Chapter 2. Setting up RPM packaging workspace

To build RPM packages, you must first create a special workspace that consists of directories used for different packaging purposes.

2.1. Configuring RPM packaging workspace
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Prepare your environment for software packaging by setting up an RPM packaging workspace.

To configure the RPM packaging workspace, you can set up a directory layout by using the rpmdev-setuptree utility.

Prerequisites

You installed the rpmdevtools package, which provides utilities for packaging RPMs:
```
# dnf install rpmdevtools
```

Procedure

Set up packaging workspace directories:

$ tree ~/rpmbuild/

/home/user/rpmbuild/
|-- BUILD
|-- RPMS
|-- SOURCES
|-- SPECS
`-- SRPMS

5 directories, 0 files

Review the following directories that the rpmdev-setuptree utility creates to set up the RPM packaging workspace.

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Table 2.1. RPM packaging workspace directories
Directory	Purpose
`BUILD`	Contains build artifacts compiled from the source files from the `SOURCES` directory.
`RPMS`	Binary RPMs are created under the `RPMS` directory in subdirectories for different architectures. For example, in the `x86_64` or `noarch` subdirectory.
`SOURCES`	Contains compressed source code archives and patches. The `rpmbuild` command then searches for these archives and patches in this directory.
`SPECS`	Contains `spec` files created by the packager. These files are then used for building packages.
`SRPMS`	When you use the `rpmbuild` command to build an SRPM instead of a binary RPM, the resulting SRPM is created under this directory.