RPM Quick Reference
RPM Build Tips
RPM Reference Documentation
- Maximum RPM - Taking the RPM Package Manager to the Limit
- Fedora RPM Guide - Fedora RPM Reference Guide
- RPM, %config, and (noreplace) - Configuration file update and replacement
- Fedora Packaging:ScriptletSnippets - Fedora Packaging Scriptlet Snippets
Tips on RPM "%macros"
To find the secret "%macros", try commands like:
rpmbuild --showrc | grep _ln rpmbuild --showrc | grep share
To find RPM query format macros:
rpm --querytags | less
Values Passed to the %pre, %post, %preun, and %postun Scripts
Reference: Fedora Packaging:ScriptletSnippets
- When the first version of a package is installed, its %pre and %post scripts will be passed an argument equal to 1.
- When the last version of a package is erased, its %preun and %postun scripts will be passed an argument equal to 0.
- When upgrading the value passed will be greater than 1 (1 for version already installed, plus 1 for version being installed).
Example: %pre, %post, %preun, and %postun Scripts for the 'ntop' RPM Package
NST 18 and above now uses the new systemd "Macroized Scriptlets" found in the reference: Fedora Packaging:ScriptletSnippets for the %post, %preun and %postun sections.
SysV and LSB Init Service Scripts
%pre
#
# ntop package first install:
#
# Add an 'ntop' group and user...
if [ $1 -eq 1 ]; the
/usr/bin/getent group %{name} >/dev/null || /usr/sbin/groupadd -r %{name};
/usr/bin/getent passwd %{name} >/dev/null || \
/usr/sbin/useradd -r -g %{name} -d %{_localstatedir}/lib/ntop -s /sbin/nologin -c "ntop" %{name} >/dev/null || :;
fi
%post
#
# ntop package first install:
#
# Add an 'ntop' service and set the boot state to: 'disabled'
if [ $1 -eq 1 ]; then
/sbin/chkconfig --add %{name} &> /dev/null || :;
/bin/systemctl disable %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
fi
%preun
#
# ntop package removal:
#
# Stop a running 'ntop' service and remove start/stop links...
if [ $1 -eq 0 ]; then
/bin/systemctl stop %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
/sbin/chkconfig --del %{name} &> /dev/null || :;
fi
%postun
#
# Package removal:
#
# Remove group and user 'ntop' from system...
if [ $1 -eq 0 ]; then
/usr/sbin/usergroup %{name} 2>/dev/null || :;
/usr/sbin/userdel -f %{name} 2>/dev/null || :;
fi
#
# ntop package upgrade:
#
# If 'ntop' was running, stop it and restart it with the upgraded version...
if [ $1 -ge 1 ]; then
/bin/systemctl try-restart %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
fi
Systemd Service Control
%pre
#
# ntop package first install:
#
# Add an 'ntop' group and user...
if [ $1 -eq 1 ]; the
/usr/bin/getent group %{name} >/dev/null || /usr/sbin/groupadd -r %{name};
/usr/bin/getent passwd %{name} >/dev/null || \
/usr/sbin/useradd -r -g %{name} -d %{_localstatedir}/lib/ntop -s /sbin/nologin -c "ntop" %{name} >/dev/null || :;
fi
%post
#
# ntop package first install:
#
# Add an 'ntop' service and set the boot state to: 'disabled'
if [ $1 -eq 1 ]; then
/bin/systemctl --no-reload disable %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
fi
/bin/systemctl --system daemon-reload &> /dev/null || :
%preun
#
# ntop package removal:
#
# Stop a running 'ntop' service and remove start/stop links...
if [ $1 -eq 0 ]; then
/bin/systemctl stop %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
/bin/systemctl --no-reload disable %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
fi
%postun
#
# Package removal:
#
# Remove group and user 'ntop' from system...
if [ $1 -eq 0 ]; then
/usr/sbin/usergroup %{name} 2>/dev/null || :;
/usr/sbin/userdel -f %{name} 2>/dev/null || :;
fi
#
# ntop package upgrade:
#
# If 'ntop' was running, stop it and restart it with the upgraded version...
if [ $1 -ge 1 ]; then
/bin/systemctl try-restart %{name}.service &> /dev/null || :;
fi
/bin/systemctl --system daemon-reload &> /dev/null || :
Secret %pretrans and %posttrans RPM Scriptlets
There are apparently two secret scriptlets which may appear in a RPM spec file (discovered on the Packaging:ScriptletSnippets page). The %pretrans and %posttrans scriptlets are not well documented and I am not sure if they are part of RPMs in general or just part of RPMs which are used by Fedora (your mileage may vary).
