Making a Package That Can Build Anywhere

While RPM makes building packages as easy as possible, some of the default design decisions might not work well in a particular situation. Here are two situations where RPM's method of package building may cause problems:

1. You are unable to dedicate a system to RPM package building, or the software you're packaging would disrupt the build system's operation if it were installed.

2. You would like to package software, but you don't have root access to an appropriate build system.

Either of these situations can be resolved by directing RPM to build, install, and package the software in a different area on your build system. It requires a bit of additional effort to accomplish this, but taken a step at a time, it is not difficult. Basically, the process can be summed up by addressing the following steps:

• Writing the package's spec file to support a build root.

• Directing RPM to build software in a user-specified build area.

• Specifying file attributes that RPM needs to set on installation.

The methods discussed here are not required in every situation. For example, a system administrator developing a package on a production system may only need to add support for a build root. On the other hand, a student wishing to build a package on a university system will need to get around the lack of root access by implementing every method described here.