RPM Macros

Technically, there are 3 types of "macros":

• %{rpm_macro}: Normal RPM macros
• %(echo "hi" | sed 's/hi/hello/'): Shell macros that expands to the output of the commands
• %[v"1.2.3~1" < v"1.2.3"]: RPM expression

This document only covers the first type.

If you are new to RPM packaging, you should first check out the macros with the 🔰 icon. On a computer, the right hand side of this page shows you the list of macros.

If you would like to learn more about the RPM macro syntax, check out Macro syntax.

Legend

• 🔢 : Parameterized macro.
• 🔦 : Relatively uncommon.
• 🔰 : Relatively common.
• 🚸 : Not recommended in Terra.
• 🛠️ : Advanced.
• 🔩 : Usually used with rpm -E but not in spec files.
• 🏷️ : Usually defined but not used directly.

RPM Built-in Macros

Macro Manipulation

%define 🔰

Defines a macro locally.

Macros defined with %define will not last to another RPM section. For example, if used in preamble section, the macro will be automatically undefined in %prep.

To make sure a macro lasts for the entire spec file, use %global instead.

%build
%define my_macro Hello, World!
echo %my_macro
 
%install
echo %my_macro

%build
echo Hello, World!
 
%install
echo %my_macro

%global 🔰

Defines a macro globally.

As oppose to %define, macros defined with %global will last for the entire spec file.

%global cat Meow!!!
 
%prep
echo nya %cat
 
%build
echo %cat

%prep
echo nya Meow!!!
 
%build
echo Meow!!!

%undefine 🔦

Undefine a macro.

Technically this does not always undefine the macro specified. Instead, this pops the latest definition from the macro stack.

%global cat Meow!
 
%prep
%global cat Nyaa!
echo %cat
 
%build
%undefine cat
echo %cat
 
%install
%undefine cat
echo %cat

%prep
echo Nyaa!
 
%build
echo Meow!
 
%install
echo %cat

%dnl 🔰

Comments.

Similar to # …, this can comment out anything in %{dnl:…} or after %dnl …. The difference with # … is that %dnl prevents macro expansions, while macros in # … are actually expanded.

	%define meow a
	# comment %meow
	%dnl comment %meow

# comment a

%{load:…} 🔦🚸

Load a macro file.

%{expr:…} 🔦

Expand all macros in the body, then evaluate the body as an expression.

$ rpm -D 'foo 1 + 2' -E '%[%foo]'
error: macro expansion did not return an integer: %foo
error:                                            ^
error: expanded string: 1 + 2
 
$ rpm -D 'foo 1 + 2' -E '%{expr:%foo}'
3

%{expand:…} 🛠️

Double-expand the macro.

%define nya foo
%define meow %{expand:%%nya}
 
echo %meow

echo foo

%{lua:…} 🛠️

Embed lua code.

%global my_macro Hello
%{lua:
  -- this lua block expands to the input
  -- to all `print()` statements
  print("%prep\necho " ..
    rpm.expand("%my_macro from lua!") ..
    "\n")
}

%prep
echo Hello from lua!

%{macrobody:…} 🔩

Expand to the definition of the given macro.

$ rpm -E '%dist'
.um41
 
$ rpm -E '%macrobody dist'
%{?distprefix}.um41%{?with_bootstrap:~bootstrap}

%{quote:…} 🔦🛠️

Does nothing. You heard me, this macro literally does nothing.

But because of that it's very useful. This can be used to pass arguments with spaces to parameterized macros:

echo %gsub %{quote:hello hello} %{quote:^hello} bye

echo bye hello

String Operations

%gsub … 🔢🔦🛠️

Equivalent to %{lua: string.gsub("%1", "%2", %3, %?4)}, where %n represents the n-th argument to %gsub.

In short, this replaces %?4 occurrences of %2 in %1 to %3. %4 is optional and defaults to infinity.

%2 is treated as a lua pattern (opens in a new tab).

echo %gsub %{quote:hello hello} %{quote:^hello} bye

echo bye hello

%{len:…}

Obtains the length of the given text.

%define foo meow now!
echo %{len:%foo}

echo 9

%{lower:…}

Turn the input into ASCII-lowercase.

%{upper:…}

ASCII-uppercase.

