I gave an online talk[1] about the history and future of package management last year that you might find interesting. It was very difficult to determine exactly what was the 'first'; as is often the case with big ideas, the Linux community seemed to spontaneously decide that it was needed and came up with multiple solutions in the space of just a few years. Even the question itself is complicated, because software did not typically come with a clear 'release date', which it usually has now.
Ultimately, the conclusion I drew from my research was that Bogus Linux[2] (which is still available, but no longer maintained) was the first distribution with a fully functional, system-wide binary package manager, but that Perl might have a had a functional package manager limited to Perl libraries in development or even in use by some in 1993 too.
Oh fascinating, thanks! Yeah CPAN dates to about 1993. CPAN in turn was based on CTAN (for TeX), which Wikipedia dates to 1991 or 1992. I used both systems in the early/mid 90s and they were not very good. CPAN in particular had a penchant for deciding to rebuilding and reinstall everything, including the Perl interpreter.
I assume the general idea is older, going back to at least the 70s and minicomputers or the like.
Ultimately, the conclusion I drew from my research was that Bogus Linux[2] (which is still available, but no longer maintained) was the first distribution with a fully functional, system-wide binary package manager, but that Perl might have a had a functional package manager limited to Perl libraries in development or even in use by some in 1993 too.
[1]: https://framatube.org/w/uubjKne6swPQpJWiQLfqxd
[2]: https://bogus.org/