= Week 2 (January 17) - Using Mock and Koji =

<code>rpmlint</code> is a spec file, SRPM (.src.rpm), and RPM (.rpm) checker. To use it, supply the names of the file(s) to be checked as argument(s):

Notice that the checks performed vary based on the input file. For example, some errors in the spec file (such as the summary ending in a period ".") could be determined from the spec file, but only show up when the SRPM/RPM is checked. Each run will report the number of errors and warnings; errors are serious problems which should not be ignored, while warnings may be ignored depending on the context.

It's often difficult to get the BuildRequires in a spec file exactly right, because it's easy to overlook packages that are coincidentally installed on the machine. <code>mock</code> is a tool that uses the chroot system call to create a "cleanroom" environment for the build, so that any missing BuildRequires cause the build to fail.

The value ''fedora-13-x86_64'' may be changed to any of the config files found in <code>/etc/mock</code> in order to test building based on the libraries and available packages for a specific architecture and Fedora release. If errors are reported, review the log files (see the mock output to determine the directory containing the log files).

<code>koji</code> is a client-server system which allows you to queue builds within the Fedora build farm. This permits you to test whether your package builds on several different architectures, which is especially useful when you don't otherwise have access to the machines of that architecture.

* Blog about your experience.

= Week 3 (January 24) - Solving Build Issues =