This is a draft only!
It is still under construction and content may change. Do not rely on this information.
It is still under construction and content may change. Do not rely on this information.
RPM packages are built from the source files plus a spec file, using the rpmbuild program.
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Do Not Build as Root
Always build RPM packages as a regular, non-root user. Building as a root user is unnecessary and may cause unintended side effects, including damaging your system.
Always build RPM packages as a regular, non-root user. Building as a root user is unnecessary and may cause unintended side effects, including damaging your system.
Setting up the Packaging Environment
Needed Packages
Install with yum:
- rpm-build
- rpmdevtools
- rpmlint
- yum-utils
"Fedora Packager" group
Many of these tools can be installed at once by installing the "Fedora Packager" group:
Many of these tools can be installed at once by installing the "Fedora Packager" group:
yum groupinstall "Fedora Packager"Setting up the RPM tree
The directories used by the rpm build tools can be defined as RPM macros. A script is provided in the rpmdevtools package to create a set of personal build directories and create the appropriate entries in the ~/.rpmmacros file:
rpmdev-setuptree
The directories created are:
- ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES - for source code (tarballs/zip archives and patches)
- ~/rpmbuild/SPECS - for the spec file
- ~/rpmbuild/SRPMS - for the resulting source RPMs
- ~/rpmbuild/RPMS - for the resulting binary RPMs
- ~/rpmbuild/BUILD - directory used to perform the build
- ~/rpmbuild/BUILDROOT - contains a fake root directory into which the built files are "installed" prior to being packaged
Examining Existing SRPMs
A great place to start when learning to build RPMs is to examine some existing SRPMs.
- Download the source code for an existing RPM:
yumdownloader --source nameofpackage - Install that downloaded SRPM:
rpm -i nameofpackage*.src.rpm- Source will be in
~/rpmbuild/SOURCES - Spec file will be in
~/rpmbuild/SPECS
- Source will be in
- Examine the specfile:
cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS; less nameofpackage.spec - To build from source using the specfile:
- Build all (binary RPMS plus SRPMS):
rpmbuild -ba nameofpackage.spec - Build just the spec file:
rpmbuild -bs nameofpackage.spec
- Build all (binary RPMS plus SRPMS):
Rebuild from SRPMS
Instead of installing an SRPM and building from the spec file, it is possible to build the binary RPMs and SRPM directly from an SRPM:
rpmbuild --rebuild nameofpackage*.src.rpm
This is useful when a no binary package is available for a particular platform or distribution version, but an SRPM is available.