People write spec files using macros, and then the macros on my system
do not generate packages that put files in the correct place. I
noticed this while packaging ggobi and WindowMaker, and probably in
other packages as well. WHen people have a statement in the files
section like
%config %{_sysconfdir}/%{name}
the config files end up in the wrong place, in /usr/etc/WindowMaker or
/usr/etc/ggobi. The authors of those programs claim that the correct
place ought to be
/etc/WindowMaker or /etc/ggobi
and inside their programs, there scripts that have hard coded paths
that look for files in those places.
Until now, I've just had the habit of editing the spec file to cut out
the usage of %{_sysconfdir}, replacing it with /etc. But it causes me
to wonder why I'm the only one apparently having this problem, and why
aren't all the RPMS built for Fedora & Fedora extras messed up like
mine, because I've not changed any settings in the rpmbuild macros.
I've often wished the RPM system did not allow macros because it is
hard to rebuild packages that some people make because they have
changed their macro definitions. (Try taking a SRPM file from the
atrpms repository, or something from Mandrake, and you'll see what I
mean. Unbuildable unless you make a lot of changes in your rpm
system.) I can see why those problems exist, but I can't understand
this _sysconfidir thing ending up in /usr/etc on my system but in /etc
on others.
--
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas
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