%rep … 🔢🔦

Repeat the first input (%1) n-times, n given by %2 (lua string.rep()).

%{reverse:…}

%sub … 🔢🔰

Expand to substring (lua string.sub()).

$ rpm -E '%sub abc 2 3'
bc

%{shescape:…}

Wrap the input with single quotes and also escape preexisting single-quotes correctly, so that the input can be safely passed as arguments to shell commands.

$ rpm -E "echo %{shescape:this is some 'text'}"
echo 'this is some '\''text'\'''
 
$ rpm -E "%(echo %{shescape:this is some 'text'})"
this is some 'text'

%{shrink:…}

Trim leading and trailing ASCII-whitespace, and reduce intermediate whitespace to a single space.

File and Path Operations

%{basename:…} 🔦

basename(1) macro analogue

%{dirname:…} 🔦

dirname(1) macro analogue

%{exists:…} 🔦

test file existence, expands to 1/0

%{suffix:…} 🔦

expand to suffix part of a file name

%{url2path:…} 🔦

convert url to a local path

%{uncompress:…}

expand to a command for outputting argument file to stdout, uncompressing as needed

This macro is used in %setup … for uncompressing source files.

Environment info

%{getncpus:…}

When used as %{getncpus} with no arguments, expand to the number of available CPU cores.

Also accept extra arguments:

accepts arguments total, proc and thread, additionally accounting for available memory (e.g. address space limitations for threads)

However, %getncpus total, %getncpus proc and %getncpus thread produce the same results as far as concerned. It is suspected that the arguments in most cases have no effect to the output.

%getconfdir 🔦

expand to rpm "home" directory (typically /usr/lib/rpm)

%{getenv:...} 🔦

getenv(3) macro analogue

%rpmversion 🔦

expand to running rpm version

Output

%{echo:…} 🔦

print ... to stdout

%{warn:…} 🔦

print warning: ... to stderr

Produce an RPM warning, which is immediately shown in console stderr, and displayed again at the end of the rpmbuild execution (after Executing(rmbuild)).

%{error:…} 🔦

print error: ... to stderr and return an error

Produce an RPM warning, which is immediately shown in console stderr, then immediately perform Executing(rmbuild) and exit with a summary of all warnings and errors.

%{verbose:…} 🔦

%verbose: expand to 1 if rpm is in verbose mode, 0 if not

%{verbose:...}: expand to ... if rpm is in verbose mode, the empty string if not

Spec-specific Macros

%{S:…}

expand ... to <source> file name

Expand to the path to the source file. This is just a fancy macro that transforms %{S:123} to %SOURCE123.

Source0: https://repos.fyralabs.com/um42/comps.xml
 
%prep
cat %{S:0}
echo %{S:1}

Source0: https://repos.fyralabs.com/um42/comps.xml
 
%prep
cat %{_sourcedir}/comps.xml
echo %SOURCE1

%{P:…}

expand ... to <patch> file name

As you may have guessed, this is basically the Patch: version of %{S:…}.

Diagnostics

%trace 🔦🛠️

toggle print of debugging information before/after expansion

%dump 🔩

print the active (i.e. non-covered) macro table

When you want to find a macro that has the string x86_64_v3, you can run:

rpm -E '%dump' 2>&1 | grep x86_64_v3

Or you can just use less instead of grep.

%__file_name 🔦

current file (if parsing a file)

%__file_lineno 🔦

line number in current file (if parsing a file)

Common Macros

Miscellaneous

%nil 🔰

Expand to nothing.

Defined as %{!?nil}.

In Preamble

%forgemeta … 🔢🔰

See https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/SourceURL/#_using_forges_hosted_revision_control (opens in a new tab).

Parameterized as %forgemeta(z:isva):

• -v: verbose
• -i: informative
• -s: silent
• -a: process all source archives (when you have %forgeurl0, %forgeurl1, …)
• -z n: process the n-th source archive

%forgeautosetup … 🔢

Somehow pretty rare.

Parameterized as %forgeautosetup(z:vNS:p:q).

%forgesetup … 🔢🔰

Parameterized as %forgesetup(z:va).

%forgeversion … 🔢🔦

Parameterized as %forgeversion(pz:ab:).

