Re: Tony Nugent's arguments about RH .spec files

David Mihm (davemann@ionet.net)
Tue, 19 Jan 1999 09:40:30 -0600 (CST) 


	I don't have a problem with including a spec file.  My concern for
redoing the rpm as I have had done, was RHers telling me they didn't have
the documentation as described in the man page or FAQ.  "I don't have any
/usr/local/share/afterstep/ stuff ... this AfterStep is crap."  The only
thing I hear otherwise is on the other side of the fence, the
administrators who should know how to relocate pkgs. 
	I'm not sure if Ryan (the new rpm creator) is fully versed with
how AS goes together yet, but with the use of ./configure --prefix and the
equivalent rpm --prefix=?; there should be no worries other than a spec
file doesn't exist.  So basically this whole nonsense is moot - a src.rpm
exists from which anyone can unpack, edit the spec file from it, and then
rebuild the rpm however they want - even putting it purely local
(/home/foo/as/).
[ stream of consciousness - what a concept :) ]

On Tue, 19 Jan 1999, Andrew Sullivan wrote:
! Hi all,
! 
! I've had a fairly active discussion over the last two days with Tony
! Nugent (<Tony.Nugent@usq.edu.au>).  He is arguing that all AS releases,
! including any source releases, include a .spec file for RPMs, and that
! this .spec file install everything in /usr/ rather than /usr/local/.
! 
! I know there have been issues around this.  His argument amounts to the
! following: since RPM managed packages are only ever supposed to go in
! /usr, putting the RPM in /usr/local amounts to breaking the standard.
! Moreover, since the .spec file can easily define the RPM install location
! as /usr instead of /usr/local, there ought not to be a problem.  This is
! particularly true if the .spec file is always included with every (source)
! tarball of AS: the RPM will never be generated to install in the wrong
! place.
! 
! I don't pretend to understnad the intricacies of the RPM system, as I have
! never used an RPM.  He and I both agreed that discussing the matter too
! much on the open list was just bound to incite a stoooopid flamewar, so I
! thought I would suggest his proposal here.
! 
! In order to reduce confusion, I will add a (couple of) note(s) to the FAQ
! about the difference between RPM versions of AS and those compiled from
! source.  While I find it passing annoying that one can rely on virtually
! _every_ UN*X user/sysadmin _except_ about 25% of the RH users to know
! that their binaries may go in a non-default location, it seems that this
! will create enough questions to warrant specific mention.
! 
! I submit this as a simple proposal.  I don't know how to begin creating a
! .spec file for RPM, and am not anxious to learn, particularly, although I
! suspect that Mr Nugent would provide one if pressed.  (I imagine, though,
! that a recent one would be the most useful anyway, right?)  Any comments
! or suggestions are gratefully received.
! 
! A.
! 
! Andrew Sullivan | asullivan@sprint.ca (better)| ajsulliv@mcmaster.ca (worse)
!                                    *  *  *
!               Go to http://www.davidv.net/~ajsulliv/, or issue
! 'finger -l ajsulliv@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca' to find the AfterStep FAQ file.
! 
! 
! 

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