rpmbuild is used to build both binary and source software
packages. A package consists of an archive of files and meta-
data used to install and erase the archive files. The meta-data
includes helper scripts, file attributes, and descriptive
information about the package. Packages come in two varieties:
binary packages, used to encapsulate software to be installed,
and source packages, containing the source code and recipe
necessary to produce binary packages.
One of the following basic modes must be selected: Build Package,
Build Package from Tarball, Recompile Package, Show
Configuration.
GENERAL OPTIONS
These options can be used in all the different modes.
-?, --help
Print a longer usage message then normal.
--version
Print a single line containing the version number of rpm
being used.
--quiet
Print as little as possible - normally only error messages
will be displayed.
-v Print verbose information - normally routine progress
messages will be displayed.
-vv Print lots of ugly debugging information.
--rpmfcdebug
Enables to debug dependencies generation.
--rcfile FILELIST
Each of the files in the colon separated FILELIST is read
sequentially by rpm for configuration information. Only
the first file in the list must exist, and tildes will be
expanded to the value of $HOME. The default FILELIST is
/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc:/usr/lib/rpm/<vendor>/rpmrc:/etc/rpmrc:~/.rpmrc.
--pipe CMD
Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.
--dbpath DIRECTORY
Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path
/var/lib/rpm
--root DIRECTORY
Use the file system tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all
operations. Note that this means the database within
DIRECTORY will be used for dependency checks and any
scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post if installing, or %prep if
building, a package) will be run after a chroot(2) to
DIRECTORY.
-D, --define='MACRO EXPR'
Defines MACRO with value EXPR.
--scm=SCM
Select the SCM to use with %autosetup, if one is not set
in the spec file. Note that not all values for SCM, e.g.,
patch (the default) and gendiff, git, or quilt work
interchangeably with all other patches and options stated
in the %autosetup line, especially option -pN.
BUILD OPTIONS
The general form of an rpm build command is
rpmbuild {-bSTAGE|-rSTAGE|-tSTAGE} [rpmbuild-options] FILE ...
The argument used is -b if a spec file is being used to build the
package, -r if a source package is to be rebuilt and -t if
rpmbuild should look inside of a (possibly compressed) tar file
for the spec file to use.
Packages are built in a number of stages. The first six
correspond to the following sections in a spec file: %prep,
%generate_buildrequires, %build, %install, %check and %clean.
Finally, binary and source packages are created in an assembly
stage.
The STAGE character specifies the stage to finish with (after
doing all the stages preceding it), and is one of:
-ba Perform a full build - executes up to and including the
assembly stage. In most cases, this is the option to
choose.
-bb Build just the binary packages - executes up to and
including the assembly stage, but without creating the
source package.
-bp Unpack the sources and apply any patches - executes the
%prep stage only.
-bc Compile the sources - executes up to and including the
%build stage. This generally involves the equivalent of a
"make".
-bi Install the binaries into the build root - executes up to
and including the %check stage. This generally involves
the equivalent of a "make install" and "make check".
-bl Do a "list check" - the %files section from the spec file
is macro expanded, and checks are made to verify that each
file exists.
-bs Build just the source package - skips straight to the
assembly stage, without executing any of the preceding
stages or creating binary packages.
-br Build just the source package, but also parse and include
dynamic build dependencies - executes up to and including
the %generate_buildrequires stage and then skips straight
to the assembly stage, without creating binary packages.
This command can be used to fully resolve dynamic build
dependencies. See the DYNAMIC BUILD DEPENDENCIES section
for details.
The following options may also be used:
--buildroot DIRECTORY
When building a package, override the BuildRoot tag with
directory DIRECTORY.
--clean
Remove the build tree after the packages are made.
--nobuild
Do not execute any build stages. Useful for testing out
spec files.
--noprep
Do not execute %prep build stage even if present in spec.
--noclean
Do not execute %clean build stage even if present in spec.
--nocheck
Do not execute %check build stage even if present in spec.
--nodebuginfo
Do not generate debuginfo packages.
--nodeps
Do not verify build dependencies.
--rmsource
Remove the sources after the build (may also be used
standalone, e.g. "rpmbuild --rmsource foo.spec").
--rmspec
Remove the spec file after the build (may also be used
standalone, eg. "rpmbuild --rmspec foo.spec").
--short-circuit
Skip straight to specified stage (i.e., skip all stages
leading up to the specified stage). Only valid with -bc,
-bi, and -bb. Useful for local testing only. Packages
built this way will be marked with an unsatisfiable
dependency to prevent their accidental use.
--build-in-place
Build from locally checked out sources. Sets _builddir to
current working directory. Skips handling of -n and untar
in the %setup and the deletion of the buildSubdir.
--target PLATFORM
When building the package, interpret PLATFORM as arch-
vendor-os and set the macros %_target, %_target_cpu, and
%_target_os accordingly.
--with OPTION
Enable configure OPTION for build.
--without OPTION
Disable configure OPTION for build.
REBUILD AND RECOMPILE OPTIONS
There are two other ways to invoke building with rpm:
rpmbuild --rebuild|--recompile SOURCEPKG ...
When invoked this way, rpmbuild installs the named source
package, and does a prep, compile and install. In addition,
--rebuild builds a new binary package. When the build has
completed, the build directory is removed (as in --clean) and the
the sources and spec file for the package are removed.
These options are now superseded by the -r* options which allow
much more fine control over what stages of the build to run.
DYNAMIC BUILD DEPENDENCIES
When the %generate_buildrequires stage runs and some of the newly
generated BuildRequires are not satisfied, rpmbuild creates an
intermediate source package ending in buildreqs.nosrc.rpm, which
has the new BuildRequires, and exits with code 11. This package
can then be used in place of the original source package to
resolve and install the missing build dependencies in the usual
way, such as with dnf-builddep(8).
Multiple layers of dynamic build dependencies may exist in a spec
file; the presence of specific BuildRequires on the system may
yield new BuildRequires next time a build is performed with the
same source package. The easiest way to ensure that all dynamic
build dependencies are satisfied is to run the -br command,
install the new dependencies of the buildreqs.nosrc.rpm package
and repeat the whole procedure until rpmbuild no longer exits
with code 11.
If the -br command is coupled with --nodeps, exit code 11 is
always returned and a buildreqs.nosrc.rpm package is always
created.
SHOWRC
The command
rpmbuild --showrc
shows the values rpmbuild will use for all of the options are
currently set in rpmrc and macros configuration file(s).