%debug_package 🔰🏷️

When you see:

error: Empty %files file %_builddir/%buildsubdir/debugsourcefiles.list

This means RPM is trying to generate a %{name}-debuginfo/%{name}-debugsource package. You can disable this automatic behavior by setting:

%define debug_package %nil

Then RPM will not strip debug symbols.

%_build_id_links 🏷️

When you see problems with /usr/lib/.build-id, try setting this to none.

In /usr/lib/rpm/macros:

#
# Defines how and if build_id links are generated for ELF files.
# The following settings are supported:
#
# - none
#   No build_id links are generated.
#
# - alldebug
#   build_id links are generated only when the __debug_package global is
#   defined. This will generate build_id links in the -debuginfo package
#   for both the main file as /usr/lib/debug/.build-id/xx/yyy and for
#   the .debug file as /usr/lib/debug/.build-id/xx/yyy.debug.
#   This is the old style build_id links as generated by the original
#   find-debuginfo.sh script.
#
# - separate
#   build_id links are generate for all binary packages. If this is a
#   main package (the __debug_package global isn't set) then the
#   build_id link is generated as /usr/lib/.build-id/xx/yyy. If this is
#   a -debuginfo package (the __debug_package global is set) then the
#   build_id link is generated as /usr/lib/debug/.build-id/xx/yyy.
#
# - compat
#   Same as for "separate" but if the __debug_package global is set then
#   the -debuginfo package will have a compatibility link for the main
#   ELF /usr/lib/debug/.build-id/xx/yyy -> /usr/lib/.build-id/xx/yyy
%_build_id_links compat

%_missing_build_ids_terminate_build 🏷️

Still having problems with /usr/lib/.build-id? Try setting this to 0.

In /usr/lib/rpm/macros:

#
# Should an ELF file processed by find-debuginfo.sh having no build ID
# terminate a build?  This is left undefined to disable it and defined to
# enable.
#
%_missing_build_ids_terminate_build    1

%__strip 🏷️

In some cases (e.g. JavaScript binaries) stripping the binaries may break the executable. To disable stripping, override the strip call:

%global __strip /bin/true

%__requires_exclude 🏷️

Since rpmbuild automatically generates Requires: by looking at what things the binaries are linked to, you may disable that by adding a regex to this macro:

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/7f0fd6b6a8993d17832403960d4343899cfb0474/anda/apps/youtube-music/youtube-music.spec#L5
%define debug_package %nil
 
# Exclude private libraries since this is bundled with electron
%global __provides_exclude ^((libffmpeg[.]so.*)|(lib.*\\.so.*))$
%global __requires_exclude ^((libffmpeg[.]so.*)|(lib.*\\.so.*))$

%__requires_exclude_from 🏷️

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/7f0fd6b6a8993d17832403960d4343899cfb0474/anda/system/opentabletdriver/opentabletdriver.spec#L6
%global __requires_exclude_from ^/usr/lib/opentabletdriver/.*$

%__provides_exclude 🏷️

Similarly, since rpmbuild automatically generates Provides:, you may disable that:

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/7f0fd6b6a8993d17832403960d4343899cfb0474/anda/apps/youtube-music/youtube-music.spec#L4
%define debug_package %nil
 
# Exclude private libraries since this is bundled with electron
%global __provides_exclude ^((libffmpeg[.]so.*)|(lib.*\\.so.*))$
%global __requires_exclude ^((libffmpeg[.]so.*)|(lib.*\\.so.*))$

%__provides_exclude_from 🏷️

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/7f0fd6b6a8993d17832403960d4343899cfb0474/anda/devs/asar/asar.spec#L7
%define debug_package %nil
%define __strip /bin/true
%global _build_id_links none
 
# Exclude private libraries
%global __requires_exclude libffmpeg.so
%global __provides_exclude_from %{_datadir}/%{name}/.*\\.so

%__brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude_from 🔰🏷️

RPM tries to mangle shebangs (#!) by default (see %__brp_mangle_shebangs). If this breaks, you can ask it to exclude the files that matches a given regex.

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/frawhide/anda/devs/zed/nightly/zed-nightly.spec#L9
 
%bcond_with check
 
# Exclude input files from mangling
%global __brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude_from ^/usr/src/.*$
 
%global crate zed
%global app_id dev.zed.Zed-Nightly
 
%global rustflags_debuginfo 0

%__brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude 🏷️

Similar to above, but takes in regex for shebangs to exclude instead.