- %pretrans
- Runs before all RPM package transactions.
- %postrans
- Runs after all RPM package transactions.
The %posttrans can be particularly useful when upgrading a RPM package.
Consider the following case. We had made the mistake of letting the package nst-config-root own the file /root/.gvimrc. We wanted to remove this file from being owned by the package, however, we wanted to keep the current instance of the file installed. Unfortunately, the normal scriptlet cycle during a upgrade is:
- %pretrans - Not sure which version of RPM - suspect the newer one.
- %pre - From newer RPM
- %post - From newer RPM
- %preun - From older RPM
- Files present in new RPM but absent in old RPM are removed from the system
- %postun - From older RPM
- %posttrans - From newer RPM
In the case of removing /root/.gvimrc from RPM ownership and making a unowned copy we hit a issue. We could make a copy in the %pre section and we could copy it back in the %post section, but since the file removals and %postun sections occurred afterwards, our copy was always being removed.
To work around this, we added a %posttrans section to our spec file to restore the configuration files from the skeletion instances under the /etc/skel directory as follows:
%posttrans
# TODO: Remove this hack in the next release of the NST (won't be needed).
#
# HACK because we had a bunch of /root/.gvimrc type files under RPM control
# starting with the NST 18 release (you can remove in next release of NST)
#
# Restore any missing template configuration files which had been inadvertly
# part of this original RPM specification
#
for f in .emacs .gkrellm2/user-config .gvimrc .mozilla .nedit \
.telnetrc .toprc .vimrc .Xdefaults; do
if [ ! -f /root/${f} ] && [ -f /etc/skel/${f} ]; then
%{__install} -D --mode=640 "/etc/skel/${f}" "/root/${f}";
fi
done
HowTo: Show Spec File Scripts Within An RPM Package
Example: Show all scripts within the RPM package: "php-pear-Mail"
rpm -q php-pear-Mail --scripts | less
Example: To show post (%post) install scripts for RPM package: "nstwui"
rpm -q nstwui --queryformat "%{POSTIN}" | less
The Available RPM "Groups"
The Group: line in a spec file should be set to one of the group names allowed by Fedora. Refer to the file: "/usr/share/doc/rpm-*/GROUPS" on your development system to see what group names are available.
Downloading/Installing Source For A Fedora Package
You can use the yumdownloader and rpm commands to download (and install) the source code for most packages which can be yum installed. For example, the following demonstrates how to get the source code for the vnc-server package:
yumdownloader --source vnc-server rpm -ivh vnc-4.1.3-1.fc10.src.rpm ls ~/rpmbuild/SPECS ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES
How To Extract Files from an RPM Package Without Installing
First use the "yumdownloader" command to get the RPM package of interest. Then use the "rpm2cpio" and "cpio" utilities for conversion to "cpio" format and extraction. The example below extracts the "curl" package to directory: "/tmp/curl":
[root@shopper2 tmp]# mkdir -p /tmp/curl; [root@shopper2 tmp]# yumdownloader curl; curl-7.27.0-5.fc18.x86_64.rpm [root@shopper2 tmp]# cd /tmp/curl/; [root@shopper2 curl]# rpm2cpio /tmp/curl-7.27.0-5.fc18.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idmv; ./usr/bin/curl ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0 ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/BUGS ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/CHANGES ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/COPYING ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/FAQ ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/FEATURES ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/MANUAL ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/README ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/RESOURCES ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/TODO ./usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0/TheArtOfHttpScripting ./usr/share/man/man1/curl.1.gz 1016 blocks [root@shopper2 curl]# ls -alR /tmp/curl; /tmp/curl: total 0 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxrwxrwt 16 root root 460 Jan 28 03:30 .. drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 usr /tmp/curl/usr: total 0 drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 .. drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 bin drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 share /tmp/curl/usr/bin: total 152 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 .. -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 152488 Jan 15 08:43 curl /tmp/curl/usr/share: total 0 drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 .. drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 doc drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 man /tmp/curl/usr/share/doc: total 0 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 .. drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 240 Jan 28 03:20 curl-7.27.0 /tmp/curl/usr/share/doc/curl-7.27.0: total 348 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 240 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6044 Jul 20 2012 BUGS -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181982 Jan 15 08:41 CHANGES -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1044 Apr 25 2012 COPYING -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59952 Jul 20 2012 FAQ -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3904 Jul 20 2012 FEATURES -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 36700 Jul 20 2012 MANUAL -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1608 Jan 15 08:41 README -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2287 Mar 19 2011 RESOURCES -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21751 Mar 19 2011 TheArtOfHttpScripting -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21874 Jun 3 2012 TODO /tmp/curl/usr/share/man: total 0 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jan 28 03:20 .. drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 man1 /tmp/curl/usr/share/man/man1: total 28 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 60 Jan 28 03:20 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28391 Jan 15 08:41 curl.1.gz [root@shopper2 curl]#
Showing the Architecture
It is not easy to determine a RPM package architecture using the rpm command. You need to create a custom RPM format to see this information.
