displaying in a table in the zookeeper app
+// it's just so you can easily see what machines in your grid are
+// doing what
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+func initDistro() string {
+	switch runtime.GOOS {
+	case "windows":
+		return "windows"
+	case "macos":
+		return "macos"
+	case "linux":
+		// Detect the Linux distribution
+		distro := detectDistro()
+		if distro == "" {
+			fmt.Println("Unable to detect Linux distribution.")
+			distro = "fixme"
+		}
+
+		fmt.Printf("Detected distribution: %s\n", distro)
+		return distro
+	default:
+		return runtime.GOOS
+	}
+}
+
+// detectDistro returns the Linux distribution name (if possible)
+func detectDistro() string {
+	// Check if we're on Linux
+
+	// Try to read /etc/os-release to determine the distro
+	file, err := os.Open("/etc/os-release")
+	if err != nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file)
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := scanner.Text()
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "ID=") {
+			parts := strings.SplitN(line, "=", 2)
+			if len(parts) == 2 {
+				return strings.Trim(parts[1], `"`)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
diff --git a/machine.proto b/machine.proto
index 0926fa5..76c7aa2 100644
--- a/machine.proto
+++ b/machine.proto
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ message Machine {
   string distro			= 4;
   Packages packages		= 5;
   google.protobuf.Timestamp     laststamp      = 6;    // the last time we heard anything from this machine
+  Packages installed		= 7;	// packages that are installed
+  Packages available		= 8;	// packages that are available
+  Packages wit			= 9;	// packages that are available from mirrors.wit.com
 }
 
 message Machines {
diff --git a/package.proto b/package.proto
index 53859a8..500db12 100644
--- a/package.proto
+++ b/package.proto
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@ package gitpb;
 import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto"; // Import the well-known type for Timestamp
 
 message Package {
-  string name 			= 1;
-  string version 		= 2;
-  google.protobuf.Timestamp     laststamp      = 4;    // the last time we heard anything from this droplet
+	string	name 				= 1;	// name: zookeeper-go
+	string	version 			= 2;	// version: 0.0.3
+	google.protobuf.Timestamp laststamp	= 3;	// the last time this package was seen (used to timeout entries)
+	string	srcPath 			= 4;	// path to the sources (go.wit.com/apps/zookeeper)
+	bool	installed			= 5;	// installed: true
 }
 
 message Packages {