%__brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude_file 🏷️

Similar to above, but takes in path to file that contains the regexes.

%__brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude_from_file 🏷️

%__brp_mangle_shebangs 🏷️

As a last resort to fixing bugs related to shebangs mangling shenanigans, undefine this macro. You really should try using %__brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude_from first though.

%bcond_with … 🔢🔰

DISABLE a "conditional".

Parameterized as %bcond_with(). Takes in 1 argument: the name of the "conditional".

For more information: https://rpm-software-management.github.io/rpm/manual/conditionalbuilds.html (opens in a new tab)

%bcond_without … 🔢🔰

ENABLE a "conditional".

Parameterized as %bcond_without(). Takes in 1 argument: the name of the "conditional".

For more information: https://rpm-software-management.github.io/rpm/manual/conditionalbuilds.html (opens in a new tab)

In %prep

%autosetup … 🔢🔰

Uncompress the specified sources. By default, uncompress %{SOURCE0} (i.e. %{S:0}).

Parameterized as %autosetup(a:b:cCDn:TvNS:p:):

• -n …: specify the top-level directory (i.e. root folder) name in the archive (default %{name}-%{version})
• -p n: specify the -p n argument to %autopatch …
• -a n: unpack %{S:n} after changing directory
• -b n: unpack %{S:n} before changing directory
• -c: create directory, cd into it, then unpack the source (useful if archive lacks top-level directory)
• -C: I've no idea what this does! — Mado
• -D: do not delete folder before unpacking sources
• -T: disable unpacking %SOURCE0
• -v: verbose. If specified, %autosetup will omit the -q argument to %setup
• -S …: specify the SCM, equivalent to %global __scm … then %__scm_setup_git (replace git with the argument). With this argument, the specified SCM will be set up in the uncompressed directory
• -N: do not run %autopatch …

This is actually a wrapper around %setup and %autopatch ….

If you need to unpack multiple sources, see: http://ftp.rpm.org/max-rpm/s1-rpm-inside-macros.html (opens in a new tab)

%setup … 🔢🚸

Uncompress the specified sources. By default, uncompress %{SOURCE0} (i.e. %{S:0}).

In most cases you should use %autosetup … instead. If you would like to use %setup …, we recommend adding the -q flag.

Parameterized as %setup(a:b:cCDn:Tq): (need confirmation)

• -n …: specify the top-level directory (i.e. root folder) name in the archive (default %{name}-%{version})
• -a n: unpack %{S:n} after changing directory
• -b n: unpack %{S:n} before changing directory
• -c: create directory, cd into it, then unpack the source (useful if archive lacks top-level directory)
• -C: I've no idea what this does! — Mado
• -D: do not delete folder before unpacking sources
• -T: disable unpacking %SOURCE0
• -q: quiet, because by default %setup … is verbose

If you need to unpack multiple sources, see: http://ftp.rpm.org/max-rpm/s1-rpm-inside-macros.html (opens in a new tab)

The %setup … macro does 3 things:

• prepare the destination
  • %global %{buildsubdir} to the argument given in -n …
  • mkdir -p %{builddir}
    • note: %{builddir} is defined only during rpmbuild
    • see %{_builddir}
  • cd %{builddir}
• uncompress the archive
  • internally uses %{uncompress:…}
• cd %{?buildsubdir}

%autopatch … 🔢

Apply patches.

Wrapper around %__apply_patch. No, this does not wrap around %patch!

Parameterized as %autopatch(vqp:m:M:):

• -v: verbose
• -q: don’t warn if there are no matching patches
• -p n: number of top-level path components to strip (default 0)
  For example, if the patch uses the path a/b/hello.txt, passing in -p1 will strip it to b/hello.txt, and passing in -p2 will strip it to just hello.txt.
• -m n: apply patches starting from n (default 0)
• -M n: apply patches up to n (default to the last patch number for Patch:)

Examples:

• %autopatch -m 100: apply patches with number >= 100
• %autopatch -M 400: apply patches with number <= 400
• %autopatch -m 80 -M 99: apply patches 80 to 99 inclusive
• %autopatch 1 4 6: apply patches 1, 4 and 6

Reference: https://rpm-software-management.github.io/rpm/manual/autosetup.html#autopatch (opens in a new tab)

%patch … 🔢🚸

Apply a patch.