coreutils-5.97.i386
kernel-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6.i686 kernel-2.6.20-1.2944.fc6.i686
The --queryformat FORMAT option is a powerful feature included with the RPM toolset. For details on the various format specifiers, see: "http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/ch-queryformat-tags.html", or run the following command:
ARCH ARCHIVESIZE BASENAMES BUILDARCHS BUILDHOST BUILDTIME C CACHECTIME CACHEPKGMTIME CACHEPKGPATH CACHEPKGSIZE CHANGELOGNAME CHANGELOGTEXT CHANGELOGTIME CLASSDICT CONFLICTFLAGS CONFLICTNAME CONFLICTS CONFLICTVERSION COOKIE COPYRIGHT CVSID D DEPENDSDICT DESCRIPTION DIRINDEXES DIRNAMES DISTRIBUTION DISTTAG DISTURL DSAHEADER E ENHANCESFLAGS ENHANCESNAME ENHANCESVERSION EPOCH EXCLUDEARCH EXCLUDEOS EXCLUSIVEARCH EXCLUSIVEOS FILECLASS FILECOLORS FILECONTEXTS FILEDEPENDSN FILEDEPENDSX FILEDEVICES FILEFLAGS FILEGROUPNAME FILEINODES FILELANGS FILELINKTOS FILEMD5S FILEMODES FILEMTIMES FILENAMES FILEPROVIDE FILERDEVS FILEREQUIRE FILESIZES FILESTATES FILEUSERNAME FILEVERIFYFLAGS FSCONTEXTS FSNAMES FSSIZES GIF GROUP HDRID HEADERI18NTABLE HEADERIMAGE HEADERIMMUTABLE HEADERREGIONS HEADERSIGNATURES ICON INSTALLCOLOR INSTALLPREFIX INSTALLTID INSTALLTIME INSTPREFIXES LICENSE N NAME O OBSOLETEFLAGS OBSOLETENAME OBSOLETES OBSOLETEVERSION OLDFILENAMES OPTFLAGS OS P PACKAGER PATCH PATCHESFLAGS PATCHESNAME PATCHESVERSION PAYLOADCOMPRESSOR PAYLOADFLAGS PAYLOADFORMAT PKGID PLATFORM POLICIES POSTIN POSTINPROG POSTTRANS POSTTRANSPROG POSTUN POSTUNPROG PREFIXES PREIN PREINPROG PRETRANS PRETRANSPROG PREUN PREUNPROG PRIORITY PROVIDEFLAGS PROVIDENAME PROVIDES PROVIDEVERSION PUBKEYS R RECONTEXTS RELEASE REMOVETID REQUIREFLAGS REQUIRENAME REQUIRES REQUIREVERSION RHNPLATFORM RPMVERSION RSAHEADER SERIAL SHA1HEADER SIGGPG SIGMD5 SIGPGP SIGSIZE SIZE SOURCE SOURCEPACKAGE SOURCEPKGID SOURCERPM SUGGESTSFLAGS SUGGESTSNAME SUGGESTSVERSION SUMMARY SVNID TRIGGERCONDS TRIGGERFLAGS TRIGGERINDEX TRIGGERNAME TRIGGERSCRIPTPROG TRIGGERSCRIPTS TRIGGERTYPE TRIGGERVERSION URL V VENDOR VERIFYSCRIPT VERIFYSCRIPTPROG VERSION XPM
Removing i386 Packages
Paul has found the following command useful for removing the i386 - i686 compatibility packages from a x86_64 (64 bit) development machine:
