Creating your first RPM Package on ArcaOS
By Martin Iturbide
On this quick article I will explain how did I create my first RPM package under the ArcaOS platform. I was used to create some WarpIn installers and I felt that it was interesting to use RPM since it provides a single repository where the users can select which software to install. But I found it is a complete different process from creating WarpIn installer.
Software Requirements
To create my first installer I used the following software:
- ArcaOS 5.0.1
- RPM and YUM installed on the machine (If you are using ArcaOS it is already installed).
- Arca Noae Package Manager 1.02, just to review my package once it is created
And the following RPM packages:
- rpm-build
- os2-rpm-build
You can install all at once with one command:
yum install rpm-build os2-rpm-build
Preparing your Environment
How you will set your environment will vary according to the person. On this case I got some help and ideas from Andy Willis, so he gave me his way to "organize" the environment.
It was to create a directory structure on my "Home" directory. So I created the one that looks on the next image:
In general terms the folder are going to be used by:
- BUILD
- You are going to put the files that you want to include on your RPM package here.
- BUILDROOT
- Is the folder where some temporary file structure will be created to be able to pack the RPM file.
- SPECS
- Is there the .specs files are going. The .specs files are the logic of the RPM package.
- RPMS
- Is the folder where your RPM package is going to be located once it is ready.
I'm not sure what is the rest folders for, since this was a Andy's suggestion, but I guess we will find out in the future.
Locating the Files
My first installer was as easy as possible, so it was only two files of a little open source game called RollBall.
So I located RollBall.exe and RollBall.txt on the "BUILD" directory.
Working with the .SPECS File
This is where the fun begins.