We recommend %autopatch over this.

Parameterized as %patch(b:p:P:REz:).

Paths

This list is NOT exhaustive. Some macros are not built-in. If your machine does not come with them, try dnf install 'rpm_macro(macro_name)'.

/
┣╸boot
┃ ┗╸efi
┃   ┗╸EFI             ⇒ %{efi_esp_efi}
┃     ┗╸fedora        ⇒ %{efi_esp_dir}
┣╸etc                 ⇒ %{_sysconfdir}
┃ ┣╸fonts             ⇒ %{_fontconfig_masterdir}
┃ ┃ ┗╸conf.d          ⇒ %{_fontconfig_confdir}
┃ ┣╸java              ⇒ %{_javaconfdir}
┃ ┣╸jvm-common        ⇒ %{_jvmcommonsysconfdir}
┃ ┣╸jvm               ⇒ %{_jvmsysconfdir}
┃ ┣╸pam.d             ⇒ %{_pam_confdir}
┃ ┣╸rc.d
┃ ┃ ┗╸init.d          ⇒ %{_initddir} %{_initrddir}
┃ ┗╸security          ⇒ %{_pam_secconfdir}
┣╸run                 ⇒ %{_rundir} %{_runstatedir}
┣╸usr                 ⇒ %{_usr} %{_prefix} %{_exec_prefix}
┃ ┣╸bin               ⇒ %{_bindir} (%{fedora}>=42: %{_sbindir})
┃ ┣╸sbin              ⇒ %{_sbindir} (older fedora versions)
┃ ┣╸src               ⇒ %{_usrsrc}
┃ ┣╸tmp               ⇒ %{_tmppath}
┃ ┣╸include           ⇒ %{_includedir} %{_oldincludedir}
┃ ┃ ┗╸d               ⇒ %{_d_includedir}
┃ ┣╸lib64             ⇒ %{_libdir} %{_pam_libdir} %{_usr}/%{_lib}
┃ ┃ ┣╸gfortran
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸modules       ⇒ %{_fmoddir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸lua
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸%{lua_version} ⇒ %{lua_libdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸ocaml           ⇒ %{ocamldir}
┃ ┃ ┗╸security        ⇒ %{_pam_moduledir}
┃ ┣╸lib               ⇒ %{_libdir} ONLY ON `noarch` OR 32-BIT PLATFORMS
┃ ┃ ┣╸binfmt.d        ⇒ %{_binfmtdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸clang
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸%{clang_major_version} ⇒ %{clang_resource_dir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸environment.d   ⇒ %{_environmentdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸java            ⇒ %{_jnidir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸jvm             ⇒ %{_jvmdir} %{_jvmlibdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸jvm-common      ⇒ %{_jvmcommonlibdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸jvm-private     ⇒ %{_jvmprivdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸kernel
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸install.d     ⇒ %{_kernel_install_dir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸modprobe.d      ⇒ %{_modprobedir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸modules-load.d  ⇒ %{_modulesloaddir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸mono            ⇒ %{_monodir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸gac           ⇒ %{_monogacdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸rpm             ⇒ %{_rpmconfigdir} %{getconfdir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸fileattrs     ⇒ %{_fileattrsdir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸lua           ⇒ %{_rpmluadir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸macros.d      ⇒ %{_rpmmacrodir} %{rpmmacrodir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸sysctl.d        ⇒ %{_sysctldir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸sysusers.d      ⇒ %{_sysusersdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸swidtag
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸fedoraproject.org ⇒ %{_swidtagdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸systemd         ⇒ %{_systemd_util_dir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸catalog       ⇒ %{_journalcatalogdir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸user          ⇒ %{_userunitdir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸user-environment-generators   ⇒ %{_systemd_user_env_generator_dir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸user-preset   ⇒ %{_userpresetdir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸user-generators   ⇒ %{_systemdusergeneratordir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸system        ⇒ %{_unitdir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸system-environment-generators ⇒ %{_systemd_system_env_generator_dir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┣╸system-generators ⇒ %{_systemdgeneratordir}
┃ ┃ ┃ ┗╸system-preset ⇒ %{_presetdir}
┃ ┃ ┣╸tmpfiles.d      ⇒ %{_tmpfilesdir}
┃ ┃ ┗╸udev
┃ ┃   ┣╸hwdb.d        ⇒ %{_udevhwdbdir}
┃ ┃   ┗╸rules.d       ⇒ %{_udevrulesdir}
┃ ┣╸libexec           ⇒ %{_libexecdir}
┃ ┃ ┗╸perl5-tests     ⇒ %{perl_testdir}
┃ ┗╸share             ⇒ %{_datadir} %{_datarootdir}
┃   ┣╸bash-completion
┃   ┃ ┗╸completions   ⇒ %{bash_completions_dir}
┃   ┣╸cargo
┃   ┃ ┗╸registry      ⇒ %{cargo_registry}
┃   ┃   ┗╸%{crate}-%{version_no_tilde} ⇒ %{crate_instdir}
┃   ┣╸color           ⇒ %{_colordir} %{_syscolordir}
┃   ┃ ┣╸cmms          ⇒ %{_cmmscolordir}
┃   ┃ ┣╸icc           ⇒ %{_icccolordir}
┃   ┃ ┗╸settings      ⇒ %{_settingscolordir}
┃   ┣╸doc             ⇒ %{_docdir} %{_defaultdocdir}
┃   ┃ ┗╸%{name}      ⇒ %{_pkgdocdir}
┃   ┣╸elvish
┃   ┃ ┗╸lib
┃   ┃   ┗╸completions ⇒ %{elvish_completions_dir}
┃   ┣╸fish
┃   ┃ ┗╸vendor_completions.d ⇒ %{fish_completions_dir}
┃   ┣╸fonts           ⇒ %{_fontbasedir}
┃   ┣╸fontconfig
┃   ┃ ┗╸conf.avail    ⇒ %{_fontconfig_templatedir}
┃   ┣╸icons           ⇒ %{_iconsdir}
┃   ┣╸info            ⇒ %{_infodir}
┃   ┣╸ivy-xmls        ⇒ %{_ivyxmldir}
┃   ┣╸java            ⇒ %{_javadir}
┃   ┣╸javadoc         ⇒ %{_javadocdir}
┃   ┣╸jvm             ⇒ %{_jvmdatadir}
┃   ┣╸jvm-common      ⇒ %{_jvmcommondatadir}
┃   ┣╸licenses        ⇒ %{_defaultlicensedir}
┃   ┣╸lua
┃   ┃ ┗╸%{lua_version} ⇒ %{lua_pkgdir}
┃   ┣╸man             ⇒ %{_mandir}
┃   ┣╸maven-poms      ⇒ %{_mavenpomdir}
┃   ┣╸metainfo        ⇒ %{_metainfodir}
┃   ┣╸pam.d           ⇒ %{_pam_vendordir}
┃   ┣╸pkgconfig
┃   ┃ ┗╸personality.d ⇒ %{pkgconfig_personalitydir}
┃   ┣╸systemtap
┃   ┃ ┗╸tapset        ⇒ %{_systemtap_tapsetdir}
┃   ┣╸user-tmpfiles.d ⇒ %{_user_tmpfilesdir}
┃   ┣╸zsh
┃   ┃ ┗╸site-functions ⇒ %{zsh_completions_dir}
┃   ┗╸%{python_wheel_pkg_prefix}-wheels ⇒ %{python_wheel_dir}
┗╸var                 ⇒ %{_var} %{_localstatedir}
  ┗╸lib               ⇒ %{_sharedstatedir}

