[ale] *src.rpm and .rpm files

[John Mills]

On Sun, 14 Jan 2001, I.M. wrote:

> One more question, then I'll leave you all alone for a while.

My honor, dragon lady -

> I am not understanding the difference between a 'regular' rpm file and
> a 'source' rpm file.

The regular RPM is those files you need to _run_ an
application: executable, config files, supporting files, sometimes
libraries. I expect a SRPM not to contain the executable or libraries, but
the source you compile and link to build them. I also expect the
supporting files, Makefile, and other links are pre-set to work right to
compile, link, and eventually install the executables, without running a
'config' operation, nor editing much in the source directories. As I said,
I usually just unpack standard sources, not particularly configured for
Linux, much less my distribution of Linux, and have few problems.

> And what is the difference between them in the install? I downloaded
> fetchmail-5.6.2-1.src.rpm

I don't know if my experience was typical, but I recently ended up with a
*.tgz file which I _still_ had to unpack into sources and compile, then to
run 'install' on it. Now, at this point I would expect the executables,
libraries, and 'include' files to be in place, but I wouldn't assume I
didn't still have a bit of work yet on config files (/etc/* and so on).

In other words when you install the src.rpm (SRPM), you have the sources
to build an executable image. When you install the rpm, you have the
executable in place but don't have the sources there to rebuild or modify
it.

Alles klar?

> I was going to use rpm -F, which I have been told may not be such a
> keen idea, and then there are sections in the man pages that I am
> having some difficulty understanding, about having to do a
> "--rebuild".

There is also the issue of using the SRPM to create an RPM, which may have
something to do with '--rebuild'. I would only be looking to 'make' and
'make install' or something along those lines to end up with an executable
image, but I think the SRPM may be intended to spit out an RPM for
installation elsewhere. You might look at the notes or the 'Makefile' and
see what the '--rebuild' operation is really trying to do.

> Some info would be cool before I go and totally screw something up.

It's pretty hard to screw things up beyond repair, particularly as you can
usually reinstall the corrupted packages 'out of the box' from a CD full
of RPMs. That is why I hav been using RedHat since starting with
Slackware. Reconstruction is pretty much a snap.

G'night
 - John

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