On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 10:23:52PM -0600, Bob Proulx wrote: > It is always possible to tar up the binary files and use that as a > source file. But if that is all that it is doing I don't see the > utility of it. For example (a real example from my experience) let's > say that the compressed tar file of the installed files is 5G. It > takes a large amount of disk to store both the original files and the > tar.gz and the src.rpm file plus the produced binary rpm file. Using > an extra 10G to store the tar.gz and the src.rpm on top of the already > required 10G for the original native files plus binary rpm is a lot of > overhead. OK, one other attempt then to explain it and then I really stop ;-): Normally, when I package binary (proprietary) software, I start with something I get from the vendor. Often a tar file with binaries and an install script, but some vendors produce more horrible things. When I then get a new version from the vendor, I can compare the tarball with the previous version (what files are in it, has the install script been changed, etc.) because I have the old, original vendor's tarball included in my src.rpm. If I would have installed the sofware with the install script and made the rpm without "Source" files, I wouldn't be able to compare what the vendor provides and I might have big trouble in "porting" my rpm to the new version. This is just one example. I can think of many more. I agree that in the case the rpm build is a step in a larger build process (that is, you're yourself the original vendor of the proprietary software) things are a bit different. In that case your own build process is the controlled way of generating the rpm and you don't need to regenerate the rpm with stuff from someone else. I can imagine you then make other decisions. But in general the (IMHO) GOLDEN RULE (I don't know if this is ever written down somewhere and maybe someone can rephrase it) is: The files in the resulting binary rpm should *all* be generated from *only* the Source and Patch files specified in the spec file. Note that these "Source" files do not need to be sources, they can also be (tarballs with) binaries. And generate means: compile (in case of real sources), but it can also be copy (in case of binary rpm's). Note that this rule is never completely true: the result is also dependent on compiler versions, versions of used include files and libraries, etc., so (unfortunately) it's not perfect. But at least it is something. -- -- Jos Vos <jos@xxxxxx> -- X/OS Experts in Open Systems BV | Phone: +31 20 6938364 -- Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Fax: +31 20 6948204 _______________________________________________ Rpm-list mailing list Rpm-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rpm-list