/home/mado/rpmbuild   ⇒ %{_topdir}
┣╸BUILD               ⇒ %{_builddir}
┃ ┗╸%{buildsubdir}
┃   ┣╸.pyproject-builddir%{_pyproject_files_pkgversion} ⇒ %{_pyproject_builddir}
┃   ┗╸pyproject-wheeldir%{_pyproject_files_pkgversion}  ⇒ %{_pyproject_wheeldir}
┣╸RPMS                ⇒ %{_rpmdir}
┣╸SOURCES             ⇒ %{_sourcedir}
┣╸SPECS               ⇒ %{_specdir}
┗╸SRPMS               ⇒ %{_srcrpmdir}

Common Paths 🔰

/etc                                   ⇒ %{_sysconfdir}
/run                                   ⇒ %{_rundir}
/usr                                   ⇒ %{_usr}
/usr/bin                               ⇒ %{_bindir}
/usr/sbin                              ⇒ %{_sbindir} maybe?
/usr/src                               ⇒ %{_usrsrc}
/usr/include                           ⇒ %{_includedir}
/usr/lib64                             ⇒ %{_libdir}
/usr/lib                               ⇒ %{_libdir} if `noarch` or 32-bit platforms
/usr/lib/sysctl.d                      ⇒ %{_sysctldir}
/usr/lib/sysusers.d                    ⇒ %{_sysusersdir}
/usr/lib/systemd/user                  ⇒ %{_userunitdir}
/usr/lib/systemd/user-preset           ⇒ %{_userpresetdir}
/usr/lib/systemd/system                ⇒ %{_unitdir}
/usr/lib/systemd/system-preset         ⇒ %{_presetdir}
/usr/libexec                           ⇒ %{_libexecdir}
/usr/share                             ⇒ %{_datadir}
/usr/share/doc                         ⇒ %{_docdir}
/usr/share/icons                       ⇒ %{_iconsdir}
/usr/share/info                        ⇒ %{_infodir}
/usr/share/licenses                    ⇒ %{_defaultlicensedir}
/usr/share/man                         ⇒ %{_mandir}
/usr/share/metainfo                    ⇒ %{_metainfodir}
/var                                   ⇒ %{_var}
/var/lib                               ⇒ %{_sharedstatedir}

/usr/share/bash-completion/completions ⇒ %{bash_completions_dir}
/usr/share/elvish/lib/completions      ⇒ %{elvish_completions_dir} (Terra only)
/usr/share/fish/vendor_completions.d   ⇒ %{fish_completions_dir}
/usr/share/zsh/site-functions          ⇒ %{zsh_completions_dir}

In %install

%buildroot 🔰

Path to a specific directory where files, that get packaged into the final RPM, should live. This is the same as $pkgdir in Arch Linux PKGBUILDs.

%find_lang 🔰

From /usr/lib/rpm/find-lang.sh:

automagically generate list of language specific files
for inclusion in an rpm spec file.
This does assume that the *.mo files are under .../locale/...

Expand to exactly /usr/lib/rpm/find-lang.sh %{buildroot}. Used with the -f flag for %files. Useful for packaging /usr/share/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/%{app_id}.mo files.

$ /usr/lib/rpm/find-lang.sh

Usage: /usr/lib/rpm/find-lang.sh TOP_DIR PACKAGE_NAME [prefix]

where TOP_DIR is
the top of the tree containing the files to be processed--should be
$RPM_BUILD_ROOT usually. TOP_DIR gets sed'd out of the output list.
PACKAGE_NAME is the %{name} of the package. This should also be
the basename of the .mo files.  the output is written to
PACKAGE_NAME.lang unless $3 is given in which case output is written
to $3.
Additional options:
  --with-gnome          find GNOME help files
  --with-mate           find MATE help files
  --with-kde            find KDE help files
  --with-qt             find Qt translation files
  --with-html           find HTML files
  --with-man            find localized man pages
  --all-name            match all package/domain names
  --without-mo          do not find locale files
  --generate-subpackages move language files in one sub package per language

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/2635988e63fa5a05bd2c42d34c893d9e2bb13580/anda/apps/mugshot/mugshot.spec#L41-L46
%install
%pyproject_install
%pyproject_save_files -L 'mugshot*'
install -Dm644 data/glib-2.0/schemas/%{lower:%app}.gschema.xml %buildroot%_datadir/glib-2.0/schemas/
 
%find_lang mugshot
 
%files -f %{pyproject_files} -f mugshot.lang
%doc README.md NEWS
…

%fdupes … 🔢

Hard-link (or symlink) files to save space.

Parameterized as %fdupes(s):

• -s: use symlinks instead of hard links

Take in exactly 1 argument: a glob path that lists out files to be deduplicated.

