[ILUG] rpm V's src.rpm

[Pádraig Brady]

PhilipQuinlan wrote:
> I don't know if this is the case for all the packages you got, but what
> you have here is a source rpm.  it installs the source code in
> /usr/local/src/<pkgname>
> You can either compile and install this source
> 
> cd /usr/local/src/<pckgname>/
> ./configure&&make&&make install

Never ever do `make install` on a distro that supports package management.
You're just making an unmaintainable system and loosing the benefits
of package management. In the very unlikely event a package is not
already available for your distro, it's quite easy to make one yourself.
I've some package management notes here:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/packaging.html

> OR if you want to keep your rpm database up to date you can search for a
> binary rpm, one without src in the title.
> binary packages are per distribution, but Redhat AS should be no problem
> to find.

Anyway a src.rpm generally installs into the /usr/src/redhat hierarchy.
You would only install a src rpm if you wanted to modify the source or configuration.
The configuration is generally in the /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/package.spec

To modify the source you need to extract and patch it fully with:
rpmbuild -bp /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/package.spec
Then work in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/ and generate the updated diffs
back to /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/

To then build the modified RPM you do:
rpmbuild -ba /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/package.spec

The resultant binary packages are written to:
/usr/src/redhat/RPMS/

If you don't want to actually modify the SRPM and
just recompile it for the local environment you can
use the shortcut: rpmbuild --rebuild package.src.rpm

Pádraig.