3.6. RPM macros

An rpm macro is a straight text substitution that can be conditionally assigned based on the optional evaluation of a statement when certain built-in functionality is used. Hence, RPM can perform text substitutions for you.

An example use is referencing the packaged software Version multiple times in a SPEC file. You define Version only once in the %{version} macro, and use this macro throughout the SPEC file. Every occurrence will be automatically substituted by Version that you defined previously.

rpm --eval %{_MACRO}

$ rpm --eval %{_MACRO}

rpm --eval %{_bindir}
rpm --eval %{_libexecdir}

$ rpm --eval %{_bindir}
/usr/bin

$ rpm --eval %{_libexecdir}
/usr/libexec

One of the commonly-used macros is the %{?dist} macro, which signals which distribution is used for the build (distribution tag).

On a RHEL 9.x machine
rpm --eval %{?dist}

# On a RHEL 9.x machine
$ rpm --eval %{?dist}
.el8