[lug] rpm build question

[Michael J. Hammel]

On Wed, 2002-12-11 at 09:30, Harris, James wrote:
>I have a sort of "best practice" type question for building an RPM.  Very
> simply, I've created an SRPM that will install an app, along with its
> appropriate man pages (dur).  However, on RH 7.3 and 8.0, one of those man
> pages is now included in the standard man-pages rpm so it causes a conflict.
> On 7.2 and below it is not and I want to include it in the installation.

> Is there logic that I can put into the .spec file that can identify the
> rh-release and then only include the man page when it is needed, or should I
> create two SRPMs, one with the file and one w/o?

I haven't built any RPMs myself though I've looked at the documentation
on how to do so.  Most packaging systems (RPM included) have pre- and
post-install steps that allow you to script what should be done.  You
should look for these pre- and post-install steps for RPM to do what
you're trying here.  

There are a number of ways to handle this situation.  For a man page one
of the simplest would be to check for the existance of the man page in
the pre-install and, if it exists, move it out of the way.  After you
package is installed, you can check for the old version and, if it's
there, move your version to a saved location and the move the old one
back.  That way other packages won't break.  Your package's removal
script can then check for you version of the man page as (for example)
manpage.mypackage and, if it exists, remove that instead of the real man
page (possibly by using the temporary move trick you used during
installtion - but in reverse).

Lots of trickery like this can be done with man pages.  With binaries it
might be more difficult depending on how often the binary is used.

-- 
Michael J. Hammel <mjhammel at graphics-muse.org>
Graphics Muse