# https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/2635988e63fa5a05bd2c42d34c893d9e2bb13580/anda/themes/fluent-theme/fluent-theme.spec#L31
BuildRequires:  fdupes
# or BuildRequires:  rpm_macro(fdupes)
 
…
 
%install
mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/themes
./install.sh -i simple -t all -d %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/themes
./install.sh -i simple -t all --tweaks round float -d %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/themes
 
%fdupes %buildroot%_datadir
 
%files
%license COPYING
%doc README.md
 
%{_datadir}/themes/Fluent*/

%fdupes %{quote:%buildroot%_datadir %buildroot%_sysconfdir}

Per Language

If your language / buildsystem is not listed here, go to https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/ (opens in a new tab) and find them on the navigation rail on the left.

C and C++

%configure

Expand to ./configure with the correct flags and arguments. If you need to execute ./configure, in most cases you should use this macro instead.

In some cases where ./configure is not directly available, you may need to run autoreconf -fi or -fiv.

%make_build 🔰

⇒ %__make -O -j${RPM_BUILD_NCPUS} V=1 VERBOSE=1, where %{__make} ⇒ /usr/bin/make. Further arguments to make can be attached.

%make_install 🔰

⇒ %__make install DESTDIR=%?buildroot INSTALL="%__install -p".

%makeinstall 🚸

Deprecated. Use %make_install instead.

%cmake 🔰

Expand to %{__cmake} (⇒ /usr/bin/cmake) with the correct flags, such as -B "%__cmake_builddir" (⇒ -B "redhat-linux-build").

%cmake_build 🔰

⇒ %__cmake --build "%__cmake_builddir" %?_smp_mflags --verbose.

%cmake_install 🔰

⇒ DESTDIR="%buildroot" %__cmake --install "%__cmake_builddir".

%meson 🔰

≈ %__meson setup with correct flags.

%meson_build 🔰

⇒ %__meson compile -C "%_vpath_builddir" -j %_smp_build_ncpus %{?__meson_verbose:--verbose}

⇒ /usr/bin/meson compile -C redhat-linux-build -j 20 --verbose (on my machine).

%meson_install 🔰

⇒ DESTDIR=%buildroot %__meson install -C %_vpath_builddir --no-rebuild. Used in %install.

%meson_test 🔰

⇒ %__meson test -C %_vpath_builddir --no-rebuild %{!?__meson_verbose:--quiet}. Used in %check.

%ninja_build

⇒ %__ninja %__ninja_common_opts

⇒ %__ninja -v -j${RPM_BUILD_NCPUS}.

%ninja_install

⇒ DESTDIR=%buildroot %__ninja install %__ninja_common_opts.

%ninja_test

⇒ %__ninja test %__ninja_common_opts.

%build_cflags 🏷️

Flags to be passed to the C compiler.

⇒ %{__build_flags_lang_c} %{?_distro_extra_cflags}

%_distro_extra_cflags 🏷️

For example, if the compiler is emitting errors that could be disabled with some -Wno-… flags, you can define this macro with extra flags.

This macro is not defined by default on Fedora.

%build_cxxflags 🏷️

Flags to be passed to the C++ compiler.

⇒ %{__build_flags_lang_cxx} %{?_distro_extra_cxxflags}

%_distro_extra_cxxflags 🏷️

For example, if the compiler is emitting errors that could be disabled with some -Wno-… flags, you can define this macro with extra flags.

This macro is not defined by default on Fedora.

D

%ldc_arches

%_d_optflags

Java

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/java-packaging-howto/ (opens in a new tab)

Nim

This section is only applicable to Terra (because Fedora does not ship Nim).

%nim_prep

Set mold as the linker and run nimble setup -y.

%nim_build

Same as %nim_c.

%nim_c

⇒ nim c -d:release -t:"%nim_tflags" -l:"%nim_lflags".

Python

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/Python/ (opens in a new tab)

Rust

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/Rust/ (opens in a new tab)

%rustflags_debuginfo 🏷️

If gdb crashes in find-debuginfo, you might want to lower the value to 1 or even 0.

The default value is 2.

https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/blob/2df55dad60a58ecf5f8fbe962f877f2834bdfa25/anda/devs/zed/nightly/zed-nightly.spec#L14
 
%bcond_with check
 
# Exclude input files from mangling
%global __brp_mangle_shebangs_exclude_from ^/usr/src/.*$
 
%global crate zed
%global app_id dev.zed.Zed-Nightly
 
%global rustflags_debuginfo 0