PCLinuxOS Magazine

Create A Basic RPM Package For PCLinuxOS

by Daniel Meiß-Wilhelm (Leiche)

In the last issues we created a servicemenu for KDE4 in PCLinuxOS. We discovered what works well, and we want share it with other PCLinuxOS users. But how do we do it?

First, you should read this:

http://www.pclosmag.com/html/Issues/200907/page08.html.

Neal wrote about creating an RPM Package. Following his advice in his article, you will find his description about the commands within a specfile, how the commands work, and how the specfile should be structured.

I keep a blank specfile in my work directory, with most of the commands that are needed to build a package.

%define prefix /usr
 %define name
 %define version
 %define release %mkrel 1
 %define url 
Name:        %{name}
 Version:      %{version}
 Release:      %{release}
 License:       
 Group:              
 URL:        %{url}
 Source:              
 Summary:       
 Summary(de):       
 BuildRoot:     %{_tmppath}/%{name}-buildroot
 BuildRequires:       
 Requires:       
 Obsoletes:     %name < %version 

 
%description 
 
#german 
%description -l de 
 
%prep 
 
%setup -q -n %{name}-%{version} 
 
%build 
 
cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr 
 
%make 
 
%install
 rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT 
 
%makeinstall_std 
 
%post
 %{update_menus}
 %{update_desktop_database} 
 
%postun
 %{clean_menus}
 %{clean_desktop_database} 
 
%files
 %defattr(-,root,root)
 %{_bindir}/%{name} 
 
%clean
 rm -rf %{buildroot}
 rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_DIR/%{name}-%{version} 
 
%changelog

Now we fill in the empty rows. I added the information for Zip_Player in italics.

%define prefix /usr: Where it should be installed seamlessly in /usr
%define name Zip_Player: add the name of the package
%define version 0.1: the actual version of your program
%define release %mkrel 3: needed for rebuild information by the actual version. Currently, release 0.1-3 of Zip_Player is in our repositories.
%define url: http://kellerleiche.bplaced.net — add your homepage or something else, for example: sourceforge

The header is done, but we can still add more to it. We have defined the macros, and now we can work with them.

It's time to get the ingredients for our package.

Name: %{name}: With the %{name} macros we set the name of our package
Version: %{version}: Version has the same function as Name
Release: %{release}: Release has the same function as Name
License: GPL: the license our program will have
Group: Sound: the category displayed by the package manager
URL: %{url}: URL has the same function as Name
Source: %{name}-%{version} .tar.gz: the archive containing the program
Summary: Zip_Player plays Your music in zip-archive: summary of the program
Summary(de): Zip_Player spielt Musik aus Zip Archive: summary of the program in German language (you can add other languages, also)
BuildRoot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-buildroot: where the package should be built
Requires: xmms, unzip, zenity,: other packages needed by the program at runtime
Obsoletes: %name < %version: will remove the older version of a package
%description Z ip Player XMMS plays Your music in zip-archive. (Created by leiche): a description of the package
#german %description -l de Zip Player XMMS spielt Musik aus Zip Archive. (Erstellt von leiche): for the German user, the description for synaptic or smart package management.

Create A Basic RPM Package For PCLinuxOS

by Daniel Meiß-Wilhelm (Leiche)

What is needed for an archive?