rpm experiences [was: Backing up whole system]

Todd Zullinger tmz at pobox.com
Sun May 10 21:47:10 UTC 2009


Tom Horsley wrote:
> All I know about making rpms is that I searched the web for simple
> instructions and found a link to a guide all kinds of different
> pages pointed at as the simplest possible intro document for
> building an rpm: It was a 97 page long pdf file.  I ran screaming
> into the night :-).

Perhaps that's the trouble with web searches.  Too many people posting
long-winded web pages detailing the hard way to do things? :)

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/CreatingPackageHowTo
is a bit shorter than 97 pages.  It does cover a lot of information
though, and there are many details if you want to build clean packages
that are acceptable for Fedora.  If you only care about your local
box, you can often skip some of the Fedora packaging guidelines.

> There was also my 2nd hand experience at work. The guys who do the
> packaging of our software were filled with dread at the prospect of
> making .deb packages, because they knew how long they fought with
> rpm to get all the fiddling details right.
>
> With grim determination in their eyes they marched off to do battle
> with the .deb packaging tools, then with amazement, they emerged
> from their cubicles, having gotten the .deb building down pat in a
> couple of hours.

I learned to build .rpms long before I ever looked at .debs.  I found
creating .debs to be not too difficult, but not as simple and
straight-forward as .rpms.  I also believe that learning how to create
any type of package helps learning a new type, as many of the concepts
are quite similar.

> I can only conclude there is something fundamentally wrong
> with the simplicity factor in rpms :-).

I would respectfully disagree with that. :)

Both .deb and .rpm are capable and powerful package tools.  Both have
copious documentation, which can be a bit intimidating at first.  See
the Debian New Maintainers' Guide for a reasonable starting point for
creating proper .debs: http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/

-- 
Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xBEAF0CE3 | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same
side.
    -- Michael W. Smith

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