RPM build errors

Question

I am trying to build an RPM but when I use this command to build it:

[root@vmdb SPEC]# rpmbuild -v -bb SPEC/supportScripts.spec

I always get this error:

Executing(%prep): /bin/sh -e /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.gG9C7Y
+ umask 022
+ cd /root/rpmbuild/BUILD
+ cd /root/rpmbuild/BUILD
+ rm -rf supportScripts-1
+ /usr/bin/gzip -dc /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES/supportScripts-1.tar.gz
+ /bin/tar -xf -
+ STATUS=0
+ '[' 0 -ne 0 ']'
+ cd supportScripts-1
/var/tmp/rpm-tmp.gG9C7Y: line 34: cd: supportScripts-1: No such file or directory
error: Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.gG9C7Y (%prep)


RPM build errors:
    Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.gG9C7Y (%prep)

I have looked on the internet as to why this error might occur and it is due to a bad argument with the macro I am using in %prep/%setup. I am not sure what I need in replacement to fix it and it is getting frustrating. This is what my spec file looks like:

Name:           supportScripts
Version:        1
Release:        1
Summary:        All the support scripts bundled into an RPM.
BuildArch:      noarch

Group:          Development/Tools
License:        GPL
URL:            http://localhost
Source0:        supportScripts-1.tar.gz
BuildRoot:      %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-root-%(%{__id_u} -n)

%description
These are all the support tools we need for new Hardware Agent builds. This will package all the scripts support uses for new builds.

%prep
%setup -q

%install
mkdir -p "$RPM_BUILD_ROOT/opt"
cp -R * "$RPM_BUILD_ROOT/opt"

%files
/opt/

%clean
rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT

%post
chown -R support:support /opt/*
chmod -R 775 /opt/

UPDATE: What is weird is that I have found the rpm completely built in /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch. I have ran command:

rpm -ivh supportScripts-1-1.noarch.rpm

to unpack all the scripts, and miraculously its there! My next question is: Should I be concerned of any mishaps with the rpmbuild command I have done?

Solution

RPM is expecting your package to follow the standard packaging guidelines for Unix software. The GNU release guidelines are typical, but a lot of non-GNU software follows these rules, too.

Specifically here, you have a package called supportScripts, version 1, so the tarball is expected to be called supportScripts-1.tar.gz, and it is expected to unpack into a directory called supportScripts-1.

While there may be ways to arm-twist RPM into coping with a nonstandard scheme, it's simplest to just follow the one it expects.

Comments

[Matej Vrzala M4]

I am not sure how to make the spec file conform to what it expects there to be. Like I mentioned, surprisingly I see the RPM already built and when I unwrraped it, all my scripts were there. Can I just use that RPM or would that produce future problems? I will be using that RPM on to unwrap our scripts at my job for when I build future servers.

[Warren Young]

I'm not telling you to change the spec file. I'm telling you to change how you build that tarball, so that it is called supportScripts-1.tar.gz, and so that it unpacks into a directory called supportScripts-1. The error is saying that it is trying to cd into that directory, and is failing because it is not there.

[Matej Vrzala M4]

How should I build the tarball so that it conforms to everything else then?

[Warren Young]

Elementary: mkdir supportScripts-1 ; cp $STUFF supportScripts-1 ; tar cvzf supportScripts-1.tar.gz supportScripts-1

[Matej Vrzala M4]

That didnt work either but the rpm is still built. As long as the rpm is built and functional, that will work for me

[Warren Young]

You probably didn't copy the new tarball into SOURCES.

[Matej Vrzala M4]

Let me try that.

[Matej Vrzala M4]

That worked! Your the man