Chapter 5. Packaging software

Procedure

1. Navigate to the ~/rpmbuild/SPECS directory:

   $ cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS

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2. Create a spec file for each of the three implementations of the Hello World! program:

   $ rpmdev-newspec bello
   bello.spec created; type minimal, rpm version >= 4.11.
   
   $ rpmdev-newspec cello
   cello.spec created; type minimal, rpm version >= 4.11.
   
   $ rpmdev-newspec python-pello
   python-pello.spec created; type minimal, rpm version >= 4.11.

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   Important

   When packaging a Python project into RPM, always add the python- prefix to the original name of the project. The project name here is Pello and, therefore, the name of the spec is python-pello.

   The ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/ directory now contains three spec files named bello.spec, cello.spec, and python-pello.spec.

3. Examine the created files.

   The directives in the files represent those described in About spec files. In the following sections, you will populate particular section in the output files of rpmdev-newspec.

Procedure

1. Open the ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/<name>.spec file provided by the rpmdev-newspec utility.

2. Populate the following directives of the spec file Preamble section:

   Name

   Name was already specified as an argument to rpmdev-newspec.

   Version

   Set Version to match the upstream release version of the source code.

   Release

   Release is automatically set to 1%{?dist}, which is initially 1.

   Summary

   Enter a one-line explanation of the package.

   License

   Enter the software license associated with the source code.

   URL

   Enter the URL to the upstream software website. For consistency, utilize the %{name} RPM macro variable and use the https://example.com/%{name} format.

   Source

   Enter the URL to the upstream software source code. Link directly to the software version being packaged.

   Note

   The example URLs in this documentation include hard-coded values that could possibly change in the future. Similarly, the release version can change as well. To simplify these potential future changes, use the %{name} and %{version} macros. By using these macros, you need to update only one field in the spec file.

   BuildRequires

   Specify build-time dependencies for the package.

   Requires

   Specify run-time dependencies for the package.

   BuildArch

   Specify the software architecture.

3. Populate the following directives of the spec file Body section. You can think of these directives as section headings, because these directives can define multi-line, multi-instruction, or scripted tasks to occur.

   %description

   Enter the full description of the software.

   %prep

   Enter a command or series of commands to prepare software for building.

   %build

   Enter a command or series of commands for building software.

   %install

   Enter a command or series of commands that instruct the rpmbuild command on how to install the software into the BUILDROOT directory.

   %files

   Specify the list of files, provided by the RPM package, to be installed on your system.

   %changelog

   Enter the list of datestamped entries for each Version-Release of the package.

   Start the first line of the %changelog section with an asterisk (*) character followed by Day-of-Week Month Day Year Name Surname <email> - Version-Release.

   For the actual change entry, follow these rules:

   • Each change entry can contain multiple items, one for each change.
   • Each item starts on a new line.
   • Each item begins with a hyphen (-) character.

Procedure

1. Navigate to the ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/ directive, which contains the created spec file:

   $ cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/

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2. Build the source RPM by entering the rpmbuild command with the specified spec file:

   $ rpmbuild -bs <specfile>

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   The -bs option stands for build source.

   For example, to build source RPMs for the bello, pello, and cello programs, enter:

   $ rpmbuild -bs bello.spec
   Wrote: /home/admiller/rpmbuild/SRPMS/bello-0.1-1.el9.src.rpm
   
   $ rpmbuild -bs python-pello.spec
   Wrote: /home/admiller/rpmbuild/SRPMS/python-pello-1.0.2-1.el9.src.rpm
   
   $ rpmbuild -bs cello.spec
   Wrote: /home/admiller/rpmbuild/SRPMS/cello-1.0-1.el9.src.rpm

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Procedure

1. Navigate to the ~/rpmbuild/SRPMS/ directive, which contains the source RPM:

   $ cd ~/rpmbuild/SRPMS/

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2. Rebuild the binary RPM from the source RPM:

   $ rpmbuild --rebuild <srpm>

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   For example, to rebuild bello, pello, and cello from their SRPMs, enter:

   $ rpmbuild --rebuild bello-0.1-1.el9.src.rpm
   [output truncated]
   
   $ rpmbuild --rebuild python-pello-1.0.2-1.el9.src.rpm
   [output truncated]
   
   $ rpmbuild --rebuild cello-1.0-1.el9.src.rpm
   [output truncated]

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Procedure

1. Navigate to the ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/ directive, which contains spec files:

   $ cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/

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2. Build the binary RPM from its spec:

   $ rpmbuild -bb <spec_file>

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   For example, to build bello, pello, and cello binary RPMs from their spec files, enter:

   $ rpmbuild -bb bello.spec
   
   $ rpmbuild -bb python-pello.spec
   
   $ rpmbuild -bb cello.spec

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