Chris Tyler - Fedora Linux

While it's fairly easy to install software from source, it's not much more work to build an RPM package, especially if the original source code is well-written and in a traditional tarball. The extra work will make it much easier to track, update, and remove the software installed on your system.

In order to build an RPM, you need to have the original source tarball plus a spec file , which provides most of the metadata for the RPM package and controls how the RPM is builtbut before you build any packages, you should customize your RPM environment.

RPMs are digitally signed by the packager. Although this is an optional step, it indicates that the package is from a trusted source and provides a way of verifying that no one has tampered with it.

RPM signatures are generated using GNU Privacy Guard ( gpg or gnupg ), which can also be used to sign or encrypt email messages. If you have not created a gpg key, this is a great time to do so:

$ gpg --gen-key

gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.1; Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it

under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.

gpg: directory \Q/home/chris/.gnupg' created

gpg: new configuration file \Q/home/chris/.gnupg/gpg.conf' created

gpg: WARNING: options in \Q/home/chris/.gnupg/gpg.conf' are not yet active during this run

gpg: keyring \Q/home/chris/.gnupg/secring.gpg' created

gpg: keyring \Q/home/chris/.gnupg/pubring.gpg' created

Please select what kind of key you want:

(1) DSA and Elgamal (default)

(2) DSA (sign only)

(5) RSA (sign only)

Your selection? 1

DSA keypair will have 1024 bits.

ELG-E keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.

What keysize do you want? (2048)

Requested keysize is 2048 bits

Please specify how long the key should be valid.

0 = key does not expire

= key expires in n days

w = key expires in n weeks

m = key expires in n months

y = key expires in n years

Key is valid for? (0) 0

Key does not expire at all

Is this correct? (y/N) y

You need a user ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user ID from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:

"Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) "

Real name:

Chris Tyler

Email address:

Comment:

ENTER

You selected this USER-ID:

"Chris Tyler "

Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? O

You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.

Enter passphrase:

seeecret

Repeat passphrase:

seeecret

We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++

+++++++.+++++++++++++++.+++++++++++++++++++++++++>++++++++++...............

............................<+++++...>+++++........................<.+++++.

++....+++++

We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++++..+++++++++++++++..++++++++++.+++++.++++++++

++++++++++++..+++++.+++++++++++++++.++++++++++..+++++++++++++++...+++++.+++

.+++++>.+++++...............+++++^^^^

gpg: /home/chris/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created

gpg: key B2B16060 marked as ultimately trusted

public and secret key created and signed.

gpg: checking the trustdb

gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, PGP trust model

gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u

pub 1024D/B2B16060 2005-11-07

Key fingerprint = 6283 3FDE 833B D21A 209A 75D2 369E E05E B2B1 6060

uid Chris Tyler

sub 2048g/2931B80E 2005-11-07

Your gpg keys will be created and stored in ~/.gnupg : the private key in ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg , and the public key in ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg .

The second step in setting up your RPM environment is to create an ~/.rpmmacros file. This file contains your personal information and controls where RPMs will be built.

Here is a version of the ~/.rpmmacros file that is fully automatic; it will discover all of the information it needs from your account configuration and gpg setup. Type it into a text editor such as vi and save it as .rpmmacros in your home directory:

#

# ~/.rpmmacros file

#

# This gets all necessary information from environment variables and

# system utilities. The first e-mail address on your gnupg keyring

# should be your own.

#

%packager %(finger -l $LOGNAME|sed -n "s/.*Name: //p")

%distribution Fedora Core %(tr -dc [0-9]

# The vendor here is the same as the packager. Use a company or

# organization if appropriate.

%vendor %{packager}

%_home %(echo $HOME)

%_topdir %{_home}/rpm

%_tmppath %{_topdir}/tmp

%_builddir %{_tmppath}

%_rpmtopdir %{_topdir}/%{name}

%_sourcedir %{_rpmtopdir}

%_specdir %{_rpmtopdir}

%_rpmdir %{_topdir}/RPMS

%_srcrpmdir %{_topdir}/RPMS

%_rpmfilename %%{NAME}-%%{VERSION}-%%{RELEASE}.%%{ARCH}.rpm

%_signature gpg

%_gpg_path %{_home}/.gnupg

%_gpgbin /usr/bin/gpg

%_gpg_name %(gpg --list-keys|sed -n "s/^uid *//p"|head -1)

You can also create this file by manually filling in the values you wish to use:

#

# ~/.rpmmacros file

#

# This gets all necessary information from environment variables and

# system utilities. The first e-mail address on your gnupg keyring

# should be your own.

#

%packager Chris Tyler

%distribution Fedora Core 6

# Use an organization or company in the next line if applicable